Project Overview
Grand Rapids is a burgeoning city in western Michigan that offers an exceptional quality of life, a diversified economy, and ample opportunities for career growth. Featuring numerous cultural events throughout each year, nationally ranked food and beverage options, and world-class attractions, the city is one of the Midwest’s most desirable locations to live. To help meet the growing need for residential options in Grand Rapids, First Companies partnered with Lott3Metz Architecture and PCI-certified precast concrete producer Fabcon to develop Lofts on Grove, a four-story, mixed-use community featuring 110 apartments on the city’s northeast side.
A Community Connection Point
To meet the owners’ durability requirements while providing an attractive, visually engaging design, the project team specified an all-precast concrete solution. The building consists of approximately 144,000 ft2 of precast concrete, including 596 pieces of hollow core, 85 interior walls, and 112 exterior walls. The largest design challenge on this project was the building’s facade. The team was tasked with accommodating a request from the City of Grand Rapids and the neighborhood planning commission to establish a design that would align the aesthetics of Lofts on Grove with architectural features of existing buildings in the area. To accomplish this goal, the designers selected architectural precast concrete panels featuring liners, thin brick, and reveals for the facade. Multiple detailing and fabrication methods were deployed to make this design possible, resulting in a facade that is both aesthetically pleasing and functional.
“The use of precast concrete with thin brick provides a durable, impact-resistant system in a high-traffic area,” said Chad Van Kampen, PC, FPCI, M.ASCE, LEED AP, manager of preconstruction at Fabcon. “This minimizes the risk of major repairs due to vehicle impact, foot traffic, or deicing salts.”
Another challenge for the project team was the building’s retail space on the main floor. The highly visible space faces downtown Grand Rapids, and one of the project requirements was to ensure that the building’s structure did not impede sight lines. The team had to meet this requirement while also ensuring that the retail area could functionally support the building’s upper three floors. To address this challenge, the Fabcon team designed and manufactured a “wall beam” that spanned the full height of the second floor. This component eliminated the need for exposed framing inside the retail area, maximizing the floor-to-floor height of the space.
Precast concrete provides many advantages to Lofts on Grove. Due to the material’s durability, it will require little maintenance in the future. Precast concrete was also selected not only for the myriad benefits it offers, but also for the ability to be an integral component of the design-build process. Via a highly capable building information modeling team, Fabcon coordinated with the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing trades without consuming a substantial amount of the Lott3Metz team’s time.
“With everything being precast concrete, including walls, bearing walls, stair and elevator shafts, floors, and the roof deck, this project lent itself to being a difficult one to design up front,” said Josh Reynolds, CDT, senior project manager with First Companies. “But Fabcon did a fantastic job communicating necessary design changes. When erection was being completed in the field, there were very few changes or modifications that had to occur as pieces and parts began going together.”
As one of Grand Rapids’ newest mixed-used offerings, Lofts on Grove is a stunning example of precast concrete’s capabilities; the inviting and robust building will serve the community for years to come.
Mason Nichols is a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based writer and editor who has covered the precast concrete industry since 2013. |