- Project Fort Carson Division Headquarters
- Location Fort Carson, Colorado
- Type of Precast CarbonCast High Performance Insulated Wall Panels
- Project Size 141,000 sq. ft.
- CarbonCast Surface Area 21,000 sq. ft.
- Architect HSSM – Roanoke, VA
- Contractor Hensel Phelps Construction Company – Greeley, CO; Pacific Clay – Lake Elsinore, CA
- Owner United States Federal Government – Denver, CO
- Awards LEED® Gold Certification
- Precaster EnCon Utah, LLC
The $35.6 million, 141,000-square-foot Fort Carson Brigade and Battalion Headquarters is a three-building military complex constructed with innovative CarbonCast® High Performance Insulated Wall Panels. Original in its use of materials and completed on an accelerated schedule, the installation is a model of energy efficiency and design performance.
A total of 57 insulated composite wall panels connected with C-GRID® epoxy-coated carbon fiber grid shear trusses were used to offset solid zones around windows, doors and top edges. C-GRID is more than four times the tensile strength of steel by weight with negligible thermal conductivity. This enabled eight-inch panels to satisfy blast requirements and maintain continuous insulation for an R-13 value, the minimum required by the Army Corps of Engineers.
Under the auspices of the Department of Defense and the Defense Priorities and Allocations Systems Program, the project was given the highest priority and an accelerated schedule during January and February. CarbonCast enclosures are an all-weather material manufactured in a plant. Casting, stripping, and field finishing are all performed at the casting facility so fabrication, shipping and erection may be completed in harsh winter conditions.
The slant position of the panels enabled the erector to use a single line crane and erect the steel and precast simultaneously. As openings were cast into panels, frames and doors were installed immediately, hastening the enclosure of the building’s perimeter.
Although the architectural skin was composed primarily of inset red-brown thin brick to resemble hand-laid brick while a contrasting white brick was chosen to offset the entrance. Integral corners produced during the casting process further enhance the natural appearance of the façade. Block outs for electrical conduit and connection boxes were cast into the panels to achieve finished interior and exterior surfaces.
The first structure on an Army installation to achieve a LEED® Gold Certification for new construction, it also pioneered use of carbon fiber wythe connection materials in this region of the country and is a prototype for future United States Army Corps of Engineers’ buildings of this type, verifying its environmental performance, occupant health and financial return.
