San Camillo, an independent-living facility, features 297 units that share dining and other community services on a campus with an adjacent medical-care building. The architect created the 10-story center using a Spancrete all-precast concrete design including columns, beams, hollowcore plank and architectural precast panels. "We didn't use precast for the water closets," reports Jack Shepherd, principal in The Shepherd Partnership in Wauwatosa, the architect of record. "But we used it for just about everything else. It was as close to a 100-percent precast concrete building as possible."
Spancrete precast was chosen both for economy and speed. "It was a cost-competitive system over steel," he says. That was enhanced by the use of hollowcore plank, which allowed designers to combine the floor and ceiling unit into one piece, using a spray-on textured finish to coat the ceilings. "It required close attention to the application, but it made a lot of sense." Using Spancrete's 12-inch floor system saved about 13 feet in building height, he notes, which also saved building costs.
Several options were explored, adds Gary Jorgensen, chairman of Voss-Jorgensen-Schueler Co., the general contractor. "It was amazing. We could put up one floor every seven days, even in the middle of winter." That savings significantly reduced the interim financing time, he says.
Spancrete's demising walls and exterior panels aided the building's soundproofing, which resulted in less expensive and faster acoustical control than a steel system could have provided, Shepherd says. Electrical conduit also was installed inside the wall panels. "That saved considerable area and cost," he says. The height of the building also played to precast's strengths, as the designers could keep panels repetitive and cut form costs. "The precast engineering provided by Spancrete made the project less complicated," he says. "We use precast whenever we can."
Schueler adds, "Precast served the needs of both owners and residents very well. It created a quiet residence that's inexpensive to heat and has minimal maintenance costs. It looks as good now as the day it was put up. We receive many compliments on the good looks of the building. The panels are very durable and stand up well to our rough Wisconsin weather."
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