McKeon Door of DC worked alongside Cooper Carry and Whiting-Turner on the new $86 Million SMART Innovation Center at USM Southern Maryland!
The recently completed 84,000-square foot Southern Maryland Autonomous Research and Technology (SMART) building in California, MD houses classrooms, laboratories, offices, and conference spaces. The design team needed to fulfill a 1-HR rating requirement at the monumental stair in the building’s main lobby but did not want to sacrifice aesthetics. McKeon Door of DC had a solution — the side acting AC8814-G was the perfect fit for this application.
The AC8814-G that was installed is almost 31’-0” long and 26’-0” tall! The design team also challenged McKeon Door of DC to eliminate the fire door’s floor track by any means possible. Pressurization is a big hurdle to overcome in a fire door of this size. Hence a floor track would usually be necessary. However, McKEON was up for the challenge!
The McKEON engineering department came up with a solution to install the 26’-0” tall door without the floor track, allowing the design team to achieve their desired floor plan. The side folding accordion fire door is hidden in a wall pocket, only deploying when activated by a building alarm during an emergency, ready to protect building occupants!
The photo above showcases the unobstructed view from a second story classroom, made possible by the accordion!