YOU ARE INVITED to participate!  The global Tilt-Up industry gathers this year at the beautiful Amelia Island Plantation in Amelia Island, Florida.  The TCA Annual Convention runs from October second through the fourth. New this year: the TCA will be unveiling a new field supervisor/ project manager track at the 2012 TCA Annual Convention. The focused series of sessions will address issues critical to the development and success of today’s field supervisors and project managers.

Download the exhibitor registration form here.

More information at www.tilt-up.org/convention

Dayton Superior’s two apps are:

Dayton Superior Searcher: Available free in the Android Market and the iTunes™ App Store. The Dayton Superior Searcher provides users with a wide range of detailed information about the company’s products including material safety data sheets (MSDS), technical data sheets (TDS), product information, list price information, product bulletins and success stories.

Dayton Superior Calculator – Available free in the Android Market and coming soon to the iTunes App Store, the Dayton Superior Grout Calculator allows customers to easily determine the amount of grout required to cover a variety of shapes.

In addition, for smart phone users, both apps include a feature where a touch on Dayton Superior’s telephone number within the app will connect immediately to customer service.

These apps are available on the Dayton Superior website at: www.daytonsuperior.com/Apps or by going directly to the Android Market or iTunes App Store and searching Dayton Superior.

“Dayton Superior continues to extend our spirit of innovation to an array of new platforms, adding real value to the customer experience,” explained Rick Zimmerman, Dayton Superior CEO. “These apps allow for greater real-time engagement with our customers. We are now there with them on the jobsite to assist in finding the right product solution for their immediate need and we stand ready to respond in the delivery of those solutions.”

The introduction of these mobile apps continues Dayton Superior’s customer communication initiative. Beginning in December 2011, the company introduced a strategic renewal of their chemical product line which included the use of QR codes on packaging. The QR codes allow smart phone users to gain immediate access to MSDS, technical data sheets and product information in Spanish.

For more information on Dayton Superior’s new apps visit www.daytonsuperior.com/Apps/.

ABOUT DAYTON SUPERIOR CORPORATION

Dayton Superior is the leading North American provider of specialized products consumed in nonresidential, concrete construction, and the largest concrete forming company serving the domestic, nonresidential construction market. Their products can be found on construction sites nationwide and are used in nonresidential construction projects, including: infrastructure projects, such as highways, bridges, airports, power plants and water management projects; institutional projects, such as schools, stadiums, hospitals and government buildings; and commercial projects, such as retail stores, offices and recreational, distribution and manufacturing facilities.

Non-traditional applications of Tilt-Up concrete construction provide very different solutions for two high-profile museums.

By: Mitch Bloomquist, Tilt-Up Concrete Association

In a testament to the versatility and applicability of Tilt-Up concrete construction, two recent projects — the expansion of the Saint Louis Art Museum and a new home for the National Museum of Health and Medicine — explore very different and innovative, non-traditional uses of the method.

The concrete wall panels creating the dynamic geometry of the National Museum of Health and Medicine serve solely as a frame for the building and are clad with stone and metal.  Contrariwise, the monumental polished panels produced for the Saint Louis Art Museum are not a contributing element of the building’s structural system; they serve simply as a façade.  In both cases, Tilt-Up has presented itself not only as a workable solution to a demanding proposition, but a practical and efficient one and, by some accounts, the only one.

FRAME/

In 1862, Surgeon General William Hammond directed medical officers in the field to collect “specimens of morbid anatomy together with projectiles and foreign bodies removed” and to forward them to a newly founded museum for study.  The National Museum of Health and Medicine was established during the Civil War as the Army Medical Museum. A center for the collection of specimens for research in military medicine and surgery, it inspires interest in and promotes the understanding of medicine with a special emphasis on tri-service American military medicine.  Recognized for its ongoing value to the health of the military and to the nation, the Museum identifies, collects, and preserves important and unique resources to support a broad agenda of innovative exhibits, educational programs, and scientific, historical, and medical research.

