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Doka Top 50 formwork has provided the ideal solution to a tough architectural challenge at the new $ 94m Mesa Arts Center in the state of Arizona. Located on a 7 acre site in downtown Mesa, the 667 sq ft development includes four theatres, five galleries, 14 studios and classrooms, meeting spaces, a lecture hall, internal performance spaces and administrative offices.
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The largest three theatres are a complex design that combines canted, curved and conventional cast-in-situ concrete walls with sloping flat roofs and stringent finishing requirements.
To meet the demands, general contractor Layton Company of Arizona opted for Doka equipment. Each theatre has a back-of-stage scenery “flytower” formed using Doka Top 50 gangs, with an elastomeric form liner moulded onto the plywood facing providing the wood grained exterior finish. The towers range from 112 ft to 177 ft high and each incorporates one wall sloped inwards at either 4, 5 or 6 degrees. For the curved, battered wall at the opposite end to the flytowers, Layton Company of Arizona used Top 50 with articulated steel walers to achieve outer radii of 71 ft, 98 ft and 112 ft. The two remaining walls were also formed with Top 50, with one wall inclined at 4, 5 or 6 degrees to match the flytower.
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| Layton Company of Arizona used Top 50 with articulated steel walers to achieve outer radii of 71 ft, 91 ft and 112 ft on the curved, battered walls. |
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In total, Doka supplied approximately 15,000 sq ft of formwork to the project, including some quantities of Framax for the foundation and straight theatre walls where concrete finish was not a concern. All forms above grade level were climbed on Doka MF 240 rollback units. These provided a safe working platform for carpenters and reinforcing steel installers, as well as a trailing work level for finishing and patching operations.
According to Peter Franceschina, Western Regional Manager for Doka, “The biggest challenge was coping with the predetermined sizes of the form liner sheets and handling the reduction in wall lengths due to the sloping walls. Furthermore, the horizontal construction joints were not level but perpendicular to the sloped end walls. This meant that the rollback platforms also had to be sloped.”
Scheduled to open in spring 2005, the Mesa Arts Center will be the largest arts center in the State of Arizona.
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| In total, Doka supplied approximately 15,000 sq ft of formwork to the project, including some Framax for the foundation and straight theatre walls. |
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Contractor: Layton Company of Arizona
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