Proj Overview

PROJECT OVERVIEW

The Sandy Pines Recreational Community recreational-vehicle resort and campground in Hopkins, Mich., has been popular with families for generations. To ensure the safety of their guests, the park owners opted to build a large, multipurpose facility that would serve as a storm shelter as well as a recreation building.

Read more about this project in the Spring 2022 issue of Ascent.

PRECAST SOLUTION

Precast concrete walls and a precast concrete roof, as well as a decorative non–precast concrete gabled roof, help the building fit in with existing buildings. The surfaces of the wall panels were made with formliners that resemble siding and painted after fabrication.

 

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Project Team

Architect/Structural Engineer

WLP Architects & Engineers

Contractor

FCC Construction

Owner

Sandy Pines Recreational Community

Precast Concrete Specialty Engineer

Fabcon

Precast Concrete Producer

Fabcon

Key Project Attributes

  • The two-story precast concrete facility is 12,000 ft2 and houses, among other things, administrative offices, meeting rooms, a commercial kitchen, and a library.
  • The colors, textures, and shapes on the outside of the new shelter/recreation center dispute the misconception that all concrete structures are ugly gray boxes.
  • To compensate for the instability of the sandy soil, the contractor, FCC Construction in Caledonia, Mich., sank conical precast concrete piers in multiple locations, keeping the foundation flat and level.

Project/Precast Scope

  • 9900 ft2 of insulated walls with formliner finishes, including stone and siding.
  • Components include 71 10-in. hollow-core slabs; 46 8-in. hollow-core slabs; 16 12-in. insulated walls with liner finish Type A (rock wall); 22 12-in. insulated walls with liner finish Type B (siding); four 6-in. solid walls; seven 8-in. solid walls; 10 inverted tee beams; four columns; two 10-in. solid slabs.
  • The new two-story shelter, which accommodates 1145 people, is FEMA 361–rated and can stand up to an EF-5 tornado with winds exceeding 200 mph.