Masonry Magazine October 1995 Page. 12
Concrete Block Chosen for Prison Center Transfer
Reinforced with steel and pumped grout, block walls provide required high level of security.
An all-concrete prisoner holding facility at the Will Rogers Airport in Oklahoma City combines poured-in-place structural concrete with block walls that are grout and steel reinforced. While highly labor intensive, the design was chosen for its security benefits and elimination of formwork.
Designed as a hexagon, the Federal Transfer Center has six wings extending from a center core for seven stories above grade. General contractor Blount, Incorporated of Montgomery, Alabama, subcontracted the structural concrete columns, beams and decks to Concrete Placement Incorporated (CPI), headquartered in Kansas City.
The non-load bearing block walls was built by G.A. Masonry, Crestwood, Kentucky, assigned to lay over 800,000 blocks, of which 600,000 are reinforced for the exterior walls. The remaining blocks are for interior partitions and subgrade foundation.
MECHANICAL BALL VALVE pump placed the 4,000 psi mix to reinforce 600,000 blocks used on the exterior walls of the all-concrete prison transfer center.