Virtus Academy K5

Virtus Academy of South Carolina’s K5 building in Florence expands their campus and their ability to serve more families in the nearby community. This 50,276sf structure houses Kindergarten classrooms in the North wing and 1st-5th Grades in the East wing. The Main Entry and Resource Area welcome students as they arrive before heading off to classrooms or to the Cafe or Gym. Tilt-Up panels establish the entire perimeter with architectural jogs in the floor plan to break up the long building elevations. A large 6’x8’ block pattern was cast into the panels to emphasize areas such as the Main Entry, Gym, or the state-of-the-art STEM Lab. The architect also created a rhythm along these elevations using different reveal sizes and orientations as well as different paint colors to balance vertical “pillars” with long horizontal stretches between panel joints. Typical panel widths around 50’ allowed the construction team to minimize rigging changes between panel lifts and speed up the overall erection schedule. With unexpected delays that started on what seemed like day one and the building still needing to open at the start of the school year, an accelerated schedule was put into action. An erection schedule that included lifting panels one day and steel framing on the next helped shorten the overall schedule as well. The Gym’s insulated sandwich panels were along the schedule’s critical path and also were critical lifts due to their size and weight. By adjusting the casting layout and sequencing at the last minute, the project team was able to finish on time and deliver the building to Virtus and it’s community.