University at Albany, Whiteface Mountain Field Station Renovations

The Atmospheric Sciences Research Center's Whiteface Mountain Field Station was established in 1961 by the State University of New York as a university-wide center to promote and encourage programs in basic and applied sciences related to the atmosphere. This historically unique and state-of-the-art scientific research station sits atop a rural mountain in the Adirondack Mountains of northern New York at an elevation of 4,867 feet. The field station includes a main facility with laboratories, offices and lecture halls, as well as an observatory at the summit. The silo-shaped observatory is three stories tall and features an observation deck that is enclosed. The summit and observatory have paved road access, AC power, and fiber-optic internet service.

MJ worked with CS Arch to complete a condition assessment of the facility and associated structural design for renovations to the field station. The rehabilitation included the replacement of the walkway roof between the two structures, a support structure on the walkway to reattach the existing stair bearing on the walkway roof, support of a new pre-engineered tower to support equipment, repairs to the walkway load bearing wood wall framing at localized deterioration, repair of the existing bent plate at the observatory fire cab floor level, repair to the roof framing of the observatory and replacement of roof sheathing of the observatory where localized deterioration had occurred.