This new residence hall, located in the heart of the University of Louisville campus, has multiple social gathering areas and a Z-shape that allows for several unique views from each of the 452 rooms. Built with Nudura blocks, it used over 65,000 square feet of ICF. An impressive feature is the curved glazing and cantilevered roof structure of the cultural center entrance. The most complex aspect of the project construction was the use of ICF load-bearing walls in combination with a considerable number of strip windows on the first floor. The sound-insulating qualities of ICF help reduce the noise from a nearby airport. The previous university residence halls were built of wood construction, so this is a major step forward for the school. This project has received attention from the National Ready Mix Concrete Association and many other public and private educational institutions who have visited the campus.
This multifamily affordable housing unit in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, was built using SuperForm ICF. It is an 18-story highrise totalling 110,000 square feet and consisting of 135 residential units. The build required a high degree of accuracy in wall straightness and plumbness. A self-leveling concrete was used, to avoid any risk of honeycombing, and the ICF system exceeded expectations. The project achieved a Built Green Platinum sustainability rating, thanks in part to cogeneration and a photovoltaic solar array. The building uses one fifth the energy of a traditional highrise. It also includes a multilevel parkade. Using ICFs in multifamily and tall buildings is not a common practice in Western Canada. This builder's projects are the tallest buildings west of Waterloo, Ontario, and help to promote the effectiveness and advantages of using ICF for formwork.
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada is the home of the apartment building called 30 UC, or 30 University Crescent. These are luxury yet affordable apartments near the University of Manitoba campus. Built using 70,000 square feet of Logix blocks, this nearly 100,000-square-foot building features seven stories of ICF construction perched upon a cast-in-place parkade. Six-inch blocks formed the exterior walls and 8-inch blocks formed the load-bearing demising walls. The connections of the interior and exterior walls required special cuts at the corner jogs. There were 24 wall jogs per level. ICF columns support the front glass wall. Even through the harsh Manitoba winter, the ICFs kept the freshly poured concrete at the right temperature. The building was completed $500,000 under budget.
This commercial gym project, constructed with Amvic blocks, stands out among other builds due in part to the complexity of the curved ICF walls and Quonset roof panels. Located in San Antonio, Texas, the design features an elevated curved ICF wall poured 21 feet above the finished floor. At just under 3,000 square feet, the builders estimated that they saved 30,000 dollars by using ICFs to achieve the curves. The concrete being poured into a curved wall profile enabled the direct anchoring of the arched Quonset roof to the ICF wall. This very cost-effective design approach achieved a roofing system without requiring any roof structure or support. And, because the roof panels were pre-manufactured, it was crucial that the curve of the wall matched the outline of the roof panels. The site was a very small property that also needed to remain operational during construction. In 2019, the architects achieved a major feat by convincing the local utility company to issue the very first utility rebate recognizing the advantages of ICF construction in San Antonio.
This car wash in Rohnert Park, California, was built with IntegraSpec ICF blocks. Its soundproof walls produce zero noise pollution to the surrounding neighbors. This building is highly energy efficient and fireproof, with a passive geothermal 100% ICF shell. The structure is nearly 6,400 square feet, and sits three stories tall, for a total of about 20,000 square feet of ICF used. This project had to accommodate all of the equipment penetrations and locations during ICF installation. The ICF floors were installed and concrete poured into the upper 2 feet of the ICF wall. The upper-level walls and roof were poured monolithically to save time during construction. The building was designed as a state-of-the-art modern and futuristic car wash. The car wash bay is fitted with LED color-changing lights, and all equipment is of the highest efficiency.
This building is home to a physical therapy center in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. It’s over 18,000 square feet and used Amvic blocks to achieve 13- and 15-foot ceiling heights on each of the two floors. The design incorporated massive, full block-out windows up to 18 feet long in multiple locations. An elevator shaft was also constructed with ICF block. Construction was able to proceed through the winter thanks to ICF, and precast floors helped keep the project on time and on budget. The design showcases the versatility of ICF as a half-court basketball court, gym, fitness studio, pool, and indoor golf simulator were all constructed from ICF. At the time of construction, this project was the only ICF building of its scale in the area and the first of 13 ICF projects of similar size yet to come.