Home to the bullet that killed President Abraham Lincoln and myriad other morbid oddities, the National Museum of Health and Medicine recently opened the doors to its new building in Silver Spring, Maryland.  The US Army Corps of Engineers awarded TCA Member, Costello Construction of Columbia, Maryland the design build contract.  KlingStubbins of Washington, DC, designed the project.  Previously located at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in the District of Columbia, the new facility, which stands right outside the gates of Fort Detrick’s Forest Glen Annex, provides greater pubic access and a permanent home for the institution.

The National Museum of Health and Medicine is one of the first blast resistant Tilt-Up buildings in the United States.  “The blast design and construction was particularly complicated due to the Museum’s location, which straddles the protected area of the Forest Glenn Annex,” explained David Costello, President of Costello Construction.  The building was designed in accordance with the Unified Facilities Criteria (UFC), DOD Minimum Antiterrorism Standards for Buildings, including UFC 4-010-01 which is the primary guideline for blast-resistant design and construction.

Dissected by bands of glass, the shifting volumes of the main exhibition space allow slices of natural light to penetrate the otherwise guarded structure.  The dynamic form, clad in stone and metal panels, moves vertically and horizontally, stretching away from the center of the building.  Deep overhangs resulting from the shifting volumes mark the main entrance created by the intersecting bands of glass.

The sloping gallery walls were initially designed to be steel-framed.  According to Costello, “the decision to use Tilt-Up construction was made once we realized that strict environmental moisture control needed for the interior of the building made the already-planned Dens Glass substrate unacceptable due to the high number of penetrations made while attaching the veneer to the substrate.”  While the horizontal band of glass prohibited the use of conventional Tilt-Up panels, the use of somewhat less conventional Tilt-Up spandrel panels proved to be the perfect solution.

The structural design of the project is perhaps as creative as the architectural concept.  The non-gallery portions of the building were built with conventional Tilt-Up construction, while the exterior gallery walls from the foundation to the sill of the glass band are poured-in-place concrete.  The Tilt-Up spandrel panels above the glass band are supported by large trusses bearing on cast-in-place internal columns that cantilever out to the perimeter of the building.  The columns sit on large spread footings.  Costello explained “…because of the continuous window system that dissected all of the gallery walls in a horizontal band, there was no way to transfer loads to the foundation system from the roof structure via the exterior walls.  To make matters more complicated, we could not have columns at the exterior walls because of the architectural design of the project.”  While the required slope for the spandrel panels required considerable engineering to accommodate the top pick (suitcase) lift condition, Costello insisted the spandrel panels saved the project and allowed a challenging building form to come to life.  “Tilt-Up presented itself as the most cost effective way of constructing the building and delivering the 50’ clear spans of the museum’s gallery spaces while creating a substrate that facilitated the vapor resistant requirements of the project.”

When asked how the museum had been a pioneering application of Tilt-Up construction, Costello replied, “We believe the Museum opens up untapped potential for Tilt-Up as a method of construction for building frame components.  We truly think this is one of the most undersold or misunderstood benefits of Tilt-Up construction and feel that many of the buildings built today would be more efficient if built using a Tilt-Up process for parts of the frame; even if the entire building were veneered with brick or some other cladding products.”

/FAÇADE

Images provided courtesy of the Saint Louis Art Museum and David Chipperfield Architects

The Saint Louis Art Museum, Located in Forest Park in Saint Louis, Missouri, is situated atop Art Hill overlooking the Grand Basin, the central gathering place for the 1904 World’s Fair.  The museum is home to one of the most comprehensive art collections in the United States of America.  Founded in 1879, the Saint Louis Art Museum, according to their mission, collects, presents, interprets, and conserves works of art of the highest quality across time and cultures; educates, inspires discovery, and elevates the human spirit; and preserves a legacy of artistic achievement for the people of St. Louis and the world.

Designed by renowned American architect Cass Gilbert for the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition, also known as the World’s Fair, the Saint Louis Art Museum’s original structure was the only building from the World’s Fair designed to be permanent.  The building has undergone several modifications and a variety of additions including an administrative wing, auditorium, and conservation wing, added from 1980-1985, to make up the museum complex today.  Although, the long awaited expansion of the Saint Louis Art Museum is quickly coming to fruition.

