Arlington National Cemetery

WAI provided mechanical, electrical, and plumbing design services for the design-build renovation of the Memorial Reception Building at Arlington National Cemetery.  The building includes the Tomb of the Unknown and an amphitheater with stage used by, among others, the President of the United States for his Veterans Day and Memorial Day addresses.  The building also includes: a museum, a chapel, Tomb Guard quarters, offices, and a VIP lounge with Antiterrorism/Force Protection features including a Chemical, Biological, and Radiological filtration system. 

WAI’s design services included: a mechanical retrofit, HVAC acoustics assessment, electrical power and lighting retrofit, security and communication system improvements, life safety/fire protection engineering, plumbing retrofit, and waterproofing of the amphitheater’s stage.  The renovation corrected a serious water infiltration problem which the ANC had not been able to solve with previous repair projects. Specialty work included: stone restoration and renovation, new mechanical/electrical systems, restoration of wood doors and windows, ornamental metal work and display cases, and ornamental finishes.

One of WAI’s innovative design features provided on this project was the air conditioning of the two-story museum. The building previously did not have conditioned air supplied directly into the museum spaces.  Conventional thought was the building design and historic fabric did not allow routing of supply air directly into the museum spaces.  Although this item was not included in the scope of work, WAI identified a means to provide conditioned air to the museum space without cutting the plaster walls or ceilings.  In addition, the design-build team identified a sufficient number of cost saving modifications, to incorporate this additional work item at no increase in project cost.