EPA Region VII Science and Technology Center

A unique Tilt-Up project well-suited for the Special Project category and the honor of the Technical Innovation award, the EPA Region VII Science and Technology Center project is centered around an extremely bulky Tilt-Up concrete wall dividing the Center. Tilt-Up allowed for the wall to be constructed during the winter, as well as meet extremely stringent budget and architectural finish requirements.

Judges selected this project for the creative thinking employed by the team on this atypical project. Further, this project is representative of the growing green design trend as it obtained a LEED Silver Certification rating.

Design features included construction of a massive wall boasting 28 panels that were 16-inches thick, with one 32-inch thick panel. The design-build team created a “void” in the panels and filled them with Styrofoam insulation to create sandwich panels with the overrding goal of alleviating weight concerns. By using the “void” system, the team was able to reduce the amount of concrete used by approximately 35 percent.

Even with this reduction in weight, the heaviest panel on the project weighed 186,720-pounds and is listed on the TCA’s “Top Ten List” for Heaviest Panel.

Beyond the construction of the sandwich panel, the project posed many special architectural concerns. Both faces of the panel were to be exposed on the interior, which necessitated a smooth finish and reveals to enhance the aesthetic appeal of the facility.

Tackling the challenge of reveals on both faces, the Tilt-Up subcontractor developed a ladder system that used plastic reveal strips with PVC pipe and long threaded rods to create the reveal strip on the upper face.