The 83,000 square foot Adams Central Elementary School was constructed using 43,000 square feet of precast concrete panels. The new school includes small classrooms complemented by large collaborative zones for individual grades. The kindergarten pod has four classrooms, and also serves as the FEMA-rated storm shelter for the school.
To meet the project’s tight construction schedule, the design team engaged Enterprise Precast Concrete to provide design assistance and develop early shop drawings while the General Contractor was bidding the project. This participation shortened the construction schedule without delaying the hard bid process.
The exterior of the building incorporates a variety of finishes and materials to support the agricultural-themed design concept. These multiple finishes and thin brick patterns created an abstract representation of the rich agricultural lands viewed from overhead. The brick parquet patterns are intended to reflect land use and the stacked bond to reflect planted row crops while the acid etched and exposed aggregate precast concrete represents the farmer’s access to fields.
Precast concrete provided a complete exterior wall envelope system that was installed by a small team of erectors rather than the multiple trades typically needed to construct a brick veneer exterior. This shortened the construction timeframe and eliminated the need for temporary weather protection. |