Without disrupting the monumentality of the museum’s original Cass Gilbert building and its relationship to the historic Grand Basin, the new expansion of the museum sensitively breaks from that formal language and extends into the park in multiple directions.  The stark contrast created by the simplicity and darkness of the expansion keeps clean the reading of the original building and establishes a somewhat submissive attitude while sustaining its own sense of monumentality.

Saint Louis Art Museum director Brent Benjamin describes the expansion as “a very 19th-century, French approach to setting a building.  And this will have a much more organic feel.  You will have a sense of it sitting among the trees.”

The 200,000 square foot addition, designed by London architect David Chipperfield, provides for new gallery space, a fully accessible entrance, public space, a new restaurant which will overlook Art Hill, and more than 300 parking spaces in a below-grade parking garage.  While fairly large, the addition has a relatively subtle exterior appearance.  The above-grade, visible, portion of the building consists of large, clean expanses of glass and monumental planes of highly polished black concrete.  The reflectivity of the façade adds tremendous depth to the surface and mirrors the surrounding park, comfortably integrating itself into the landscape.

“Instead of being made up of smallish panels, this is made up of massive, monumental panels, appropriate to a public building that will be here for a century more—one that will have a relationship to Cass Gilbert in terms of its scale,” Benjamin says.  “The thought was to take a more refined approach to concrete.”

From the beginning, a dark, monolithic concrete façade was desired.  The design team toured the Lichtenstein Museum of Fine Arts, which features a cast-in-place, polished black concrete façade.  “The façade was polished on a vertical surface which resulted in some waviness.”  According to Leif Johnson, P.E. of Magnusson Klemencic Associates, structural engineer for the Saint Louis Art Museum expansion, “This fact helped the Design Team finalize the decision to use large Tilt-Up panels.  With Tilt-Up construction, the panels could be cut, ground, and polished horizontally to improve the quality of the finished surface.”

“The essence of good design requires a deep and thorough understanding of the materials being used,” says Julie Bauer, lead design architect for David Chipperfield Architects.  “A large part of our challenge in this project, and, frankly, in all of our projects, is learning and developing this expertise.  We brought in our contractors and experts in each respective area from the very beginning.  This wasn’t something that could simply be theorized about; a lot of testing took place before we even attempted to develop a final product.”

The concrete mix design for the panels consists of a variety of unique elements including Meramec Gravel, a natural river stone from Missouri, glacial sand, black pigment, and Dresser Trap Rock.  Known as one of North America’s hardest rocks, trap rock is an altered basalt, or volcanic (non-porous) rock.  While the unique rock in bolder form exhibits subtle hues of gray, blues, reds, pink, and purples, the dark gray color dominates in its crushed aggregate form.

“The panels are extremely beautiful,” according to Steve Ladenberger, founder and owner of Fenix Construction Company; “they look like enormous slabs of black granite.  I had never imagined concrete could look this amazing.”

Fenix Construction Company, a leading St. Louis based concrete contractor and member of the Tilt-Up Concrete Association, was awarded the job and served as the Tilt-Up subcontractor.  Early versions of the project specifications were extremely strict, rejecting any panels with even hairline cracks.  When contractors refused to bid the project, the specifications were modified to allow for cracks of 1/32” and a few other concessions, yet still remained very strict.

The non-traditional aspects of this application of the Tilt-Up concrete construction method do not stop with the architecturally unique mix design.  The panels are not load-bearing.  Installed on a sealed building, the panels act as a rain screen and have little interaction with the structure of the building.  “The panels do not move with the building in the plane of the wall, which is interesting.”  Johnson explained, “The panels are truly their own in-plane lateral system and only rely on the roof supports for out-of-plane support.”  Concrete shear walls and concrete-filled steel tube columns support the building’s concrete coffer-beam roof, which offers flexible space planning, long spans, and opportunities for day lighting.  “The site-cast panels are base-supported at the ground slab (seismic base) on either concrete beams spanning to columns, or directly on foundation walls,” said Johnson, “with vertical and in-the-wall-plane slip connections at the roof.”

