PROJECT OVERVIEW

The Maple River K-12 School in Mapleton, Minn., is part of a long-range plan to consolidate three separate schools into a single, centralized campus that can accommodate 1000 occupants. Funded by a $63.3 million referendum, the new campus accommodates the diverse needs of 13 class levels, balancing classroom sizes and providing equal access to resources and support.

Before precast concrete was widely available, the school’s exterior finish would probably have been brick, says Nienhaus. Other exterior options, such as metal panels and stone, would have been cost-prohibitive.

Read more about this project in the Summer 2023 issue of Ascent.

PRECAST SOLUTION

Before precast concrete was widely available, the school’s exterior finish would probably have been brick, says Nienhaus. Other exterior options, such as metal panels and stone, would have been cost-prohibitive.

Architect/Structural Engineer

ISG

Owner

Maple River School District

Contractor

Kraus-Anderson

Precast Concrete Producer

Wells

Key Project Attributes

• Due to concrete’s density, total–precast concrete structures absorb sound and are therefore an ideal choice for a school.
• Wells completed its portion of the project in three months, a feat that would have taken twice as long had the district chosen a different material.
• Wells designed a 97 × 70-ft interior room strong enough to withstand an EF5 tornado (the highest rating on the Enhanced Fujita scale of tornado intensity).
• The architect did not compromise on aesthetics or function to be able to use the larger precast concrete sections.

Project/Precast Scope

• The two-story building comprises 195,855 square feet of space.
• The 500-seat auditorium leveraged precast concrete stadium seating.
• The architect designed the school layout to work with a typical hollow-core plank size and a standard 12-foot-wide precast concrete panel when possible, to limit the amount of smaller panels.