86,200-square-foot retail facility in Kansas City, Mo. Submitted by CON/STEEL Tilt-Up Systems of Dayton, Ohio. Other TCA member involvement: Meyer Bros. Building Co. and LJB Inc.
This building will provide a home for small boutique shops. The building design catered to a site that sloped dramatically from back to front. This required a “split-level” concept where the upper floor for offices had entrances from the south side and appeared to be a single-story building while the lower floor retail spaces on the north appeared to be a two-story structure. The site also had varying soils, which required the below-grade north wall to be a cast-in-place concrete retaining wall with second-story tilt-up panels setting on top of the cast-in-place wall. Foundations for the cast-in-place walls were large to support the weight of a two-story structure and resist the overturning forces of the retaining wall. Since the floor-to-wall ratio was out of proportion, numerous panels had to be stack-cast, requiring 5000 square feet of casting beds.
The architect used a variety of color schemes to emulate a small village in the Tuscan region of Italy. Bright colors enhanced the modular brick, natural stone, and cut stone materials. Colored areas were achieved by using exterior insulation and finish system (EIFS) material that is directly applied to the concrete panel surface. The contractor cast all of the curved window openings into the concrete panels and many incorporate a radius brick band above the opening. A combination of cast-in brick and standard modular brick was used.
