PROJECT OVERVIEW

The Warrior in Transition (WT) Barracks at Fort Carson, Colo., was designed and built for wounded soldiers returning from deployment in war zones.  It is intended by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to be a healing and recuperative environment for members of the military who have been physically and psychologically wounded during combat and are transitioning back either to active duty at their U.S. post or civilian life in the private sector.

The Warrior Transition Unit’s mission and the rapid pace of returning soldiers required new facilities to be built quickly to keep pace with demand. In order to accommodate for earlier delays and the goal of moving the Warrior Transition Unit into the new complex as quickly as possible, the USACE selected a design/build method to fast-track the project with a schedule of only 365 days.

Read more about this project in the Summer 2021 issue of Ascent.

PRECAST SOLUTION

Stresscon was able to quickly manufacture the precast components in a plant near Fort Carson, shipped to the site, and quickly erected. Precast wall panels were also chosen because the brick and split-face block veneer could be cast directly into the panels at the plant.

Once they arrived on site, the panels were erected in a matter of days. Blast resistance and progressive collapse requirements had to be considered for the individual panels as well as the overall building structure. The shored panels were easily coordinated with steel framing and decking in order to meet the aggressive schedule.

Architect

TranSystems

Structural Engineer

Cator, Ruma & Assoc.

Contractor

Mortenson Construction

Owners

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Precast Concrete Producer

Stresscon Corp.

Key Project Attributes

• Precast concrete was determined to be the most efficient method of delivering the WT Barracks, which consist of four buildings built in a series of phases, the last of which were the Battalion and Company Headquarters facilities. The other buildings were configured as 80 two-bedroom apartments.
• Like many federal buildings, they are blast resistant. They also meet the progressive collapse requirements set out in UFC 4-023-03, which apply to any portion of a Department of Defense building that is three stories or more.
• The WT Barracks are designed to hold abnormal loading and are built with continuity, ductility, and redundancy to reduce the spread of damage after a blast impact.

Project/Precast Scope

• A total of 238 precast concrete pieces were used on the 96,400-sq-ft project.
• There were 105 insulated wall panels with cast-in thin brick and split-face concrete masonry, separated by architectural banding
• First floor included a topping slab over precast hollow-core planks, while floors two, three, and four were steel Eco-Span joists with slabs on metal decking.