State School V-1

The State School V-1, a prototype school in Hialeah Gardens, Fla., built to accommodate the needs of the growing Miami-Dade County Public School District, features a unique design concept—the structure is meant to look like a Lego set that was not completely put together.

To achieve this vision, while adhering to a quick-turnaround construction schedule, the Miami-Dade School Board opted to execute the design via Tilt-Up rather than the more time-consuming alternative. The switch to Tilt-Up enabled all trades to work at the same time, resulting in a timeline of less than 12 months from ground-breaking to move-in. To make the schedule even more efficient, the panels for a two-story walkway were converted to Tilt-Up from cast-in-place using lid panels. The walkway panels have slopes that drain from the lid panels into a cast gutter. This gutter matches pipes cast into the vertical Tilt-Up panels so water can drain down the legs.

Bright color hues of white, yellow, blue, red and gray support the Lego concept and also lend a modern art deco look that complements the region’s famed architecture. All panels are 100-percent exposed concrete, so film-faced plywood was used to cast the 3-foot recesses for limited sacking and patching.