The winning projects of the 2021 PCI Design Awards are diverse in form and function, proving that precast, prestressed concrete can solve some of the most complex design challenges in the construction industry today. Together, the winners demonstrate the resiliency, agility, and high performance that precast concrete brings to the table, helping teams overcome obstacles such as complex jobsites and harsh weather conditions or contribute to project goals like cutting costs and accelerating schedules.
Now in its 58th year, the PCI Design Awards program recognizes design, engineering, manufacturing, and erecting excellence in construction projects involving precast concrete. Its core purpose is to not only celebrate precast work, but also help the design and construction community stay innovative by sharing projects that push the envelope, conquer challenges, and improve upon existing concepts. Each year, the PCI Design Awards consistently find that industry professionals are using precast concrete to create more sustainable, cost-effective, aesthetically impressive, and quickly constructed designs.
The Spring 2021 issue of PCI’s Ascent magazine highlights this year’s twenty-six award-winning projects and twelve honorable mentions in the building and transportation categories.
“It was exciting to see precast concrete utilized in so many amazing ways,” notes Cheryl Rishcoff, a project engineer at TRC Worldwide Engineering in Allentown, PA, and judge for the 2021 PCI Design Awards. “As a precast concrete project engineer, I’m not surprised to see these excellent examples of creative precast concrete solutions. With these award-winning structures, architects and engineers are proving more than ever that precast concrete is versatile, efficient, and resilient. These impressive submissions prove that precast concrete is an ever-evolving building material that can be used in more ways than one can imagine.”
Several projects from the Mid-Atlantic region were recognized by PCI’s panel of industry experts. They demonstrate the deep expertise and collaborative effort between precasters and design and construction teams to bring exciting ideas to life. The versatility, efficiency, and resiliency of precast, prestressed concrete are on full display across parking garages, buildings, and transportation structures.
Precast’s Versatility in Mid-Atlantic Projects
Pavilion Parking Deck in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2021 Honorable Mention for Best All-Precast Concrete Parking Structure
Structural Versatility: Constructed sixty-seven feet underground, the Pavilion parking garage is a five-level precast structure designed to support half of the Penn Medicine Pavilion constructed above it—a new seventeen-story, 1.5 million SF steel clinical facility. Shockey Precast, a Metromont Company, brought an innovative approach to what would typically be cast-in-place construction: precast components that emulated cast-in-place concrete. This approach saved time and money by dividing the building into structural elements of sizes and shapes that could be plant fabricated, transported, and safely and efficiently erected on-site.
Penn State Hershey Medical Center Parking Garage in Hershey, Pennsylvania
2021 Winner for Best All-Precast Concrete Parking Structure
Aesthetic Versatility: The owners of the Penn State Hershey Medical Center wanted to add an eye-catching four-story, 1,235-space parking structure to their rapidly expanding medical center campus. “It would be set within the context of an architecturally significant campus, so it had to complement and enhance the materiality already established,” said Amy Luchun, principal at Lamar Johnson Collaborative. It also had to fit within the cost, schedule, and technical requirements of the project. The architects used precast concrete to tackle all of these goals. Finding inspiration in the landscape, the designers took advantage of the fluidity and versatility of precast concrete to create a three-dimensional design that mimics the rolling hills and flowing rivers of Pennsylvania’s topography. The total precast concrete design manufactured and erected by High Concrete Group features a series of 3-D wave spandrels that run across the sides of the parking structure in four levels. On each level, the panels merge together at central points, then cascade away to create a natural flow in both the design and the way light and air moves throughout the building.
Precast’s Efficiency in Mid-Atlantic Projects
Old Easton Road Bridge in Plumstead Township, Pennsylvania
2021 Winner for Best Bridge with a Main Span Up to 75 Feet
The replacement of Old Easton Road Bridge over Pine Run in Plumstead Township is an excellent example of how precast concrete meets very aggressive schedules and minimizes disruption to communities during construction. “The biggest challenge was to design the bridge within the township’s limited budget and timeframe,” said William Castle, Founder and President of W. J. Castle, P.E. & Associates. “This included construction considerations, such as maintaining the existing under-clearance, and saving what we could on the old bridge, while ensuring the design was able to handle the required load ratings.” Northeast Prestressed Products provided a precast solution that delivered cost and time savings to the residents of Plumstead. Castle said the innovative design strategies and thoughtful implementation of precast helped the team complete the project on budget and ahead of schedule. “The client is extremely happy that the township now has a new bridge that is going to last for many years.”
Precast’s Resiliency in Mid-Atlantic Projects
New York City Fire Department (FDNY) Rescue Company 2 in Brooklyn, New York
2021 Winner for Best Government and Public Building
Designed by Studio Gang, the FDNY Firehouse helps Brooklyn’s FDNY Rescue Company 2 create a durable training space where rescue teams can simulate emergency conditions to teach trainees how to safely escape. In this project, precast concrete provides a fire-resistant structure to run complex rescue simulations, featuring insulated sandwich panels with an R-value of R-16, which improves the thermal efficiency of the building envelope. Building information modeling (BIM) was used to coordinate trades on the busy jobsite to meet the tight schedule. “With its adaptable spaces, environmental approach, and civic scale, the new rescue facility is both a neighborhood fixture and important piece of infrastructure, supporting a highly trained corps who safeguard those who call the city home,” said Sean Dixon, Vice President of Construction at High Concrete Group.
Learn More About Precast, Prestressed Concrete
Interested in learning more about precast and how the precasters of the PCI Mid-Atlantic Chapter support projects of all kinds? Explore the PCI Mid-Atlantic Solutions Center for helpful resources and get in touch with PCI-MA for precast information, higher education partnerships, and more.
