Stadium Drive Residence Halls, common area. Image: courtesy of Leers Weinzapfel Associates, Modus Studio, and Mackey Mitchell Architects
Construction time is expected to be much shorter than with steel and concrete — anywhere from 12 to 15 weeks as opposed to 18 to 20 weeks — and the building will not have ceilings. For a variety of reasons, a big change in construction came with the stair and elevator cores, which were switched from timber to cast-in- place concrete. The project contains approximately 143,644 cubic feet of timber — 110,383 in CLT and 33,261 in glulam — with a total area of nearly 184,000 square feet. The $79 million project will house 710 students in two residence halls — one shaped like an “L” and one shaped like a “C” — connected by a common area. The site is sup- ported by 1,100 Rammed Aggregate Piers, which increase the bearing capacity of the soil. The project was designed by the collective of Leers Weinzapfel As- sociates, Boston; Modus Studio, Fayetteville, Ark.; Mackey Mitchell Architects, St. Louis; and OLIN, Philadelphia. A big part of the project centered around dealing with the unknown, particularly when it came to introducing CLT to a region for the first time. How the structure measured up to fire codes, wind and seismic loads, and plenty of other concerns, had to be fleshed out under the watchful eye of city and state officials. “There was a lot of engagement at every step along the way,” Dodd said. The CLT panels are manufactured in Unternberg, Austria, and shipped via the port of Koper, Slovenia, near northern Italy. The glulam mem- bers are produced in Jenbach, Austria, and shipped via the port of Bremerhaven, Germany. The CLT and glulam package was provided by Austria-based partners Holzpak, a distributor, and manufacturer
Binderholz Bausysteme GmbH, which pre-drills the wood prior to construction. When the CLT arrived in Fayetteville via truck from Memphis, Nab- holz had just a two-hour window to offload the product because the site is in the middle of the state’s largest campus and near Fayetteville High School. Nabholz is camped out in an old fraternity house across the street from the job site. Though the building will be torn down after the residence halls are finished, for now it has full utilities so staff can cook both breakfast and lunch on premises. Familiarity with the site is essential as it’s adjacent to Bud Walton Arena, the university’s main venue for indoor sporting events and con- certs. The arena is also the setting for the annual meeting of Walmart shareholders. Since access to the venue’s loading docks must remain open, Nabholz staff at times must juggle bulldozers, cranes, busses, and tractor trailers.
All the hard work, however, will be worth it in the end. “They’re beautiful, warm buildings,” Dodd said of CLT.
To earn 1 Professional Development Hour, watch the video about this project and take a 10-question quiz at https://csengineermag.com/ continuing-education.
RICHARD MASSEY is director of newsletters and special publications at Zweig Group and editor of The Zweig Letter. He can be reached at rmassey@ zwieiggroup.com.
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csengineermag.com
july 2018
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