When officials at the Martignetti Cos. decided to relocate and expand the regional headquarters and warehouse operations for its distribution of wines and spirits throughout New England, they decided to create a massive but efficient combination building that provided strong aesthetics as well as high energy efficiency. To help reach those goals, designers specified load-bearing and nonload-bearing high-performance insulated precast concrete wall panels for the building envelope.
The 680,000-square-foot facility, on 115 acres in Taunton, Massachusetts, cost more than $100 million and features the most advanced materials-handling systems and technologies available, the company said. The family-owned business employs more than 800 people in the facility.
To achieve the energy efficiency goals the company desired, architectural firm Ware Malcomb specified Carbon-Cast High Performance precast concrete insulated sandwich wall panels. The panels feature a layer of insulation sandwiched between two wythes of concrete, along with a proprietary epoxy-coated carbon-fiber composite grid for shear transfer and reinforcement. As a result, the panels can be lighter, stronger and more durable than comparable building systems while offering high energy efficiency.
“For this type of large industrial warehouse, precast concrete is our go-to solution,” says Grant Brandenburg, studio manager at Ware Malcomb. The insulated panels were cast 12 inches thick, comprising a 3-inch outer architectural wythe, 3 inches of insulation, and a 6-inch interior structural wythe. The panels, which provided an R-13 insulating value, represented the first use of the panels in a load-bearing application, according to Tim MacDonald, project manager for Strescon Ltd., which provided the structural panels for office portions of the project.
A second precaster, Fabcon, fabricated panels for the warehouse portion that provides storage for wine and spirits products (approximately 75% of the installation). The remaining space, devoted to corporate offices, was housed behind decorative finishes that included curtain wall and glass, providing a focal point for visitors at the building’s main entry.
Achieving the specific architectural finish for the panels cladding the regional office space presented a key challenge, Brandenburg notes. “The owners had particular architectural tastes as to what texture and color they wanted for those panels. We created multiple samples with various cement contents and amounts of exposed aggregates to find the appropriate choice for their vision. Once we agreed on the best sample, we used that as the basis for the mixture used to cast the panels.”
The insulated warehouse panels retained their standard-gray color and were painted after being erected. The interior sides of the panels were left exposed, with a smooth-trowel finish. The regional office space had the interior side furred out and drywalled, while the corporate offices inside the curtain wall received a variety of finishes in keeping with Class A office space.
The large site presented no problems for delivery or staging, Brandenburg notes, and erection moved smoothly. The site, in the Myles Standish Industrial Park, is gaining momentum for growth, and the Martignetti warehouse represents the largest facility in the park. “It should serve to give the park strong momentum to continue its growth,” Brandenburg says.
The owners agree that their new facility moves them a step ahead. “We are very pleased to be relocating our distribution and headquarters facilities to Taunton to begin a new chapter in our company’s 100-year history,” the company said in a statement. |