Project Spotlight Tour: Langan Leader, June 2021

Learn more about Langan’s involvement in our featured projects.

  • The Wheeler – Brooklyn, NY
  • The Glasshouse – Pittsburgh, PA
  • Swarthmore College, Sharples Hall and Community Commons – Swarthmore, PA
  • Monmouth Consumer Centre – West Long Branch, NJ
  • Yale University, Tsai Center of Innovative Thinking – New Haven, CT
  • Lake Merritt BART Transit-Oriented Development – Oakland, CA

The Wheeler

OVERVIEW
The Wheeler, a 10-story, 622,150-SF addition atop the historic Macy’s Art Deco building, features Class A office space, a terrace and rooftop outdoor space, and the largest commercial floorplates in Brooklyn. Langan completed a detailed subsurface exploration while Macy’s was still open to uncover and evaluate the various foundation types and sizes throughout the building. Our engineers provided foundation solutions to accommodate higher loads, obtained approval for new foundations adjacent to the subway, and conducted waste characterization studies. We also addressed design, agency permitting, and inspection services for public right-of-way improvements; performed a design-level survey of subsurface utilities; and completed a limited building survey to help develop easement plans for a new subway entrance. This project is an example of adaptive reuse at its best, increasing both the building’s revenue generation and public benefits while enhancing streetscape and transit access.

Location
Brooklyn, NY

Client
Tishman Speyer

Services
Geotechnical
Environmental
Site/Civil
Surveying/Geospatial

Architects
Shimoda Design Group
Perkins Eastman

Strategic Partner
HMWhite


The Glasshouse

OVERVIEW
The Glasshouse is a five-story, residential mixed-use building with over 300 apartment units, ground floor restaurant and retail space, and indoor parking. The project is extremely environmentally sensitive because of the location within the floodplain, site contaminants, and the ACT II process. Langan’s environmental team facilitated the ACT II process that helped to procure funding; addressed site contaminants and underground storage tanks; and developed a soil characterization and management plan to optimize re-use and disposal. Our site/civil engineers coordinated with the DEP, Allegheny County Conservation District, and City of Pittsburgh to develop a stormwater management plan that met City and DEP requirements while working with the site constraints.
AWARDS
2021 ASCE Pittsburgh Sustainability Award

Location
Pittsburgh, PA

Client
Trammell Crow Company

Services
Site/Civil
Geotechnical
Environmental

Architect
Hord Coplan Macht

Strategic Partner
Rycon Construction


Swarthmore College – Sharples Hall and Community Commons

OVERVIEW
Swarthmore College is expanding Sharples Dining Hall to provide a new community commons for the campus that allows students and faculty to share meals and build relationships. Langan helped blend the expansion into the surrounding arboretum landscape, spearheaded the land development approval process, designed routes for geothermal-exchange pipes and distribution lines, and completed a 3D laser scan of the utility tunnel so it could be repurposed. We also optimized stormwater management areas to manage runoff from the development and other parts of campus to support Swarthmore’s sustainability commitment to reduce downstream effects from runoff. The sustainable stormwater design included green roofs, terraces, bioretention areas, a cistern for reusing rainwater, soil amendments, and an underground infiltration bed. Langan's contributions played a vital role in the team's pursuit of a Living Building Challenge certification.
AWARDS
2025 ACEC Pennsylvania Engineering Excellence Awards, Diamond Award
2024 ENR MidAtlantic Best Projects, Higher Education - Award of Merit
2024 Pennsylvania Society of Professional Engineers, Most Outstanding Engineering Achievement Award
2024 American Architecture Awards, Restoration/Renovation Category

Location
Swarthmore, PA

Client
Swarthmore College

Services
Geotechnical
Environmental
Site/Civil
Surveying/Geospatial

Architect
DLR Group

Strategic Partners
Jonathan Alderson Landscape Architects
ML Baird and Co.


Monmouth Consumer Centre

OVERVIEW
Constructed in the early 1990s over a closed residential landfill, the Monmouth Consumer Centre provides approximately 300,000 SF of open space shopping. Key anchor tenants include Home Depot, Buy Buy Baby, Ulta Beauty, and Dick’s Sporting Goods. Langan has conducted methane monitoring and landfill cap maintenance services at the site since 2008. We have continued to maintain and upgrade the passive and active methane extraction and monitoring systems since that time, while also supporting redevelopment of the site through NJDEP permitting, landfill gas monitoring and landfill cap restoration during helical pier and utility installations. Recently, Langan conducted evaluations of two sinkholes in the parking lot and supported the repair and maintenance of subsurface stormwater detention basins underlying the site.

Location
West Long Branch, NJ

Client
SITE Centers

Services
Environmental
Site/Civil
Geotechnical


Yale University – Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking

OVERVIEW
The Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale (or Tsai CITY) is a transformative addition to the Yale University campus and an essential step toward creating an interdisciplinary learning environment that cultivates innovators and leaders in all fields and sectors of society. The 12,500-SF, two-story, curved steel and glass building encourages circulation and allows the university to see and participate in ongoing work. Langan designed infiltration systems for the building to divert stormwater from the city’s 150-year-old “combined” sewer system, which had previously run the risk of overflowing to rivers during large storms. Stormwater runoff was captured for reuse with the addition of a rainwater collection tank, which supplies water to the project’s irrigation system. Use of this 10,000-gallon tank reduced stormwater runoff and the potable water usage.
AWARDS
2022 Architect’s Newspaper Best of Design Awards – Higher Education
2021 AIA New York Award of Merit for Best in Architecture

Location
New Haven, CT

Client
Yale University

Service
Site/Civil

Architect
Weiss/Manfredi

Strategic Partners
WSP
Whiting-Turner


Lake Merritt BART Transit-Oriented Development

OVERVIEW
The Lake Merritt BART Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) includes four buildings on two adjacent BART-owned lots, offering a total of 557 units of mixed market-rate and affordable housing and 517,000-SF of commercial space. Located above the BART station, Block 1 will consist of a 28-story mixed-use high-rise and a seven-story affordable senior housing building. Block 2 will consist of a 19-story office high-rise and a seven-story affordable housing building. Langan performed a preliminary geotechnical investigation; conducted Phase I and II Environmental Site Assessments; analyzed soil, soil vapor, and groundwater samples to assess potential contamination; and coordinated a Ground Penetrating Radar Survey to evaluate signs of remaining gas station-related infrastructure. We are also developing foundation solutions and working with Alameda County Department of Environmental Health to prepare a Corrective Action Plan outlining risk management and mitigation protocols. While brownfield conditions often prevent the redevelopment of TOD sites, Langan's efforts made this redevelopment viable.

Location
Oakland, CA

Clients
East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation
Strada Investment Group

Services
Geotechnical
Environmental

Architects
Pyatok
Solomon Cordwell Buenz


Selected Projects