Joint Base Andrews Base Exchange Expansion

One of the most well-known military installations in the world is Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, which was created by the 2009 merger of Andrews Air Force Base and Naval Air Facility Washington. Andrews is best known as the home of Air Force One.

The Base Exchange (BX) is a retail mall that supplies a variety of retail and services needs for the 3,000 base residents and visitors. The Air Force wanted to fully renovate and expand this one story steel structure by 50%, to 175,000 SF.

In the schematic design phase, we quickly discovered that the lateral load resisting system of the BX building was inadequate. When initially built, expansion joints were used in construction, compromising the diaphragm of the roof deck and, essentially, dividing the building into two marginally stable components. With this finding, we accepted the challenge of uniting the two major building components with a new bracing system, all while designing for an addition and renovation. To keep the BX operational through construction, Walter P Moore phased the design of the multiple additions to be self-supporting.