The Quincy is a 30-level mixed-use tower that brings eight levels of parking, 10,500 square feet of retail space, 73,000 square feet of office space and 347 residential units (349,000 square feet) to downtown Austin, Texas. Through value engineering and a high level of coordination, Ceco helped the general contractor (GC) fulfill the developer’s expectation of a higher-than-specified level of exterior finish.
Ceco provided complete formwork services including vertical elements. Formwork systems included Ceco-owned HV and perimeter tables (decks) and steel-plated panels for walls and columns. EFCO wall forms were used to form exposed shear walls and perimeter columns in multiple sizes and with atypical sloping and cross-sectional shapes. These vertical elements create visible architectural line cues to draw one’s eye, and their exposed finish was critical to the structure’s overall appearance.
The building’s design makes use of both glass and concrete to create prominent vertical features out of the perimeter columns and fin walls. It was determined early on that the ACI class of finish desired by the developer would be a critical challenge during construction. During the budget phase, Ceco held multiple meetings with the preconstruction team to identify areas of concern related to the exposed concrete finish and detail a plan to achieve the desired results.
After the project was awarded, Ceco held additional coordination meetings with project teams to develop a project-specific quality plan. The original mockup did not include the critical exterior finish areas so Ceco worked with the GC to redesign the mockup and show areas highlighting those surfaces. The mockup became a valuable reference tool throughout construction.
The shapes and sizes of the perimeter columns required special, individual forms to be built. Ceco worked with suppliers and vendors to design and acquire formwork that would easily provide a quality finish and help maintain the vertical component of the project framing schedule. Ceco’s early involvement led to the team providing value engineering that resulted in redesigning some of the columns into more standard “L” and “C” cross-sectional shapes.
Scheduling was also a major concern—the overall project duration was fast and there was little laydown room for shear wall and column forms. Typical floors needed to be poured nearly every week, which meant the pace of vertical work and pours was critical to the schedule. The Ceco crew achieved a seven-day framing and 10-day pour cycle for each of the typical 21,100-square-foot tower levels. See our news article, “Quincy to Complete Work at The Quincy in Austin.”
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