Bloomberg Server Building

Hurricane Sandy was among the worst disasters ever to hit the United States, causing tens of billions of dollars in damages and losses. The storm surged more than 4 m (13 ft.) above the average low tide, leaving millions without power, severe flooding and properties destroyed.

One such building that experienced flooding housed the server farm for Bloomberg’s global financial transactions. The problem was that the power plant that runs the infrastructure was at street level and was dramatically flooded. The mechanical room took 75 cm (2.5 ft) of flooding during the hurricane, due to its close proximity to the rising Hudson River.

Solution

Bloomberg’s hired engineers, Weidlinger Associates Inc., had extensive previous experience with the Kryton System, and were convince that it would be a permanent solution to mitigating future flood damage. They worked closley with Kryton distributor, Dry Concrete, to come up with a solution to protect the vital systems from potential flooding in the future.

The final solution was to surround critical systems with waterproof concrete walls incorporating Kryton’s Krystol Internal Membrane (KIM) concrete waterproofing admixture. In addition, the concrete-to-concrete joints of the walls were constructed using Kryton’s Krystol Waterstop System to fully tank the room. To provide extra protection, Krystol T1 & T2 Waterproofing System was applied to the outside of the walls.

By implementing long-term waterproofing solutions to key areas, the Bloomberg building will withstand high water exposure caused by any future massive flooding.