Precast Solutions - May/June 2008 - (Page 17)

measure seemed to be building the boathouse with a steel frame and precast cladding. “We needed a material that was durable,” he says. However, none of the precast in the Wright structure is load-bearing, and many types of concrete were used in the project, including cast-in-place for the part of the foundation sitting on the sea wall. The corporation selected Lakelands Concrete to provide the precast concrete for the project. “It wasn’t originally designed as precast,” says Lakelands Concrete’s Carl Ashley. “It was designed around cast-inplace with a stucco finish.” The use of precast concrete for the building’s facade meant adding joints that Wright had not used in his original design. This proved to offer the ideal solution, however, given the fact that part of the building was on the water and builders had to contend with Buffalo’s unwieldy climate. After the precast panels had been built in the factory, it took just over a month to erect them on site. Knauss says he decided to have the erector build the wall on the water first so he could work from what would be the inside of the building. Once that wall was up, he constructed the other three walls. The panels were clipped to the steel frame, and the corners overlapped to give the structure a box-like look. Glass inserts were added to the top of the parapet to raise the height of the balcony parapet to meet modern code requirements without changing the proportions of Courtesy Lakelands Concrete the original design. “The pieces were extremely large,” says Knauss. “We wanted the panels as large as possible to create a monolithic look.” The precast panels were in the neighborhood of 35 feet long, 11 feet high and 10 inches thick, and they weighed about 4,000 to 5,000 The large precast concrete panels, weighing 4,000 to 5,000 pounds per foot, created a monolithic look that also stands up against the harsh Buffalo climate. Courtesy Lehigh Construction Group Courtesy Lakelands Concrete MAY/JUNE 2008 | PRECAST SOLUTIONS 17

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Precast Solutions - May/June 2008

Precast Solutions - May/June 2008 Contents Sustainability and Practicality Security Blanket A Frank Lloyd Wright Takes Shape Concrete Joins MENSA Precast Lightens Up

Precast Solutions - May/June 2008

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