2021 DCC Award Winner
Confluence, Coloscapes Concrete

First Place: Vertical Facades, Over 5,000 SF

The basis for the design consisted of cast-in-place, two-sided board form walls with integrated two­ inch rigid insulation placed in the center of the walls. The height of the walls ranges from four feet tall to twenty-six feet tall and encompasses most of the building footprint, and extending to the second floor in some areas. The material used for the form liner was lx4 cedar planks, randomly spaced.

Final design of the walls included several material types which added to the installation complexities. The walls had several design arrangements that included straight walls from footings, walls with integrated roof areas (placed monolithically with walls), forming configurations which led to tricky material consolidation (large lateral notches), and twenty foot plus wall heights with varying top of wall elevations.

Design of the wall details in general was vague and left to the contractor to provide solutions. The integrated two-inch, rigid insulation centered in the wall was provided by Thermomass. All insulation was prefabricated to fit and shipped to the project for installation.

The project duration for the wall installation was essentially two distinct timelines of approximately six weeks each. Zero lot line boundaries led to limited staging and tight material handling. Confluence is located on a corner lot with high public visibility, and the final product influenced the streetscape design done under a separate contract and designed by another architect.