Rogers High School Gymnasium — Rogers, Minnesota
Location: |
Rogers, MN — Scheduled to open in Fall 2003 |
Building Size: |
80,000 sq. foot of floor space; 53,500 sq. foot of Fabcon product |
Category: |
Education (high school gymnasium/recreation facility) |
Finish: |
Uniform rib exposed aggregate panel, with red tint and purple quartzite rock |
School District Controls Construction Costs Without Sacrificing Exterior Appeal
After voters narrowly approved a $108 million bond referendum to build a new high school in tiny Rogers, Minn., officials on the Elk River Area School Board were conscientious about controlling construction costs, while at the same time, building a high-performance building. Officials wanted a new, attractive campus that would create a sense of pride for students and the community.
Working with Kraus-Anderson Construction, school officials chose Fabcon precast concrete panels as an attractive, cost-effective option for the school's new gymnasium. The result was a cost-effective building with a unique exposed-aggregate finish.
"The custom finish matches a brick-and-metal panel system used for the high school," said Jeff Nadeau, sales engineer, Fabcon Inc. "The gymnasium finish design also needed to complement a totally different finish used on the local junior high located across the street. Our solution was a combination of red tint and purple quartzite rock that helps tie the two campuses together."
The attractive, durable Fabcon exterior panels will also help the school district over the long term by providing a strong fire code rating and high energy-efficiency. Fire typically destroys a building's roof first. When the structure is built on-grade, particularly when the walls are masonry or concrete block, the collapsing roof frequently pulls walls down. Because Fabcon precast continuous wall panels extend into a building's footings, they do not break apart. Similarly, because the panels extend below the grade, rain and snow runoff doesn't penetrate the building exterior, which reduces moisture and air filtration.
"Finding ways to lower costs is vitally important in every education project," Nadeau said. "Our panels help school districts and other education category customers save money in the short term, through reduced construction costs, and over the long term, through reduced maintenance fees and lower heating and cooling bills."
