WJLA-TV Broadcast Facility

Location: Arlington , Virginia

Approximate square footage: 80,000

The WJLA station accommodates two stations, WJLA (an ABC affiliate) and NewsChannel 8 (a 24-hour cable news channel), three multi-media conference rooms, and over 200 workstations for reporters, anchors and administration.

The facility is located in an area that spans the base of two 34-story office towers, which partially overlook the Potomac River . WJLA’s studio, control room and audio control are located one level above the main facility, while the NewsChannel 8 studio and operation are fully embedded in the activity of the main floor level.

The existing garage space was converted into a wide-open facility with the state of the art broadcast technology and technical equipment on display.

We utilized our expertise of the broadcast industry and technology in accommodating the two stations to this unusual space. The design goal of reliable and practical systems was achieved without compromise to the budget.

This design required several significant engineering challenges. The facility had to be kept up and running continuously (7X24 hours/day) and integrated into the building’s existing high voltage electrical, chilled and condenser water systems. We proposed several unique and practical solutions. The accepted solution was to employ the use of self contained air-conditioning units, generators and UPS systems. In addition, careful design was required on the grounding system in order to isolate the new technical system from the existing building multiple ground systems. This was done to establish a separate isolated path for all of the audio, video and data communications systems.

This facility, which included two technical equipment spaces, is backed up by two 1,000 kW diesel engine generators, a 500 kVA uninterruptible power system (UPS) and a water-cooled self contained air conditioning units.