PTC Pad S

Summarize the project's program, features and achievements.

Peninsula Town Center is in Hampton's Central Business District and is the area's premier go-to place for shopping, dining, playing, and working. The center also contains a college, luxury apartments, and two public parks. Pad S provides 13,800 sf of multi-tenant Retail and Dining space while currently hosting three dining options and one retail establishment as new options for the plaza residents and daily visitors.

What obstacles were overcome related to the schedule, budget, program, specification, site, etc. on this project?

To fit in aesthetically within the surrounding built environment, the Architects chose similar materials and textures for the Tilt-Up panels and used contemporary finishes to help Pad S be unique. Embedded thin brick and an applied EIFS cornice maintain a traditional feel on several Tilt-Up panels, while a board-formed textured form liner introduces the contemporary. Portions of the board-formed areas were left as raw concrete to match the unpainted block-look water table. Other parts were coated in black paint to match the end tenant, who used several brick-look form liners to create their contemporary finishes. The construction team had custom brick form liners made to create a brick herringbone pattern, a soldier course band, and a traditional running bond pattern. Each end of the building has a large timber trellis to extend the building's restaurant spaces into the surrounding environment. These oversized timbers are tied back to the Tilt-Up panels on one side, while concrete pedestals support the double timber posts on the other to define the boundary between the drive aisles and parking. Along the building's elevations, multiple aluminum canopies were added to split the 12' high storefront locations, with structural HSS tubes added for support.

Communicate any engineering complexities or unique features of the panel design for this project.

As construction took place within this busy compact site, the team faced several obstacles. Casting beds would have been a great option with a small footprint and less slab-on-grade square footage than gross panel area. Unfortunately, the small site did not have the space needed, so the team knew they would have to get creative with stack casting panel solutions. A vibrant plaza street that could not be shut down added even more complexity as crane access was limited to only one side of the building. Brick dimensions added another layer of complexity. So, with all that in mind, the team worked through panel widths and opening locations to create the best solution for panel sizes and the crucial erection sequence.

What is the potential for this project's impact on the community and/or environment?

Pad S is an excellent addition to Peninsula Town Center's 70+ stores and restaurants for its residents and guests and success for the project team. Having an attractive building in a busy retail center is an absolute asset for the developer as they rent out these tenant spaces. The Architect's use of traditional and contemporary materials and finishes demonstrates Tilt-Up's versatility and allows the building to blend into its environment while still being unique and easily identifiable. Doing all this while providing a durable, low-maintenance structure in 12-weeks from foundations to removing panel bracing makes Pad S a win for all.