South Hadley, MA
Mount Holyoke College, Boat House
Scope/Solutions
The Mount Holyoke College rowing team needed a permanent riverside boat house. Through a partnership with the Department of Conservation and Recreation, the new boat house also provides a space for community programming and access for disabled rowers. SGH was the structural engineer for the new boat house.
SGH designed the boat house structure, located on the Connecticut River in a flood zone, in accordance with FEMA “wet-floodproofing” standards to allow the building to withstand occasional flooding.
Highlights of our structural design also include the following:
- Designed the timber-framed superstructure to allow for two large, column-free, boat storage bays and support for future vertical expansion, including an elevator and storage mezzanine
- Detailed the long skylight at the roof ridge to resist wind and seismic loading
- Developed special detailing and designed built-up wind girts constructed of engineered timber to limited the need for lateral bracing
- Collaborated with the architect to provide material efficiency and uniform appearance exposed framing and to accomplish the architectural vision by aligning details with windows and flood doors in the foundation stem walls
Photo courtesy of Peterson Architects
Photo courtesy of Peterson Architects
Photo courtesy of Peterson Architects
Photo courtesy of Peterson Architects
Photo courtesy of Peterson Architects
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Project Summary
2006
Completion Date
Solutions
New Construction
Services
Structures | Performance & Code Consulting
Markets
Education
Client(s)
Peterson Architects
Specialized Capabilities
Building Design | Risk & Resilience Assessment
Key team members
Additional Projects
Northeast
Bridge Boston Charter School
Bridge Boston Charter School offers an intensive, success-focused learning program for the city’s at-risk students. SGH was the structural engineer of record for the adaptive reuse of the 1970s brick masonry structure, and construction of a new 3,000 sq ft addition and stand-alone gymnasium.
Northeast
Three-dimensionally Printed Glass Testing
In 2017, SGH collaborated with the MIT Media Lab on an exhibit for Milan Design Week. Looking to advance their research with a new geometry, MIT retained SGH to perform additional testing on 3D-printed glass samples in 2024.