Building Description

Built in the late 1920’s, the Merchandise Mart is a mixed-use 25-story steel framed building with large floor plates each making up roughly over 200,000 square feet. The typical floor framing including the 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th floors consists of conventionally reinforced concrete floor joist framing supported by steel girders and columns.

Project Overview & Challenges

K&H provided structural engineering services for the various scope items associated with relocating Google’s Motorola Mobility Corporate Headquarters from Libertyville to the Merchandise Mart. K&H’s scope of services included coordination and structural analysis and reinforcement for numerous pieces of vibration sensitive and heavy equipment, design of a new rooftop deck, rooftop dunnages, and structural reinforcement to accommodate major interior modifications and infrastructure elements.

Professional Services & Solutions

K&H’s goal in this major coordination task was to allow the client, architect, and MEP engineer freedom and flexibility for layout design while maintaining cost efficient solutions. Multiple feasible options for structural reinforcement were proposed, reviewed, and improved. An in-depth knowledge of the behavior of the existing structure was critical in making recommendations to all parties. In addition, constructability considerations were imperative to keep the project on schedule and allow for less disruption to existing tenants in this operational, multi-use structure.