This home in Santa Rosa, California, used IntegraSpec blocks. The home's unique design includes a rooftop deck with a 360-degree view, a solar parapet roof skirt, a second floor glass bridge to a balcony, and a curved concrete floating staircase to the second floor. At approximately 5,000 square feet, the home used nearly 20,000 square feet of ICF blocks. The ICF roof deck and ICF floor deck were a monolithic pour to create a solid thermal mass. Wall heights range from 10 to 22 feet. The entire structure including footings, walls, floors, roof, and balconies, are all ICF. This creates a monolithic insulated concrete structure that is earthquake proof, soundproof, windproof, fireproof, mold proof, and termite proof. The structure complies with the Net Zero requirements of the California Building Code. The clients have a 7.2 kilowatt solar system that leaves them with zero utility bills. The owners are extremely happy with their house and they allow tours with prospective clients so they can share their passion for ICF technology.
Thousands of people learned about ICF due to the construction of this project, a 5,200-square-foot home built with BuildBlock ICF in Cabin John, Maryland. Green Casa Maryland is a public advocacy organization that educates on sustainability and green construction. The home has 42 solar panels, which produce more energy than the home uses, and boasts a Home Energy Rating System Index score of -4, compared to a standard new home which has a rating of 100. The home's open design required special beams, which were notched and cemented into the ICF walls, to support the second floor. Since it is a model home, it is the site of numerous tours for professors, students, contractors, civic leaders, and ordinary citizens, with a lot of media coverage. Green Casa Maryland says they receive inquiries from all over the United States and from other countries as well.
This Ontario, Canada, project is a 3,700 square foot, four bedroom, multi-adaptable, multi-generational guesthouse. It used over 10,000 square feet of Fox Blocks. The house was built to passive house standards and was designed as an all-concrete structure for maximum efficiency on three levels. The overall shape is a simple rectangle but this ICF assembly has an additional six inches of EPS insulation added to the exterior of the standard 8-inch concrete ICF wall assembly. A large 20-foot double height space in the middle of the house made working at upper levels more difficult and required a lot of interior scaffolding. The Endymion Guesthouse will use approximately 90% less thermal energy than a conventional Ontario Building Code-compliant residence. Once certified, it will become the first new-build certified passive house in Prince Edward County.
This project in Saco, Maine, is a 34,000-square-foot multistory addition and renovation for a lab and office space. Built with Amvic blocks it’s impressive with its 36-foot tall, free standing exterior walls. It is the first ICF project constructed with the aid of Virtual Design & Construction, or VDC. It houses clean rooms, labs, quality control rooms, and more, for a total of 21,000 square feet of ICF used. Construction took place on an aggressive build schedule and while the building was occupied. A specific ICF challenge was the floor-to-floor exterior wall pour in coordination with beam pockets for steel and a curtainwall that spanned two stories. This was installed so cleanly that only minor adjustments were required. The team also managed a challenging ICF installation for floor-to-floor slab placements. The slab had to stop below the second-floor decking on the inside but run higher than the decking on the outside. Furthermore, the team switched wall construction from a framed parapet to an ICF parapet, which took 10 fewer days of work. This lab will be used as a manufacturing center for infectious disease detection, including COVID-19, and is a rare example of a lab being built with ICFs.
This church in Bellevue, Nebraska, used Fox Blocks ICFs. The design features numerous elevation changes on wall heights. There are several bump-out dormers with windows, which also have small gables on each of them. The building has several other sloped walls to follow the contour of the sloped roof, along with areas with elliptical arches that were built out of ICFs. The project used a combination of 12- and 8-inch blocks. At 37,000 square feet, this large building was completed in only 100 days. The builder was very experienced, but had never built using ICFs. The congregation can now enjoy a new worship space that will reduce the operating costs over the life of the building, with walls that can resist high Nebraska winds and harsh winters.
Prosper, Texas, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, is home to this church school that was built using Nudura ICFs. While the Parish Hall was conventionally constructed, the 40,000-square-foot school building was built with ICFs. Architectural features included towering gables and ceiling, numerous poured arches, and stained glass circles. The many poured arches over a long expanse of walls on two sides required exceptional workmanship. These openings demanded special attention to bracing to ensure that the arches were maintained as specified. Both the ICF installer and general contractor were very experienced with ICF construction and were up to the challenge. This project is one of the most outstanding buildings in Prosper and a great architectural example of what ICF construction is capable of.
