Swem Library – College of William & Mary

Williamsburg, Virginia

McPherson Design Group provided field investigation, contract documents, and construction administration for a new 105,400 square foot addition to the library at the College of William & Mary, as well as the renovation of the 168,100 square foot facility. The new structure is four stories tall with a full basement and is divided into two pavilions. It is a cast-in-place concrete structure consisting of waffle slab floor system, concrete columns, and an auger-cast pile foundation. Special design was required to support compact shelving on several floors and connect to the existing library. A special collections area holding rare books was designed. One wing of the library houses the Chief Justice Warren Berger collection of papers and documents. We also completed Special Inspections Services for this $24 Million project. This required our Special Inspector, Mr. Richard T. Stack, to be at the site on a daily basis for the duration of the project. In 2012, MDG completed additional structural revisions to the structure.
 

Library Special Inspections     

This contract was to complete full special inspections of Swem Library. The inspections included auger cast piles, and adjacent to the existing building, structural slabs, waffle slabs and other specialty types of construction. Super flat floors had to be provided for the Library’s file storage system. 
 

Library Crane Foundation & Shoring of North Side   

This project involved structural engineering, calculations, and sketches for a new crane foundation to be utilized for the construction of Swem Library.  
 

Library Exterior Problems

McPherson Design Group completed field investigation, analysis, report, and contract documents for repairs to the exterior of the existing Swem Library. Repairs included saw cutting the exterior brick, replacing precast panels, repairing flashing and weep holes, and other miscellaneous repair work.