A Concrete Lesson Plan

Nothing Sophomoric About Burnet's new High School

By Rob Patterson

The new high school under construction by American Constructors of Austin in nearby Burnet would make many us who spent the majority of our teen years in a large and sometimes monolithic structure want to go back to the future and do it all again. Designed to serve some 1,400 students within 250,000 sq. ft., the school-on a scenic Hill Country site-is divided into six buildings with distinct, separate functions. With expansive lawns, plazas, patios, a pavilion and an open-air amphitheater as well as covered walkways connecting the six structures, the larger-than-average school will possess a collegiate ambience.

"It gives the school a more human scale," said architect Randy Fromberg of Fromberg Associates Ltd. The Austin firm specializes in designing K-12 schools and has found that with secondary schools the campus approach creates a more welcoming environment.

"Rather than one humongous, massive building, the client wanted to break it up and make it more like a junior college campus," said Joe Charlton, project manager for American Constructors.

The other reason was cost. "Once you get over a certain number of feet, you have to put up interior fire walls to separate the parts of the building, and that gets very costly," Charlton said.

The complex consists of a 76,800 sq.-ft. two-story, T-shaped main classroom building and two smaller structures with science classrooms and labs in one and career and technology facilities in the other. It also includes a gymnasium and cafeteria building and a visual and performing arts center with auditorium and band and orchestra rooms. An administration and library building will sit at the entrance to the campus.

The lesson for the Burnet Consolidated Independent School District was listen to the wisdom offered by your contractor. The original plan called for pre-engineered metal buildings on a site further down the gently sloping hill on the northern side of the city. After American Constructors came on the job, they took the building "up the hill, and then changed everything from pre-engineered metal to tilt-wall, which is a huge change," said Charlton.

The change gives the structures twice the life span of pre-engineered metal. "We looked at the cost-benefit ratio and the long-term life-cycle costs of this facility and a metal building, and once we put that together, everyone agreed that it was the way to go," said Charlton. Since the shift occurred prior to the October ground breaking, it also avoided the ensuing steel crunch. The five tilt-wall buildings will use 12,000 cu. yds. of concrete.

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The HVAC system was also changed at the contractor's suggestion from a split system to water-source heat pumps. The somewhat higher up-front cost of the new system is offset by greater cost efficiency over the long run. The mechanical systems for the buildings are located on an interior center mezzanine allowing easy access for maintenance, freeing up the sloped roofs, and resulting in longer life spans for the stainless steel panel roofing.

The shift in site also placed the project atop ground with a low plasticity index that offers an ideal base material for supporting the foundations.
The five concrete tilt-wall structures will be partially faced with split-face concrete masonry units with wainscot. Above, textured paint finish will give the exterior walls a stucco appearance.

For most of the 45-ft. high gymnasium and cafeteria building, the walls are insulated tilt-wall sandwiches. "Sheet rock and stud framing with insulation can be easily damaged in a gym," Charlton said. He added that the walls not only comply with the energy conservation code, "but allows us to do a little better than the code calls for."

The gymnasium ceiling will use Tectum sandwich panels that will help reduce noise and feature stainless steel bleachers with fixed individual seating in the competition gym. Large glass walls will line the large corridor between the main gym and practice gym. "It'll be pretty swanky," said Charlton.

The administration and library building is the one structure not being built with tilt-wall. Value engineering studies found that the smaller size indicated using structural steel and masonry.

The job is proceeding on schedule to a fall 2005 completion.

Key Players
Owner: Burnet Consolidated Independent School District
Architect: Fromberg Associates Ltd., Austin
General Contractor: American Constructors, Austin
Structural Engineer: LOC Consultants LLP, Austin
Civil Engineering:LNV Inc., Corpus Christi
Earthwork & Paving: Ranger Excavating, Austin
Masonry: CW Oates Masonry, Georgetown