Because the panels are not structural, they were cast and finished out of sequence relative to a tradition Tilt-Up job.  Much of the building and the majority of the underground parking were complete as the site-cast work commenced.  Ladenberger pointed out, “Usually we are one of the first ones on the job and on this project we were one of the last.”

The 23 panels were formed, cast, and finished on casting beds surrounding the structure.  “A few panels were cast on the landscaped lid over the parking garage.  The landscape lid is designed for heavy soil loads, so the loads imposed by the construction process were manageable,” said Johnson. “Hoisting cranes were placed outside the building footprint in strategic locations needed to place every panel.”  The 22-foot-tall panels range in width from 12 feet to 42 feet.  To control cracking, the 7-inch thick panels were designed to a greater stiffness of resulting in a higher cross-sectional steel area than the average Tilt-Up panel.

The technology employed to lift the architecturally sophisticated panels is ironically 30-40 years old and rarely used any longer on traditional Tilt-Up jobs.  Due to the fact the panels were cast face up to allow for finishing, the location and size of lifting inserts was a critical issue.  Scott Collins, P.E., Assistant Chief Engineer for TCA Sustaining Member Meadow Burke who did the lifting and bracing design for the project was brought on as a consultant very early in the process.  According to Collins, “Initially, the desire was to completely eliminate the need for lifting inserts on the face of the panel.”  When that was determined to be impractical, the suggestion was made to utilize small coil inserts, which would create a much smaller affected area on the face of the panel.  Fenix Construction Company produced several mock-ups of various patching strategies demonstrating the small irregular hole could be finished to look like a piece of aggregate blending into the finished surface seamlessly.

The erection of the panels was completed in two steps.  First, rigging was attached to swivel lift plates connected to the panels with a bolt thread into the coil inserts.  The panels were lifted to a vertical position using these lift points and braced temporarily from the opposite (unfinished) side.  The rigging was then transferred from the face of the panel to lifting inserts cast in the top edge of the panel.  Finally, the panels were lifted into place and welded off to the structure while being set.

The lifting design was made even more complicated by large returns on various panels.  The design team wished to avoid joints at the corners of the building.  To accomplish this, corner panels were cast with 42-inch returns providing a continuous, monolithic exterior appearance.  Carl Gregov, Shop Manager at Concrete Coring Company of Saint Louis, explained how these returns also complicated the polishing process.

The return legs of the panels were poured 1 inch thicker than the rest of the panel and were flush cut to width by a hydraulic-powered concrete saw on a track. Many shallow passes were made to maintain control and meet the extremely tight tolerances.  Due to the slim margin for error, all panel edges were over-poured and cut to size.  This process not only ensured the dimensional accuracy of the panels and a crisp clean edge, but it also reduced the time needed to polish the burdensome edges and returns. Additionally, by cutting the edges after the face of the panels had been polished, the polishing process could be taken to the edge without fear of chipping.

Towards the face of the panel, the distribution of the aggregate was fairly irregular. Because of this, and to get the finish desired by the design team, the cutting, grinding and polishing process had to go deeper into the panel. The custom-configured diamond pads were designed especially for the project mix that included two extraordinarily hard types of rock. A grouting compound was used to fill any porosity as well as a densifier to solidify the gout. The panels were finished with a 1,500-grit resin polishing pad and will be sealed once in place.

While traditional applications of the Tilt-Up concrete construction method continue to dominate certain markets (demonstrating the greatest benefits of speed, economy and safety) non-traditional applications such as the National Museum of Health and Medicine and the Saint Louis Art Museum, continue to open new doors for the method. With a rapidly expanding precedent of use on high profile projects demanding extreme performance, unparalleled aesthetic and sustainable solutions, along with the method’s long history of delivering unmatched value, look for Tilt-Up concrete construction to be considered with increasing regularity for almost any project.

I received a technical question the other day from an eastern state asking if it was true that Tilt-Up could no longer be built due to the new energy codes.  It seems the contractor had caught wind of changes to the energy code and assumed that Tilt-Up would be one of the casualties of the new requirement for continuous insulation.  The truth couldn’t be farther from that position.

