Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts & Letters at Florida Atlantic University
Woodland Tilt-Up built facility houses 14 classrooms, conference rooms and office space and movie theater, totaling 77,815 square feet. It is anchored by a three-story atrium that is designed as a “main street” for the building. One wing of the first floor houses a state-of-the-art all-digital movie complex with four separate theaters and a cafe.
Why was Tilt-Up selected for the project?
Tilt-Up was chosen as the method of construction largely due to the project’s aggressive scheduling, the cost benefits it brought to the project, and it’s architectural flexibility. Tilt-Up also provided design solutions for unusual applications such as the sound efficient theater roof structure, as well as the rooftop equipment structure utilizing the “High Tech Tilt” system.
Challenges
The space for construction was very tight at the Boca Raton campus. The project was being built adjacent to an existing operational structure on one side, existing operational roadways on two other sides, and very limited space for staging on the other side, which was a fenced off small portion of an existing parking lot. The slab on grade provided very little available space for casting panels, which required casting panels outside the building’s footprint.
With the limited space available, the scheduling and sequencing became critical in order to meet the aggressive shell completion dates. The project was scheduled into three sequences. The three story classroom section was the first erection sequence, which allowed for a good portion of the building to commence the erection of structural steel while the second sequence of panels were built. The second sequence contained the balance of the three-story section, the atrium and open-air lounge/dining area, as well as the theater portion of the building, which included Tilt-Up panel roof sections. The third sequence was for a Tilt-Up rooftop mechanical equipment structure, which would be erected following the structural steel roof package.
Innovative Use of Tilt-Up
Tilt-Up roof panel sections were utilized for the theater roof structure in order to meet the stringent sound and acoustical value upgrades that are required. The full theater area is enclosed with solid Tilt-Up. The rooftop mechanical equipment structure mentioned above was constructed utilizing the “High Tech Tilt” system, a composite Tilt-Up system combining heavy gauge metal stud framing for the interior of the wall, with a thinner solid exterior concrete, allowing for a lighter structural wall system ideal for a rooftop application.
The project meets LEED silver certification requirements.