- Project Tucker High School
- Location Tucker, Georgia
- Type of Precast CarbonCast High Performance Insulated Wall Panels
- Project Size 228,500 sq. ft.
- CarbonCast Surface Area 210,000 sq. ft.
- Architect Milton Pate Architects, Tucker, Ga.
- Engineer Bennett & Pless, Atlanta, Ga.
- Contractor Turner Construction Company, Atlanta, Ga.
- Owner Tucker School District
- Awards “Low-Rise Building” category, 2010 ACI Awards “Best All Precast Solution,” 2011 PCI Design Award
- Precaster Metromont Corporation
The $66 million, 228,500 square-foot, Tucker High School, Tucker, Ga., is a 1,800 student multi-level facility constructed in multiple phases. It uses 210,000 sq. ft. of CarbonCast High Performance Insulated Wall Panels that are thermally efficient and fully structurally composite while offering outstanding aesthetics.
The design team was challenged to construct the new facility around existing buildings on the same site as the original school built in 1963. A total of 1,144 CarbonCast® High Performance Insulated Wall Panels measuring 12’ x 36’ were delivered for immediate erection from the Hjram, Ga., plant of AltusGroup precaster Metromont Corporation and installed in just 52 days.
The CarbonCast High Performance Insulated Wall Panels are comprised of two, 3” thick concrete wythes connected by C-GRID® carbon fiber grid shear connectors. The wythes sandwich 4” of EPS insulation. Due to its relatively low thermal conductivity, C-GRID prevents thermal bridging allowing continuous insulation for an R-19 value as verified by infrared imaging tests. As a result, the school’s wall system exceeds the ASHRAE 90.1 energy standard by 30 percent, contributing to lower operating costs.
The panels also incorporate integral architectural finishes. The exterior features a thin brick veneer complemented by lightly sandblasted areas to mimic limestone by using a standard architectural face mix made with white cement, local aggregate and sand with a small amount of pigment. The ultra-durable interior walls have a smooth trowel finish and are painted. Recycled materials included all steel and prestress cables, fly ash used in the structural mix, the EPS insulation and the slurry water used during manufacturing..
Phase one included two-story and four-story classrooms and a separate two-story administration building, media center, art and science labs, additional classroom spaces and three-level parking facility. The second phase of construction includes technology classroom labs, a 600-seat auditorium, a 1,200-seat gymnasium, a renovated cafeteria and kitchen space, athletic fields and landscaped courtyards.
Tucker High School was awarded first place in the low-rise building category by American Concrete Institute for both phases constructed in 2010 and 2011. It was also the recipient of “Best All Precast Solution” by Precast Concrete Institute in September 2011.