The real question is, what has changed for the construction industry with the increased adoption of the 2009 IECC and thereby ASHRAE 90.1-2007?  Knowing the details will prepare your company to take advantage of the information in your marketing and selling plans.

The energy required to condition spaces in commercial buildings accounts for more than 33% of the energy budget for a building (see figure 1) when you combine space heating, cooling and ventilation.  Since we are about building envelopes, the answer to our question can be quickly referenced in the 2009 IECC Tables 502.2(1) and Table 502.2(2) for Building Envelope Requirements – Opaque Assemblies.  These tables provide the new prescriptive minimum criteria for building envelope design based on the method of construction.  ASHRAE also updated the reference to climate through eight primary climate zones for the U.S. market (figure 2). These direct you to the proper prescriptive requirement in the tables.

In the energy codes, building systems for above-grade walls are classified as mass, metal building, metal-framed and wood-framed and other. What you will find in the prescriptive tables are reference such as:

• NR = None required
• R-16 = A minimum R-value using a traditional insulation system with no specific requirements for connection detailing (i.e. faced fiberglass batts compressed at steel-framing members, or between studs)
• R-5.7ci = A minimum R-value achieved with a continuous rigid insulation layer.
• R-13 + R-5.6ci = An assembly with traditional insulation system and an additional required layer of continuous rigid insulation.

These insulation designations are provided to give prescriptive simplicity based on the minimum performance required for each climate.

Assembly U-value Compliance Method:

An alternative code option for prescriptive compliance in the energy codes is maximum assembly U-value.  Based on the calculation methods required by ASHRAE for each building system, an overall assembly U-value can be determined.  Additionally, a building system U-value may be determined by thermal testing and thereby rated as a maximum assembly U-value.  U-value, of course, is the inverse of the R-value so a maximum assembly U-value of 0.1 would be an approximate minimum R-value of 10.  Any construction element that thermally bridges or creates discontinuity in the insulation layer must be considered when determining the effective U-value with this compliance method.

So, in order to understand the impact of the code most clearly, let’s take a look at each building type and determine the changes in insulation required based on the climate zone.  I have combined the tables noted above for quicker reference.

Mass buildings
Mass buildings would be those constructed of Tilt-Up, precast, concrete masonry units or full wythe brick as well as CIP concrete. This building type in Climate Zone 1 does not require any insulation. However, in Climate Zone 2 and higher, all mass buildings must have a continuous layer of insulation.

Metal buildings
A metal building is to be understood as a traditional pre-engineered metal frame with a cladding and/or insulation system covering the metal frame. All climate regions require insulation for this building type and in Climate Zone 5 and higher, continuous insulation must be present in addition to the spanning fiberglass batt.

Metal-framed
Metal-framed are those built with traditional metal stud framing technology (also known as stick-built) and insulated in the framing cavities. Like metal buildings all climates require insulation for this building type. Beginning with Climate Zone 3, however, continuous insulation must be present in addition to the fiberglass batts between studs.

Wood-framed
Wood-framed are those built with traditional wood stud framing technology (also known as stick-built) and insulated in the framing cavities. There is a tag for and other in this category meant to encompass any non-traditional building systems such as SIP, etc. that are not considered mass. Like metal-framed buildings, this category requires insulation in all climate zones and begins the continuous insulation requirement in Climate Zone 5.

The compliance with the values set out in these tables can be achieved simply using a program available online known as ComCheck. Representatives of ORNL and PNWL created this online program to quickly determine if a building envelope will comply developed this program. Some jurisdictions and/or project specifications will even require a ComCheck to demonstrate compliance. Caution must be exercised when using this software, however, since it only knows what the user inputs. If a user doesn’t know the effective U-value or thermal performance of a particular assembly, the project may pass even though it isn’t truthfully in compliance. In other words, just because a concrete block has a 5-in. core of insulation doesn’t make it an R-value of 17.5. Thermal bridging significantly impacts the effective U-value of the assembly.

