Block 16 is a six-story office building and parking garage in Milwaukee, WI.  The office building portion has a steel structure with a brick and precast veneer.  The parking garage portion has CIP structure with a brick and precast veneer.  The building has an older classical aesthetic to it: archways, Doric columns, window pediments, intricate cornices, and copper dome.

Architect

Engineer

Pierce Engineers

Contractor

Miron Construction

Owner

Hammes

Precaster

Stonecast Products, Inc.

Precast Specialty Engineer

Precast Technical Services Group

PCI Certified Erector

Key Project Attributes

• 30’-0” tall columns with 4’-0” diameter at SW rotunda and NW motor court entrance.  The columns had to be done in 4’-0” tall pieces in order to achieve a 30 degree staggered joint pattern.  There is a structural steel HSS tube inside the column to which the precast pieces were welded.  The molds were of fiberglass in order to achieve the classical tapering style.
• 6’-0” tall x 4’-0” deep cornice at the fifth floor.  Many of these giant cornice pieces were up to 30’-0” long in order to span from column to column.  The mold was made of rubber so that it could be manipulated to achieve the three different radius portions of the building.
• 9’-0” tall x 20’-0” wide triple window surrounds.  These window surrounds were done as one piece for ease of erection and for a cleaner aesthetic appearance.  The largest surrounds were poured first and wood molds were cut down in stages to pour the smaller surrounds.
• 20’-0” tall curved wall panels with archway openings at the motor court entrance.  These curved wall panels have a running bond reveal pattern to give the appearance of hand laid stone.  The molds were made of wood except for the detailing around the archways, which were achieved with curved rubber inserts.

Project/Precast Scope

• Five stories with penthouse inside dome
• Precast veneer on CIP parking structure
• 13-month erection time