capitallighting.com 56 C A P I T A L N O W

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1 The Capitol Building is more than 200 years old. A new building, added to the grounds, had to look like it belonged. That made it a one-of-a-kind electrical job for Freestate Electrical Construction. 56 C A P I T A L N O W

2 Top photo The Capitol s East Front Plaza gradually takes on a more finished appearance as evidenced in this aerial photo taken on February 15, Center photo Emancipation Hall and the view of U.S. Capitol through skylight. Bottom photo One of two orientation theaters. Background photo The Capitol grounds before major construction began in July Photos: Architect of the Capitol C A P I T A L N O W 57

3 It s the largest project in the 215-year history of the Capitol an extension of an historic building that means something to every American. At nearly 580,000 sq. ft., the Capitol Visitor s Center in downtown Washington, D.C., is three-quarters the size of the Capitol itself. It s a needed building, but it was designed and built underground so as to avoid detracting one bit from views of the Capitol itself. Construction-wise, work began in April 2003; projected opening to the public is December The electrical work went to Freestate Electrical Construction (Beltsville, Md.), one of the largest contractors in the area; Freestate brought in Capital Lighting & Supply for both the lighting fixtures as well as all of the power distribution equipment. Everything is BIG Everything about this project is big. The extent of electrical work has about doubled over the five-year period, according to Michael Wagner, vice president of construction for Freestate. Despite the fact that Freestate grosses about $160 million annually (and has been around for a while) this is the largest single contract in the company s history. In thinking about this project, you have to put it in context, Wagner explained. The building had to match the Capitol. We have custom fixtures made of bronze, many with hand-blown glass unique and designed for today s function; while maintaining an aesthetics that blends with the development and history of the Capitol itself. The job was to tie this building to one that s more than 200 years old. You know, we don t build a lot of buildings these days the way they built the Capitol a lot of stone, marble and plaster. The Architects (RTKL) worked very hard to design a building that looked like the existing Capitol, rather than an annex or an addition. For us at Freestate for me, anyway this has been a career -type project. You get one of these in a lifetime. An example? There was one instance where we were installing special fixtures with alabaster stone, Wagner related. It turns out that alabaster is like a sponge it absorbs oils from human skin. So we had our electricians wearing white gloves to install these. While that s an interesting sidelight, the project s degree of difficulty, coupled with the tedious process of installation for all of the detailed lighting, was recognized by the Washington Building Congress. Freestate received the WBC s prestigious Craftsmanship Award for this project. Security Aspects While the CVC was planned before 9/11/01, that attack changed the nature of the building. It became integrated into a Capitol evacuation plan. Previously, the evacuation plan was for people leaving the Capitol to go down side streets, and so forth, Wagner said. Now, there is the option of basically going into the CVC. Day-to-day construction task also changed as a result. The difficulties of this job the constructability were extremely continued to page C A P I T A L N O W

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5 continued from page 58 challenging. Getting materials and manpower to the site require extreme coordination, Wagner noted. Capital Lighting had to provide delivery personnel, each with background checks. They had to coordinate common carrier deliveries with the United States Capitol Police. A great deal of planning and extra effort was necessary. Capital Lighting and Supply responded to the challenge. Additionally, each site worker had to go through metal detectors and a security screening before entering. I don t mean just at the start of the day; if one of our guys left the facility for work on the exterior of the compound, he had to go through the entire process all over again. All new power distribution equipment had to be interfaced with the existing Capitol s Network System without disruption, thus allowing the Capitol and our government the ability to conduct the nation s daily business. Again, Capital Lighting played a very critical role in this accomplished challenge, Wagner said. Another WBC Craftsmanship Award was received by Freestate for this phase of the work. Lighting Is Key Electrically, the job was very difficult but not impossible. Mike Dugan, who is Freestate s owner, dedicated special resources to get this job done, Wagner said. As a result, we made all of our commitments, hit or bettered all of our date milestones. In fact, we actually brought permanent power to the project three months early. Capital Lighting & Supply and General Electric helped us to do that. It was a plus for the project as a whole. More than 300 different lighting fixture types are installed in the CVC; many of them were custom items. Susan Graves of Capital was the saving grace for us on many of the issues and challenges presented. This was a very demanding situation, and an incredible level of detail and research was required. Susan and Capital helped us to get all of it right the approvals, delivery dates, coordination with the lighting consultant, the architect and the Architect of the Capitol. What The Country Has Got Much of electrical work at the CVC (as is typical in this business) is out of sight. But the job s lighting element was important not only to Freestate and Capital, Wagner and his electricians but to future visitors as well. There were several important stipulations on this job, Wagner said. We were told this building is to last 200 years. And it was important for us to marry the Capitol so that, when a visitor moves around from the CVC to the Capitol building itself, he or she doesn t feel too much of a transition. The designers and all of the tradespeople have accomplished this. That s what our nation has tried to accomplish. Pictures surrounding this story give you a feel for what was involved... including items you won t see when you go downtown and take a tour. 60 C A P I T A L N O W

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