The University of Florida College of Design, Construction, and Planning (DCP)’s 653 Collaboratory is a 50,000 SF, four-story addition to the existing College of DCP at the UF Gainesville campus. F.L. Crane & Sons’ involvement on this project was concentrated at the exterior enclosure of the building, made up of cold-formed metal-framed wall assemblies with an adhered masonry veneer system. FLC utilized Sto Panel MVES ci prefabricated wall panels, an engineered insulated wall system with thin brick masonry veneer. FLC became involved early in the design process, working to optimize the prefabrication approach in collaboration with the design team and the General Contractor.
Project timeline: FLC was issued award and a subcontract for this project in December of 2023 with the submittals, shop drawings, & coordination lasting through July 2024. Through design, this project offered challenges such as: ¼” offset to create contrast in the stacked brick coursing pattern, segmented radius walls, and sloped panel bottoms. The project consisted of approximately. 20,000 SF of exterior wall assembly made up of 90 panels. In the off-site construction shop, FLC fabricated the panels with 6-8 framers and 10-14 finishers/brick layers over the course of 6 weeks. In the field, FLC completed install of 90 brick panels in 15 working days. This project had the largest brick panels completed to date by FLC, ranging from 38’ tall and 11.5’ wide (~10,500 lbs.). The project benefited from the prefabrication approach in several ways, including the early release of the curtain wall package, interior MEP rough-in, and temporary roof dry-in.
