Conventus Building - Table of Contents

2016 Photos
Exterior - Conventus Building
  1001 Main Street, Buffalo, NY

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TEXT Beneath Illustrations

2016 Photos West elevation on Main Street Left: Conventus west elevation on Main Street ...  Neighbor to the right (south): UB Medical School under construction Conventus left: West elevation on Main Street ... Conventus right: South elevation on High Street ... Right: UB Medical School  ... There will be sky bridges to the UB Medical School beginning on the second floor West elevation on Main Street  at the corner of High Street ... Upper steel columns transition at the first floor to concrete columns that support the two levels of underground parking below ... Steel moment frames in both directions used to allow for the expansive glass facade ... Moment-resisting frames: Rectilinear assemblages of beams and columns, with the beams rigidly connected to the columns. Resistance to lateral forces is provided primarily by rigid frame action - that is, by the development of bending moment and shear force in the frame members and joints ... Details below from left to right: West elevation on Main Street West elevation on Main Street  ... Insulated metal panels cladding West elevation on Main Street ...  Main Street entrance ...  Glass curtain wall  ... Colored glass  spandrel panels West elevation on Main Street . West elevation on Main Street ... Details below: West elevation on Main Street  ... Insulated metal panels West elevation on Main Street at the corner of High Street ... Three red painted fiberglass fresh air intakes affectionately nicknamed "lipsticks" have automatic fans in the underground parking  ... Concrete columns (not shown) support the two levels of underground parking

2016 Photos "Affine Shells"   "Affine" pronunciation: a FINE ... Affine definition: allowing for or preserving parallel relationships ...  Rigidized Metals Corp. On High Street, looking towards Main Street ... Far left: Above ground section of the concrete columns that support the two levels of underground parking below ... Triple red air intakes    ... One of three "Affine Shells" Three "Affine Shells":   Iconic custom wind screens crafted with stainless steel perforated metal panels and stainless steel plates.  ...  Right: Security booth  "Affine Shells" "Affine Shells" "Affine Shells"

2016 photos High Street south elevation South elevation on High Street (east elevation around corner at right) ... Note ground level patio ... Details below from left to right: High Street south elevation High Street south elevation ...  Glass curtain wall with sun louvers that are lit from below at night  ... Steel moment frames in both directions to allow for the expansive glass facade High Street south elevation ... Second entrance High Street south elevation High Street south elevation ... Note unfinished 200-foot-long, two-story bridge between Conventus and the under construction John R. Oishei Children's Hospital of Buffalo at middle right in the photograph ...Positioned as the northern gateway to the medical campus, the building will be connected on the second and third levels  ...  The Children’s surgery suites will be on the second level  ...  Conventus has also been engineered to have sky bridges to the new University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and to the U.B. Research Institute on Addictions at 1021 Main Street High Street south elevation ...  Connector to Children's Hospital  High Street south elevation ...  Connector to Children's Hospital  High Street south elevation ...  Connector to Children's Hospital ... Spandrel panels are green colored glass

2016 photos North elevation on Goodrich Street North elevation on Goodrich Street ... Right: West elevation on main Street ...  Construction behind Conventus is on Children's Hospital ... Detail below: North elevation on Goodrich Street ... Left (white building): Children's Hospital  ...  Right: Conventus

Excerpts Conventus Building Filling up on Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus By Jonathan D. Epstein Buffalo News June 18, 2015 Conventus was designed as a link between the Medical Campus’ clinical, research and academic entities, with direct building connections to UB’s new School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and to the John R. Oishei Children’s Hospital, both now under construction. In fact, the name “Conventus” refers to the “coming together” of doctors, educators, and researchers, Ciminelli officials say. “The goal was to have a building that was multipurpose in terms of bringing together all the ideas of the medical campus,” Ciminelli Executive Vice President Dennis Penman said during a tour of the building Wednesday. “We were able to achieve the goal.” The complex – with its  glass curtain facade, LED lights and a prominent entrance on High Street – was built on land that Frank L. Ciminelli had purchased in 1992 at 50 High. The firm imploded the previous building on the site in May 2007. The first floor will contain the main lobby, a First Niagara Bank branch, a Starbucks Coffee outlet, and an upscale food court with outdoor patio on Goodrich Street, to attract people from the Allentown and Elmwood communities as well as the Medical Campus. “This is to attract the energy of Main Street into the Medical Campus,” Penman said. The second and third floors will be taken up by Kaleida Health, including for the administrative, patient intake and discharge functions for the ambulatory surgery center for Children’s. The actual surgery suites will be on the 200-foot-long, two-story bridge between Conventus and the hospital. UBMD and UB’s academic offices will occupy the fourth and fifth floors, respectively. The top two floors are for the three biomedical firms. The rest of the building remains empty and unfinished on the inside, with bare concrete floors, metal plate ceilings, exposed wires and pipes, and steel beams and columns caked with spray-foam insulation. That includes the sixth floor that Kinex would occupy. Each floor is over an acre in size. UB and Kaleida, whose giant facilities are not expected to be completed until 2017, are likely to start work on fitting out their respective floors in the coming weeks, said Denise Juron-Borgese, director of development and planning for Ciminelli. But they’re not anticipated to move in until a year later, in the fall of 2016. There’s also a 12,500-square-foot “green” roof, with a layer of plant pans filled with an evergreen mix and ornamental chives no taller than 6 inches, designed to thrive in Buffalo weather. “It’s relatively maintenance-free,” Juron-Borgese said. “It’s no different than your own garden.”

Conventus is a seven story medical office building located at the northern entrance to the growing Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. Sandwiched between University of Buffalo's future School of Medicine and the future John R. Oishei Children's Hospital, Conventus intends to provide practical, clinical and medical research space on its upper floors as well as retail space on the first floor. Hidden below the structure are two stories of parking for its tenants and patrons. Starting with its energy efficient green roof, Conventus, Latin for "coming together" has achieved a LEED Platinum certification. The over 350,000 square foot structure is of steel frame construction with concrete on metal deck upper floors and a reinforced concrete first floor slab. The upper steel columns transition at the first floor to concrete columns that support the two levels of underground parking below. To resist lateral building forces, the structure utilizes steel moment frames in both directions to allow for the expansive glass facade and to maximize high-end office space. Siracuse Engineer's Role: Structural Engineer of Record for the superstructure. Design of all steel framing, including floor, roof and column designs. Design of the building's lateral [side] force resisting system. Coordinate with consultants of adjacent projects to ensure a seamless connection between adjoining structures.                  Project Value:  $80 - $100 million Project Size:  350,000 square feet Completion:  Spring 2015 - Siracuse Engineers PC: Conventus  (online June 2016)

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Special thanks to Denise Juron-Borgese, Anne Duggan,  David Mumm and Brian Byrne of Ciminelli Real Estate Co.,
and also Celia White and Kristin Tomas of  Athenex for their assistance in July 2016

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Photos and their arrangement © 2016 Chuck LaChiusa
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