Therefore, let me provide an answer for the question posed at the start of this article, “is Tilt-Up no longer a viable method of construction in the newest energy code?” The use of solid concrete Tilt-Up panels for any location beyond Climate Zone I based on the 2009 IECC or below the “warm humid zone” of ASHRAE 90.1-2007 for a project not approved as “semi-conditioned” is not supported. However, the advantages of Tilt-Up concrete system are quickly realized in the high-quality air barrier, the amount of thermal mass and the ease of providing continuous insulation. More simply, far less insulation is required than other building systems.
From this information, it is pretty clear the direction that energy codes are headed. The prescriptive criteria, however, are often the least favorable to your ultimate goals. They provide the minimum (maximum) value that you can get away with but what they can’t account for is the true building performance attained by the sum of the parts being greater than the whole. Therefore, the 2009 IECC defers to ASHRAE 90.1-2007 (and in the future -2010) for the alternate compliance path using energy modeling.

Stay tuned in future editions where I’ll offer thoughts on thermal modeling; or consider attending the TCA Annual Convention this year in Amelia Island, FL (Oct 1-3, 2012) where we will feature a presentation on the proper ways for using the energy budget method of compliance.

As the issues members face change, so must we as an association change.  TCA has done so in the past and I’m confident we will now.  Excitement comes with the opportunity of working with the talented and exceptional members who participate in guiding TCA and the strength of our staff.  I encourage all of our members to participate and share in the rewards of working with your peers.

To help identify the direction of our association the TCA Board of Directors is taking on the challenge of a strategic planning session.  It would be very helpful if all of our members would take a few minutes to voice their thoughts and concerns.  It is your association and your input is valued.  Please take a moment and contact a board member or staff.  Contact information is available through our website.

I hope your 2012 is off to a good start. I for one am full of hope and optimism; we can create a great future for our industry by working together.  TCA is the vehicle to get us there.

Our Tilt-Up Achievement Awards Program has seen submittals from across the globe as well and continues to expand just as much geographically as it has been expanding into additional building types and applications. Our publications are consumed internationally as well, with sales coming from countries with and without TCA members.

The TCA membership includes Global Associates who sell product worldwide where the Tilt-Up method is being used adding European countries, Pacific Rim countries and more to our vast network.

Education is one of the cornerstones of TCA’s offerings to the industry. We offer certification seminars, construction seminars, and architectural seminars. These events have only been offered in the United States and Canada, and only in English, until now. This June, the TCA will be taking its valuable education programing to Latin America. From June 6-8 contractors, engineers, and architects will gather in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic for three days of networking and education. The conference, presented in English and Spanish, represents the TCA’s efforts to reach out to our international membership, providing greater access to the education and networking opportunities that have made our organization so successful in the United States.

Other building features include storefront entrances, (16) overhead doors and dock levelers.  The building provides for up to (8) tenant spaces to include office space in the front of the building and loading dock areas at the rear.

Click here to view the time lapse video of the tilting of this warehouse.  (Click on the arrows to expand the size of the video.)

At the recently held ACI committee meetings in Dallas, Texas, ACI’s Certification Programs Committee (CPC) approved an alternative re-certification for the ACI/TCA Tilt-Up Supervisor and Technician Certification Program co-sponsored by ACI’s Committee C-650 (Tilt-Up Constructor Certification) and the TCA. The update will allow supervisors and technicians to recertify based on completing continuing education hours instead of re-testing. Currently, individuals have to recertify every five years by successful completion of the current written exam.

“Several committee members felt that recertification by simply taking basically the same exam was a disservice to the program,” said Ed Sauter, C-650 committee member and executive director of the TCA.  “Retaking the same exam doesn’t ensure that the candidate has continued to learn or grow as a professional in the Tilt-Up industry or that they are up-to-date on current practices. The modifications require evidence of continuing education and work experience.”

Candidates seeking recertification now have an alternative method that requires them to register 10 hours of approved continuing education during the 5-year period of their certification and provide verified work experience. The classes that apply will be pre-approved by the TCA and the Committee from offerings at such venues as the World of Concrete and the TCA Annual Convention that are relevant to a supervisorial position.  Pre-approved courses will be listed on the TCA website and, where possible, in programs and other promotional materials at the specific events. The requirement for verified work experience consists of a minimum of three Tilt-Up projects or on project with at least 100 Tilt-Up panels during the period.

