Masonry Magazine June 1970 Page. 15
View of the inner side of a prefabricated panel as it is being handled by the tower crane. The clip angles for attaching the panels are clearly visible along the bottom of the wall section.
Flying Brick Panels
University Center
Austin, Texas
Architects: Daverman Associates
General Contractor: Guy F. Atkinson Company
Mason Contractor: Gage Behunin Company
Things usually get done in a big way in Texas. For example, on the edge of the University of Texas campus near downtown Austin, a 27-story residential tower is rising above a two-level shopper's mall. When completed, this 29-story structure, designated as University Center, will be one of the tallest buildings on the Austin skyline.
University Center, a Scope Corporation project, was designed to house over 900 students in 416 apartment units in the tower. The first two levels will contain 75,000 square feet of stores, shops, restaurants, and offices opening onto an air-conditioned mall. The complex also includes 625 parking spaces in an adjacent six-story garage.
The Guy F. Atkinson Company of South San Francisco, Calif., is the general contractor for this cast-in-place concrete frame building with post-tensioned slab floors. Construction started March 3, 1969, with the basic structure scheduled for completion by September 1, 1970. This rapid rate of construction, according to Brad D. Inman, Atkinson's project manager, can be attributed to a reduced cycle for placing concrete forms and the use of prefabricated masonry panels for curtain walls.
Inman reports that the cycle of placing form work, pouring concrete, and stripping has been performed in as little as three working days per floor, with four