Rhodes Tower Building Envelope Renovation

Originally built by Turner in 1974, the 41-story James A. Rhodes State Office Tower needed a complex modernization. There were significant challenges involved with the renovation - critical was to safely perform the construction among the 2,600 workers occupying the metropolitan high-rise. To mitigate potential schedule conflicts, the project team implemented a cadence of meetings with facility management representatives and trade contractors to forecast and align construction schedule activity along with the day-to-day operations of the state agency tenants. Other challenges involved building a protective canopy over the sidewalk to ensure pedestrian safety. The canopy skirted the building perimeter and served as a staging area for construction materials and tools. The scope of this multi-phased project included repair of more than 13,000 existing granite panels to eliminate future ‘spalling’, removal and replacement of 204 granite panels that had chipped/cracked with time, the addition of a vapor barrier to increase thermal performance, replacement of over 3,000 existing window units, replace 30 stories of existing curtainwall, resealing of the existing monumental glass, 100% removal and re-application of 28.5 miles of sealant around the granite panels.