Archer Aviation

Summarize the project's program, features and achievements?

The Archer Aviation project, located in Covington, Georgia, consists of two tilt-up buildings with a combined footprint of nearly 400,000 square feet. Owned by Archer Aviation, an aircraft manufacturing corporation based in San Jose, CA, these buildings have been constructed in conjunction with Evans General Contractors as office and manufacturing space for all-electric vertical take-off passenger aircraft. The larger of the two buildings boasts thirty-six lines of custom 3/4" reveal across the entire front face, as well as a 18' x 154' custom logo reveal of the Archer name. This logo reveal was created out of custom-cut styrofoam, double-beveled to meet the owner's specifications for its visual impact. Once installed within the panel forms, Archer flew out to the site to double-check its placement and size using a drone and 3D scans. Completed on schedule in late 2024, this project is not only beautiful, it is an exciting addition to Georgia's growth in technology, advancements in manufacturing, and will provide numerous future opportunities for the state in the future. Southeast Concrete Systems, Inc. is proud to have been an integral part of this project and we look forward to seeing all that will come from it in the future.

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

We needed to produce the building's logo on an expedited schedule to maintain turnover for the project's owner. After we figured out how to achieve conversion of the logo from a text-based font to a CAD file for reveal production, this logo was created out of styrofoam that was then double-beveled to meet owner specifications. We also created a custom reveal of 36 horizontal lines of 3/4" depth across the entire front of the building at the owner's request.

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

Initially, the owner requested the ARCHER logo be deeper than the installed rebar would allow. We worked with the structural engineer and came up with a solution to allow for placement of the logo in these panels. In the end, we double-beveled the styrofoam reveal to go below the level of the rebar, along with increasing the rebar's size and reducing its spacing to allow for logo placement within its framework.