University of Dayton - Fitness & Recreation Complex

Dayton, OH

Mason Contractor: Lang Masonry & Restoration Contractors, Inc.
Architect: Hastings & Chivetta Architects

Project Description

For Lang Masonry Contractors, the Fitness & Recreation Complex (RecPlex) at University of Dayton, Ohio, was an exciting and challenging project due to all the different masonry products that were used to complete the overall design.

Being Ohio's largest private university, the college takes great pride in an immaculate campus and developing modern facilities for enrollees. In fact, students, faculty, and staff participated in a series of planning workshops with architectural consultants to draw up the design plans for the RecPlex. University of Dayton, officially chartered in 1850, today serves a body of 10,000 students. With an expansive campus, melding new buildings into the existing canvas of the college is a challenge and only the utmost quality will do.

The $25.3 million overall project consisted of 110,000 utility brick, 130,000 gray block, 5,000 custom color glazed block in Frost Gray, school colors of Fire-engine Red and Midnight Blue, 26,000 ground face block in Light Carmel, Cranberry, Carson brown, and Sundown for the new construction. In addition to this, 462,000 pounds of cast stone rounded out the material requirements.

Of the 125,470 square feet construction, the complex includes a 4-court gymnasium, elevated running track 20 feet off finished floor, classrooms, eight-lane natatorium, an additional 2-court gymnasium and Olympic size pool. The building's showcase would be the entryway. The impressive entryway with a radius of 80 feet is comprised of 14 cast stone/brick piers 64 inches wide, 22 ft tall. This leads to a 38 ft Concourse complete with rock climbing wall, juice bar, student lounge, stairwell, ramp, and elevator. The intriguing Concourse design includes four different colors of groundface block and glazed block at the finished floor. All exterior walls are cast stone, splitface, and utility brick. The exterior also showcases a clock face made entirely of masonry to give the overall project a more creative look.

The exterior presented its own set of challenges with the sheer volume of cast stone, split face, and utility brick. To install the cast stone, Lang Masonry built their own stone clamps to lift the stone in place. Hydromobile scaffolding was utilized to set the cast stone and also for the exterior work. Additional environmentally safe methods were used onsite with an innovative vacuum system saw for dry cutting block. To achieve efficiency in scheduling, Lang Masonry chose to mix over 900 yards of grout on site utilizing EZ Grout's Mud Hog hydraulic mixers, Hog Sloppers to fill the mixers, and Grout Hog to deliver the grout. To achieve the aggressive project schedule, the job was started on October 24, 2004 and completed with a crew of 35-40 men in approximately 13 months working through the wintry weather elements.

This project was particularly special to Lang Masonry due to the overall mixture of materials in the design that led to an outstanding finished product.