Best Medical Facility - Architectural/Structural
Description
Dell Children’s Medical Center is a pediatric acute care hospital in Austin Texas. Coreslab Structures (Texas) Inc. provided precast for Parking Garages I & II, and the Medical Office Building (MOB) on the growing campus. The hospital is part of the larger redevelopment of the former Mueller Airport site.
Both garages incorporated an architectural mix design with multiple finishes and bullnoses on the exterior where the precast was not covered by other cladding materials. Garage I, and to a lesser extent Garage II, featured the use of metal panels as well as stone and barrier cables under various exterior conditions. These cladding elements helped tie the Dell Children’s parking garages to the existing hospital buildings on the campus.
Garage I incorporated provisions to support a future solar panel canopy over the top parking deck. This required early coordination to match the canopy layout to the column grid spacing of the garage. Ramp walls also incorporated pilasters on the roof to provide additional support where columns were too far away.
The south elevation of Garage II has a solid wall that will be covered by a future building. Garage II also featured a speed ramp to provide as much flat deck parking area as possible.
As a result of a collaborative approach with the contractor and design team, Coreslab was selected as the precaster for a third garage which they recently finished erecting.
Project timeline
Garage I: Precast production started in August 2019. Precast erection was from October to November 2019. Garage II: Precast production started in February 2020. Precast erection was from September to November 2020.
MOB: Precast production started in March 2020. The main precast erection was from July to September 2020, with leave-out pieces installed in October and November 2020.
Innovations using precast concrete
The MOB is a total precast structure including precast stairs and elevator shafts. By going with a total precast solution, the contractor was able to reduce the overall project schedule and turn the building over to the owner as quickly as possible. Using narrow double tees and shorter spans allowed for higher loading capacities and thicker topping slabs than what is seen in standard parking decks, while still utilizing common 28” deep double tees. Deep beams and wider columns were required to support heavy loads from a canopy.
Precast concrete components
Garage I: 630 pieces of precast, including over 175,000 sf of Double Tee deck area. Garage II: 831 pieces of precast, including almost 250,000 sf of Double Tee deck area. MOB: 798 pieces of precast, including nearly 150,0 sf of Double Tee deck area.
- Precast Manufacturer: Coreslab Structures (Texas) Inc. – Cedar Park, TX
- Architect: HKS – Dallas, Texas
- General Contractor: The Beck Group – Austin, Texas
- Precast Engineer: Consulting Engineers Group (CEG) – San Antonio, TX
