FAMU STUDENT HOUSING

Background

The need for student housing at Florida A&M University (FAMU) was growing steadily along with enrollment. By 2022, FAMU intended to significantly expand the number of on-campus housing choices available to students to fulfill the needs of their ongoing enrollment expansion. To provide students with fashionable and appealing living arrangements with increased facilities, the university needed to update existing buildings and investigate alternative housing choices. And FAMU had to finish it quickly so that the fall 2020 students could start classes.

The design-build project used the exclusive precast DualDeck Building System from Finfrock Construction, which called for a perfectly coordinated design model with all penetrations situated before manufacture and construction. The structures were a part of a more extensive development strategy that would fortify the university’s links to Tallahassee and provide the groundwork for FAMU’s anticipated expansion.

With more stages to follow, the first phase of the new resident halls was to occupy 182,000 square feet. There were 350 double-occupancy beds and shared bathrooms spread over the first phase’s two four-story H-shaped student living buildings. The towers were entirely constructed of precast concrete produced at the Finfrock corporate office in Apopka, FL.

The top three stories of the tower’s facade were covered with panels resembling wood and framing long rows of windows. The university chose this exterior design to guarantee that the new buildings will blend in with the neighborhood’s previously established aesthetic.

Three-dimensional modeling software was used to build every precast concrete component. Designers utilized building information modeling to combine the structural and subsystems into a single, shared 3-D model, reducing design-phase disputes between manufacturing and construction. Conflicts resolved at this level don’t result in mistakes or modification orders. They also drastically cut down on construction time and interruption to nearby homes.

Plumbing and electrical subsystems were installed during construction, with laser-guided technology being employed to pinpoint each system’s exact placement. Lasers were utilized to find partition layouts during manufacturing. After that, the items were transported to the site with lines for field-installed partitions already designated on the products. This further sped up construction and decreased manpower on the job site. The erection process was kept on time by the construction crew using tools like PieceTracker, XceleRAYtor, and other technologies once the components had arrived on site.

The items did not require floor preparation or hanging ceilings since the precast concrete spanning members feature form-finished floors and ceilings. Paint could be applied directly to concrete walls, significantly reducing the requirement for inside drywall and allowing ceilings to be painted with little to no preparation. The DualDeck concept also made the most of the building’s bigger open spans by constructing central active lounges and communal spaces in the middle of each level’s structures.

Buildings can now be delivered more rapidly, effectively, and affordably thanks to Finfrock’s innovative offsite construction technology, which is crucial in the student housing market. FAMU can optimize its investment for years to come because of Finfrock’s all-concrete buildings’ increased durability, decreased building maintenance, and lower lifecycle costs.