Wyoming Tribune-Eagle Printing Facility

MARKET
INDUSTRIAL
METHOD
PRECAST
Wyoming Tribune-Eagle Printing Facility
THERMOMASS CASE STUDY
Paper’s worst enemy is fire, but moisture is a close second, and keeping condensation
issues from stopping the presses means that the building envelope must be as
detailed as the news that the paper reports.
STRONG PERFORMANCE, STRONG PRESENCE
LOCATION
Cheyenne, Wyoming
COMPLETED
July 2008
FLOOR AREA/USE
26,000 sf (press room)
10,000 sf (mail room)
THERMOMASS PRODUCTS
System SC
When the Cheyenne News decided to construct a new press hall and expand
its mail room, it turned to FORUM Architects, a Cleveland-based firm with decades of experience designing buildings in specialty industries like media and
newspaper. Providing expertise for the project was Charles Rosati, Principal
Architect at FORUM with more than two decades of experience designing
facilities of this nature.
“Newspaper facilities are a complex marriage between building and industrial
processes,” said Rosati. “With specialty projects like this, we explore the best use
of materials and design to create a building not only capable of performing,
but one that looks strong, and has a presence in the community.”
Since this project was an addition to an existing structure built in the mid1980’s, FORUM relied on architectural precast concrete in order to match the
texture of the existing building while accenting the appearance with modern
architectural elements.
Above: The low-rise, first level
area is the mail room. The tower,
which houses the press hall, utilizes
precast cladding panels. In total, 72
exposed aggregate and acid-etched
precast sandwich wall panels were
erected and installed in just 21 days.
PRECISION PRECAST
“The original structure was clad in architectural precast, so it made sense to
use precast again,” said Rosati. “Precast allowed us to blend the new additions
in with the existing facility, giving us a solid, durable structure with an aesthetically pleasing exterior wall system with a sense of permanence while providing
quicker installation, less on-site labor, and durable finishes both inside and out.”
Rocky Mountain Prestress (RMP), a staple in the architectural precast market,
was tasked with providing the architectural wall panels and the structural
precast elements.
“We were contacted by FORUM early in the project, a necessity in specialty
buildings like this,” said Dan Parker of RMP. “This enabled us to provide them
with a look that reflected their desires as well as the necessary details and
thermal performance to allow the building to operate as intended,” Parker
continued. “Once the scope was outlined, we turned to Thermomass for design
assistance with the wall panels”.
THERMOMASS BENEFITS
Thermomass insulation systems are a great fit for buildings that require specific
indoor air temperatures and humidity levels and have been used in many
media facilities, including newspaper presses, libraries, and public archives.
“If conditions are too dry during the printing process, the newsprint will tend
to tear,” said Rhoades. “Therefore, we have to keep the press room humidified.
But if we can’t keep the cooler outside air separate from the warm, moist inside
air, the interior of the building will sweat. We want humidity, but not water.”
For more information
about Thermomass and its
complete line of concrete
insulation products, please
call us at (800) 232-1748
or contact us online at
www.thermomass.com
The FORUM/RMP solution was an exterior wall assembly of two, 3-inch layers of
mild-reinforced concrete sandwiching 2 inches of Thermomass System SC.
Combined with Thermomass CC series connectors, the two layers of concrete
were able to act compositely, creating a precast wall panel with edge-to-edge
insulation and the performance necessary for the prescribed interior thermal
and moisture conditions.
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