Designers at BHS Architects faced a key challenge in creating a strong image for the principal multipurpose building at Washington County Fair Park in West Bend, WI. County officials wanted the facility's image to represent the county's history of agriculture, but it also had to meet fire codes and a tight budget. All these goals were met by using precast architectural panels to clad the façade.
Appearance Was Critical The 40,000-square-foot building, which contains exhibition space, administrative offices and banquet kitchen facilities, stands on the site's highest point where it is prominent from the nearby highway. Its appearance was of key importance to the county, but fire codes ruled out the use of traditional barn siding.
To meet these goals, the designers created a design that combined a steel structure with precast panels. The panels, produced by Spancrete Industries Inc. in Waukesha, WI, were cast using custom neoprene form liners that created two different finishes. The textures devised for the building's upper portions were molded from weathered barn boards, which produced a close match to true wood. Panels on the lower portion resemble fieldstone, with the form liners molded from limestone. These panels were painted to give them a whitewashed look.
The architects considered using panels cast with integral tints on the stone-like areas, notes Clifford Mayer, principal at Milwaukee-based BHS. "The tinted samples were gorgeous, but we ruled them out because they were too expensive," he says. "The county is very sensitive about spending taxpayers' money."
Energy Efficiency Provided Spancrete precast also offered several long-term benefits, Mayer notes. These include excellent maintenance, durability and energy efficiency. The panels featured two inches of insulation between two 5- or 6-inch wythes of concrete, with an average width of 12 feet. Heights range up to 38 feet. Spancrete produced 132 wall panels, amounting to more than 19,300 square feet of concrete.
The Spancrete precast panels added another benefit in allowing the building to be enclosed quickly, before winter weather set in, Mayer notes. This allowed construction to begin during the winter, which helped meet the summer deadline for completing the building. Foundation work progressed as the precaster was producing panels, so they could be erected as soon as the site was prepared.
