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Gecolsa en Galapa

This building was built for the client Gecolsa and consists of two main buildings, Manufacturing and Hydraulic Systems, and six secondary buildings, Painting, Substation, Kitchen, two small buildings and a guard post.

The project area is more than 4,000,000-square-feet. The main buildings are designed for future expansion and tilt-up panels were prepared to provide support for the roof and bridge crane for the actual and the second stage.

Operations required high clearance for access of heavy vehicles (more than 60-feet), for that reason, the panels were up to 68-feet tall. Large spandrel panels were also used because wide doors were present to allow the passage of heavy trucks. The spandrel panels are supported by rails built in the tilt panels, on each side of the spandrel panel.

There is a high density of wall panels area vs. floor area because of the great height of the panels and the quantity of interior panels.

In the structural design, panels were preferred not only to support roof loads, but also to support bridge cranes and transfer the verticals and transverse loads to the diaphragm of the building.

Another reason why the system was chosen is because a solution was offered with thermal stability using tilt-up walls and roof with lightweight concrete with insulation (EPS), this was very important because the location is in a tropical zone with high rainfall. The project is also near the sea with high salinity in the air, leading to high levels of corrosion at an early age, and tilt-up walls represented a low maintenance cost compared with a metal frame structure.

The design of the panels had louvers for natural ventilation of the buildings, which were cast in two parts. The first cast has a hole that contained all the louvers of each tilt-up panel, and then the louver was placed and the second cast was complete. The louvers were installed when the panels were lifted. This facilitated the installation of louvers that had to be placed at 7m of level floor. The building was designed to be eco-friendly, besides having natural ventilation through louvers on the exterior walls, natural lighting system on the roof with skylights (Solatube) was also used, it represents energy saving for the client.

 
Main banner image for Gecolsa en Galapa

Project Location

Galapa, 82001
Colombia

TILT-UP ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

The Tilt-Up Achievement Awards were established to honor projects that use site-cast tilt-up concrete to introduce new building types, advance industry technology and provide unique solutions to building programs. Winning entries illustrate the variety, beauty, and flexibility of tilt-up construction.

ACHIEVEMENT

2015

The world’s greatest tilt-up structures are featured by the TCA as Tilt-Up Achievement Award Winners. Learn more >

Project Images

TILT-UP TODAY MAGAZINE / PROJECTS IN THE NEWS

Project Team (TCA Members)

General Contractor:
 
Concrete Contractor:
 
Architect:
 
Engineer:
Leviat
Suppliers:
Leviat
Nox-Crete Products Group
Photographer(s):

Project Specifics

Project Category:
Production/Manufacturing
Building Types:
Finishes:
Features:
Insulation:
Environmental:
Number of Floors:
0
Tilt-Up Wall Area:
242,489 sq ft (22,527 sq m)
Total Floor Area:
271,872 sq ft (25,257 sq m)
Project Footprint:
277,043 sq ft (25,737 sq m)
Tallest Panel:
68 ft 1 in (20.75 m)
Widest Panel:
36 ft 2 in (11.02 m)
Largest Panel:
1,168 sq ft (108.5 sq m)
Heaviest Panel:
133,790 lbs (60,686 kg)
Longest Spandrel:
35 ft 5 in (10.80 m)