Detailing a Building in Architectural Concrete: Fid-Bau Portal

Detailing a Building in Architectural Concrete

Allen, Edward / Rand, Patrick

This chapter [BM2]discusses the project, which is a college classroom building on a small campus in southern Ohio. It is located in International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) Climate Zone 4. Working on a typical elevation of a classroom wing, a mullion pattern for the window opening is developed that will provide two opening sashes and a safety rail at waist height. The asymmetry of the arrangement is intended to harmonize on the interior with the asymmetrical location of the window in each room. Upon checking the building code and it was found that tempered glass would be required in the lower lites of the window as they exceed the area permitted for ordinary annealed glass so close to the floor. A note is made to inform the specifications writer. One needs to study at larger scale the relationships of the rustication strips, the terminations of the various pours, the window openings, and the control joints. For the purpose a largerscale elevation view is constructed, showing the form tie holes, rustication strips, control joints, and sill wash. Architectural concrete work is not forgiving of errors or sloppiness. Though one has made it somewhat more forgiving in the building by a judicious use of rustication strips and textures, it would still court disaster to use an inexperienced contractor on the project. One needs to work with the owner to assemble a list of qualified contractors who have built architectural concrete buildings successfully before.