When a concrete form manufacturer decides to build a new office-factory building, he has a challenging opportunity to make some realistic test of his own products. One of the major decisions is the type of construction to use. For the form manufacturer, aside from the practical benefits of the material itself, it is inconsistent to advocate cast- in-place concrete for others and build a steel or masonry building for oneself. The new building designed by Fox and Fox of Chicago, is a two-story, 15,000 square foot office building and an 85,000 square foot plant formed entirely of exposed, architecturally patterned concrete. The office and factory were designed specifically to utilize gang forming. Typing large sections of forms together for repetitive use not only lowered total forming costs but speeded the contractor's erection time. Also a slab shore system, used in conjunction with the prefabricated forms, allowed the contractor to eliminate up to 75 percent of conventional shoring, pre-adjust all shores from above or below the deck, and strip all slabwork without disturbing the support shores. Construction of this new office and factory building has again proved that concrete, if properly formed, can be an esthetic as well as an economic building material- anywhere. In addition, it has provided for this form manufacturer a rare opportunity to evaluate his products first hand.
