Awty International School Parking Structure, Article Review Example

The article that will be reviewed is the AwtyInternational School parking structure. The architectural firm that designed the structure is Bailey Architects located in Houston, Texas. The number of square feet that the structure encompasses is 174, 582.. The structure is composed of five floors. The first floor is composed of 35,218 ft². . The second floor is slightly less in square footageand the third through the fifth floors contain approximately the same square footage as the first floor. The ceiling height for the first floor is seventeen feet. Each of the subsequent floors has eleven foot ceilings(DCD 38).

The structure is a precast building that can hold four hundred and forty cars. The structure is precast in combination with stainless steel mesh. The mesh enables the air to flow freely in and out of the structure (DCD 38). In the DCD construction guide, the closest approximate metal building that possesses approximately similar square footage is the Lee Steel Corporation building.  The cost per square foot is $90.42 (DCD Guide 1). The article continues to detail the effect that the night time illumination plays on the building. The building possesses stair tower that are applied on order to anchor the edges of the structure. In addition, the glass encased towers supply a smooth transition from the parking area to the campus area(DCD 38).

The first floor of the structure has no parking facilities. It is used in order to as a depot in order to enable the students to enter and to leave the school campus facility by means of automobile. The ceiling height on the first floor is seventeen feet. All of the utility equipment is installed on the first floor in order to allow room for expansion. The pump and the central breaking tank are also installed on the first floor in order to provide ready access to the fire protection personnel.  The architects designed the structure with an open steel mesh in order to enable future expansion(DCD 38).  This is attributed to the office vacancy index of 20% and the increase in the cost of construction materials. All of the construction materials with the exception of clay have increased in price. Cement costs have risen 3%. The construction materials of sand and gravel have also augmented in their costs (US Department of Labor 1).

The steel mesh facade gives the building an appearance that the construction is not complete. This was permitted in order to facilitate the Awty International School room for growth. The category of construction is new. The construction period extended from February 2012 to October 2012. The structure has a foundation that is cast in its position. The foundation applies pier and grade beams that are mixed with reinforced concrete. The outer walls of the parking garage are formed with precast brick and a curtain wall. The roof is fabricated from membrane. The flooring system in the Awty International School parking garage is concrete. The interior walls are fabricated from metallic studded drywall. The project crew that endeavored in order to make this structure possible was Cardno, Haynes Whaley Structural engineers. The general contractor for the construction is Tellepsenbuilders. The mechanical engineering was performed by Burns, DeLatte and McCoy. The civil engineering work was conducted by Kuo and Associates(DCD 38).

Works Cited

DCD. ¨Awty International School Parking Structure.¨ Design Cost Data, September/October (2014):38.

DCD Guides. ¨Metal building costs guide.¨Design Cost Data, September/October (2014):38.

U.S. Department of Labor. ¨Construction costs trends for 2014.´U.S. Department of Labor.