Masonry Magazine October 1992 Page. 9
Reinforced Masonry for Public Service
Any mistakes in the installation of flashings will jeopardize performance of the masonry.
ONE OF THE MOST structurally significant masonry buildings to be built in northwest Ohio in recent years is the Stranahan Memorial Community Service Building in Toledo, Ohio.
The building is a memorial to Frank and Robert Stranahan by their sons, Duane and Robert Stranahan, Jr. All funds for the construction of the building were given by the Stranahan Foundation to the United Way of Greater Toledo. The building houses almost half of the United Way agencies in the region. It permits the staffs of these agencies to interact and to work more conveniently with each other. It also allows these agencies to occupy quarters which are much more attractive and serviceable than the marginal spaces they had earlier occupied.
Inasmuch as the project is a memorial, an overriding objective was to create a building which would be as timeless in design as possible. As the architect on this project (I was then a partner in the firm of Samborn, Stekete, Otis and Evans), I felt that a "timeless" solution could best be devised by using the timeless elements of sun, shade and shadow.
As early sketches unfolded, it became evident that brick afforded the ideal material to create varied breaks, cuts and angles in the facade. Further, it was a clear choice in terms of the urban context in which the building is placed. It also allowed the creation of a wide variety of window openings many of which are positioned to capitalize on impressive views from the building.
Masonry provided flexibility. Since the building is located at the edge of the urban center and can be viewed from the perspective of some distance, it was determined that the eave profile should be of various heights and angles to emulate the interrupted and broken skyline of the city beyond. Again, masonry provided the flexibility to allow that design concept to be carried out in its fullest.
In achieving the initial design objective of timelessness, the most significant element of this masonry building remains its use of masonry for the entire five story structure. The use of brick and block composite walls made it possible to conveniently construct the building on a somewhat crenulated footprint. By virtue of the fact that each masonry wall section is angled at least once, each masonry pier became quite rigid structurally. It was decided to use these piers, which were intitially conceived as visual elements, as the entire supporting structure for the five story building.
It was desirable to keep the walls as thin as possible and not increase their twelve inch thickness as loads accumulated from top to bottom. In order to achieve that objective, the entire exterior facade was designed as a series of distinct, but continuous, twelve inch thick reinforced masonry walls. From the third story down, each wall is twelve inches thick, made up of four inches of exterior brick, four inches of interior concrete block, and four inches of reinforced concrete poured in the space between the brick and the block. The strength of these piers then became sufficient to carry the floor loadings without increasing the wall thickness. Above the third floor, it was possible to carry the load simply with four inch face brick and eight inch concrete block. Type M masonry cement mortar was used throughout the project.
Interesting exercise in masonry
The main entrance to the building is an interesting exercise in masonry work. Commencing at a point about twelve feet above the entrance floor and at each side of the entrance, the brick walls begin corbeling outward at angles to each other which, after about eight feet of corbel, turn forty-five degrees to continue the corbel outward again. This twisted corbeling was masterfully installed by the masons of the constructor, Rudolph/Libbe, Incorporated.
As the moving sun highlights panels, creates contrasting shadows and shaded areas, the building takes on markedly different appearances during the course of the day. This visual
AS THE STRANAHAN Building can be viewed from the perspective of some distance, it was determined that the eave profiles should be of various heights and angles to emulate the skyline of the city beyond.