Riverton Flex Building

Summarize the project's program, features and achievements?

The Riverton Flex project consist of two different tilt-up buildings totaling 233,048 square feet. The buildings are flex building which can be used for office, warehouse, industrial and or retail, as well as accessory assembly or restaurant occupancies. The buildings are single-story 41.5 feet tall structures with the flexibility of having mezzanines or second story floors. The city wanted the industrial structures to have the curb appeal of retail buildings. This was accomplished by breaking up the massing by jogging some of the walls and overlapping panels, as well as slightly increasing the height on certain panels. Using different textures and colors also helped to break up the massing. The buildings were designed with a contemporary or modern look at the front and sides. The truck courts are back-to-back on the interior of paired buildings, in order to partially conceal them and to separate the truck traffic from the car traffic. These buildings are sustainable and energy efficient. Because of the contemporary exterior finishes, the project has a feeling of a retail center, although the buildings are flex buildings and can have many different uses.

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

One of the challenges providing flexibility for a variety of future tenants. Another challenge was to design and build the industrial flex space with the curb appeal of a retail center, and to make it cost effective for the developer / owner. It was important to hide truck courts and loading docks as well as separating automobiles from larger trucks. The city wanted the structures to have the curb appeal of retail buildings. This was accomplished by breaking up the massing by jogging some of the walls and overlapping panels, as well as slightly increasing the height on certain panels. Using different textures and colors also helped to break up the massing. The buildings were designed with a contemporary or modern look at the front and sides. The truck courts are back-to-back on the interior of paired buildings, in order to partially conceal them and to separate the truck traffic from the car traffic. The main level has large storefront windows with matching storefront windows at the proposed mezzanine level, and smaller clerestory windows are provided in the top half of the adjacent panels, as well as in other panels. These buildings are sustainable and energy efficient. Because of the contemporary exterior finishes, the project has a feeling of a retail center, although the buildings are flex buildings and can have many different uses.

Please communicate any engineering complexities or unique features of the panel design for this project?

The buildings are single-story 41.5 feet tall structures with the flexibility of having mezzanines or second story floors. The tilt-up wall panels are 8 inches thick and constructed using concrete with a compressive strength of 4,500 pounds per square inch. The maximum effective height to thickness ratio is 62.25 during construction and approximately 60 once the building is completed. Typically height to thickness ratios are recommended at only 48 or 50. These super slender walls are reinforced with two mats of rebar (one in each face) in the solid section. The walls are designed using slender wall analysis.

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

Although this project is located on the edges of development in Riverton, Utah, there has been a lot of recent residential construction. With the increase in population and lack of amenities, the city is hoping that other community uses may become integrated with the intended industrial uses. The truck traffic has been separated from the automobile traffic, which is commonly done on most industrial projects, but becomes even more important for this facility. The high quality and workmanship have made this industrial facility a welcome neighbor. This facility will provide many new jobs and will help with the growth in that area.