This past June, Wells announced the availability of its Infinite Facade product and partnership with Clark Pacific in the Facades Consortium Group, LLC. One of our current projects is utilizing this single source solution for the complete building envelope for an expansion to an upper Michigan resort and casino.
The Hannahville Indian Community Tribal Council approved a $30 million expansion of the Island Resort and Casino to include an 11-story hotel expansion providing over 100 guest rooms. Citing high customer demand, the council says the new addition will be connected to the south end of the current 11-story Palm Tower, complete with three guest elevators and a lobby. A high-end dining venue as well as convention space are planned for the top floor. The expansion also includes an attached indoor water park.
Engineering, design and offsite prefabrication is ongoing while onsite construction originally began in June 2020 with expected completion during the 2021 calendar year.
Wells is currently in the prefabrication phase of this total precast project that includes 100,000 sq. ft of precast floor and roof deck as well as 75,000 sq. ft of exterior enclosure panels and 147 preinstalled windows. All precast components include beams, column, stairs and elevator shafts.
The benefits offered by total precast concrete systems add a variety of assets to the owner’s, architect’s, general contractor’s, and structural engineer’s bottom lines — and ultimately benefit the end user with accelerated occupancy. The system provides an efficient design, cost effectiveness and a strong, durable appearance that will maintain its image throughout a long service life.
Precast aided the structure’s appearance by providing a way to match the existing building, lending itself to incorporating acid etch and sandblast finishes used on the addition in an economical way.
Schedule and budget were extremely important to the design team and therefore Infinite Facade was selected as the primary building enclosure system because of its inherent benefits recognized by the team. The system accelerates the construction schedule with the implementation of preinstalled windows, sprayfoam, and a drywall ready substrate, while reducing trades on-site, and providing instant enclosure, which allows interior construction to start sooner during cold Midwestern winters. Factory-installed insulation provides the required thermal barrier needed in this climate zone.
The lightweight system provides an additional benefit to Wells Concrete and its partners as Wells can travel outside its normal radius as this cost-effective system allows an expanded market reach.
A unique structural system used on this project is the precast concrete ER Post Truss. The system’s patented design provides the answer to the problem of tower support columns interfering in the lobbies and meeting rooms at the lower levels. The precast concrete truss spans the full width of the hotel eliminating the need for interior support columns. The tower levels above the lobbies and meeting rooms are supported by the precast concrete truss. The shallow depth of the precast concrete truss keeps the tower floor-to-floor heights reasonable, while also keeping the ceilings of the hotel rooms free from the intrusion of support beams. Furthermore, concrete’s natural fire resistance properties make the precast concrete truss ideal for multistory mixed use and hospitality structures.
Windows
Part of the complete building envelope system includes preinstalled windows into the Infinite Facade panels. Wells sourced a high quality, proven exterior window system for this project and will preinstall at our manufacturing facility under controlled environments, increasing quality of install, further reducing job-site impacts as well as ensuring faster enclosure schedules. The panel and window system is engineered as a single solution. The design and detailing of the window connections are done as part of the exterior cladding package, so details are coordinated and included in one exterior enclosure submittal.
Project Details
Harris, MN
Owner: Hannahville Indian Community
General Contractor: Gundlach Champion
Architect: Quintus 3D
Structural Engineer: Ericksen Roed and Associates, Inc. (ERA)
Construction Cost: $30,000,000
Precast Products:
- Infinite Facade – 26,979 sq. ft., 105 members
- Architectural Insulated Walls – 24,458 sq. ft., 88 members
- Architectural Solid Walls – 18,503 sq. ft., 54 members
- Beam Inverted T – 615 sq. ft., 22 members
- Beam Ledge – 363 sq. ft., 16 members
- Column – 974 sq. ft., 34 members
- Double Tee – 13,626 sq. ft., 30 members
- ER Post System – 9,077 sq. ft., 15 members
- Flat Slab – 1,300 sq. ft., 27 members
- Hollowcore – 100,000 sq. ft.
- Other – 50 sq. ft., 32 members
- Solid Slab – 704 sq. ft., 6 members
- Stairs
Precast Finishes:
- Acid Etch
- Sandblast
CONVERSATIONS WITH THE FACADE SQUAD
Join us once a month for quick 30 minute conversations on all things facades. We promise this won’t be boring, just two guys that love to talk about facades, materials and design.
Every month we will focus on a different topic, drill down to the nitty-gritty details and at the end, hopefully you had a good time and learn something new.
We look forward to seeing you in the sessions (don’t worry video will be optional) for a great conversation.
- Prefabricated Facades 101 – September 15, 2020
- Design Materiality & Versatility – October 13, 2020
- How to Design with Target Value Design – November 10, 2020
- Sustainability and Facade Deisgn – December 8, 2020
SIMPLIFY THE BUILDING ENVELOPE WITH INFINITE FACADE
A discussion on simplifying building envelope design with the Infinite Facade, a single source building envelope solution. Learn how a single source solution envelope reduces risk for both design teams and owners and the Target Value Design process – meeting the project’s vision to the budget. Discover strategies to consider for prefabricated envelope systems and design options and considerations.
The building envelope is the most difficult part of the building to design; reasonably so, as design teams are expected to meet client and aesthetic expectations while meeting performance standards and regulations.