For the foreseeable future, taking and passing the then-current examination will continue to be an option although the C-650 Committee does hope to transition recertification fully to CEUs and work experience after a suitable transition period. Technicians will be able to begin recertifying by complying with the continuing education requirements offered at the TCA Annual Convention this fall or by continuing to retake the exam.

The exam itself will be undergoing modifications over the next couple of years as the references are updated to the latest edition of the ACI-551 Guide and the new Tilt-Up Construction Manual (scheduled for release at the end of the year). Since all questions must be referenced, new and updated information means new questions and answers.  This will also impact the Spanish version of the exam and reference materials.

The TCA Annual Convention, to be held in Amelia Island, Fla. from Oct. 2-4, will feature a new Field Supervisor track that will provide enough hours in one event to fulfill the continuing education requirements for recertification.

For more information, contact Ed Sauter at esauter@tilt-up.org or 319-895-6911.

About the TCA

TCA was founded in 1986 to improve the quality and acceptance of site-cast Tilt-Up construction, a method in which concrete wall panels are cast on-site and tilted into place. Tilt-Up construction is one of the fastest growing industries in the United States, combining the advantages of reasonable cost with low maintenance, durability, speed of construction and minimal capital investment. At least 10,000 buildings, enclosing more than 650 million square feet, are constructed each year using this construction method. For more information, visit www.tilt-up.org or contact TCA at 319-895-6911.

The International Concrete Sustainability Conference provides learning and networking opportunities on the latest advances, technical knowledge, continuing research, tools and solutions for sustainable concrete manufacturing and construction.

Experts will present on the latest developments related to design, specifying, manufacturing, testing, construction, maintenance, and research of concrete as it relates to sustainable development.

LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT Methods for assessing carbon footprint, embodied energy and other environmental impacts for buildings, infrastructure, and cement and concrete manufacturing. Life cycle assessment tools and models for process and product innovations and green building.

LOW IMPACT DEVELOPMENT Sustainable sites including pervious pavements, water conservation systems and erosion control structures. Urban heat island reduction including light colored pavements, exterior cladding, green roofs and cool communities.

GREEN CONCRETE Recycled materials including ingredients, fuels and beneficial use of byproducts for cement and concrete production. Performance-based concrete including extended service life, performance based specifications, durability, opportunities and challenges.

SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVES Government initiatives including green building codes and standards, economic incentives and legislation. Private initiatives including voluntary programs adopted by building owners and developers, designers, contractors and product manufacturers.

FUNCTIONAL RESILIENCE High performance concrete applications in buildings and infrastructure, fortified building codes and land use, event recovery and sustainable community initiatives focusing on disaster resistance and adaptive reuse potential.

As a part of the USGBC’s Rocky Mountain Green Conference we packed our lunch box and went on a tour of Denver’s first LEED Gold School. What makes this campus unique is how DLR Group Architects designed it to be a community hub. The newly-minted Evie Garrett Dennis Campus radiates out from the core building with a student union and multipurpose space, and the project utilizes energy-efficient building strategies and a huge solar array that make it practically net-zero energy.

The campus is located on the fringe of eastern Denver suburbia, a vast tract of new construction projects and cul-de-sacs. While it’s not located in the most sustainable of developments ,the design does reflect the need for a community center in such a fast growing area. The campus is actually a series of separate schools anchored by a main building that hosts cafeterias, meeting rooms, a gym and 300 kW of solar panels on its white roof. Dubbed the Student Union Building it, is actually run like a business for events, providing much-needed space for the growing community.

Three nearly identical buildings with marquee overhangs provide a multitude of educational opportunities — including a charter school for k – 2nd grade, a public science and technology high school, and a middle school. The unusual set-up allows for the campus to adapt to changing education needs in the community. The school itself is an educational tool for green building, and it has a lot to teach the students and faculty about how buildings work.