PROJECT OVERVIEW
The Lehigh Valley Charter Arts High School is an 83,000-square-foot, three-story building located in downtown Bethlehem, PA. The space includes a 368-seat theater, green rooms, rehearsal studios, an art gallery, and an outdoor learning space. The second-floor, outdoor area boasts 225 square feet of planted raised beds that qualifies as green space for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). The school enables students from a broad geographic area to maximize their unique talents while also gaining a comprehensive high school education. The curriculum ranges from traditional core classes to college-level options in the arts. To open its doors for the 2015 school year, success of the project depended on an accelerated timeline and continued construction through winter months
PRECAST SOLUTION
The use of precast accelerated project timelines compared to using traditional building materials that would have required more on-site work, laborers, and additional materials during the winter months. Precast is fabricated off site in a quality-controlled environment and delivered to the job site just in time, which enables year-round construction. Bypassing major weather delays and job site disruption in the tight downtown space helped the team mitigate unforeseen expenditures and meet the project’s strict deadline. Complete with a sandblast finish on the precast architectural panels, the school fits in well with the surrounding area’s aesthetic in the middle of the city’s arts, cultural, and entertainment districts.
The new Lehigh Valley Charter Arts High School is double the size of the previous school and is a better fit for the arts education of the school. A total precast concrete solution proved to be the right move for combating the challenging site conditions, inclement weather, and tight construction schedule. By utilizing a building material cast in a factory-controlled environment, the team guaranteed quality with every piece and delivered the panels straight to the site for quick installation. Precast provides the aesthetic and structural versatility required for the school in Bethlehem, PA, to blend seamlessly with surrounding urban buildings. The school earned LEED® Gold certification.
“The school has twenty-one classrooms, a dedicated space for all majors, a green roof, a Commons cafe, and a 368-seat performance theater, all located within the highly efficient spaces of the all-precast building.” -Gary Knepper, Director of Sales and Marketing, Nitterhouse Concrete Products |