Project Overview
In 2004, the historic Summit Country Day School in Cincinnati, Ohio, suffered a shocking partial collapse after excavation for an adjacent foundation wall undermined the structure. In 2014, a plan was put in place to rebuild the five damaged floors of the southeast wing.
The challenge the design team faced was how to complete the entire $10 million project during a single summer break. “The schedule challenges were self-imposed in response to concerns about mixing on-site construction activities while school was in session,” explains Richard Thomas, vice president of SHP Leading Design, the architect on the project. The project teams also faced noise restrictions that limited work to an 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. window, and concerns about unknown design quirks and matching the architecture of the 126-year-old structure.
“In each of those challenges, precast solved the issue,” Thomas says. The design team chose a total precast concrete solution for the structure and envelope that would support interior column-free flexibility.
The scope of the work was significant enough to span two summer sessions using traditional construction methods. But by choosing a precast concrete design, the elements could be designed, manufactured, shipped, and erected in just 13 weeks. The use of precast concrete also allowed designers to exactly replicate the detail and character of the existing historic structure, and because the panels were cast off-site, noise restrictions weren’t an issue.
Precast Solution
The precast concrete design was executed under an Integrated project delivery methodology, through which the architect contractor, owner precast manufacturer, erector, and engineers worked collaboratively, leveraging design assist and building information modeling technologies to streamline the process. “Design assist, prefabrication, 3D modeling and laser scan technologies contributed to the highly collaborative effort,” Thomas says.
One benefit of this collaborative process was the ability to hone the design to minimize the number of precast elements from more than 100 to just 49 multistory, multilayered insulated panels. “The resulting design provides excellent weather tight and energy efficient performance far surpassing the capabilities of alternative envelope systems, including traditional masonry wall systems,” Thomas says.
Onsite, the delivery and staging process was carefully orchestrated to achieve a just-in-time delivery mentality. “No panel sat for more than 2 hours once arriving at the site,” he says. This careful planning allowed for the full scope of precast, including the structure and envelope on the six-story, 12,000-ft2 addition to be erected in just 21 days.
Thomas notes that while the first cost of the design was higher than other methodologies, the speed of erection more than made up the difference. It resulted in a cost-effective solution that met the owner’s durability, schedule, and performance criteria in the context of the original architecture.
“The intricate design of the existing facility could not have been re-created for the same dollars and certainly in the same time frame by any other construction approach,” Thomas says. “Gate Precast’s capabilities in design and fabrication far exceeded expectations in producing an extraordinary level of detail panel profile and panel performance.” |