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Project of the Year

In August 2010, B.W. Dexter II Inc. completed a 515,000-square foot, 1200-bed dormitory complex that represents the largest single masonry subcontract ever awarded in Connecticut. Aside from its sheer size, the project’s complex design challenged the masons to implement time-and labor-saving techniques.

The main dorm is a two-wing, 6- to 9-story curved concave building with more than 1 million face brick in more than 40 shapes. Its load-bearing backup and interior radial walls consist of more than 500,000 reinforced concrete masonry units that support a prefabricated concrete plank floor.

Even with more than 110 employees onsite, the contractor had to be innovative to keep the massive project on schedule. To construct the dorm’s sunken garden wall, Dexter’s team designed a reusable rolled concave steel arch template. The brick-face concrete retaining wall runs parallel to the building for almost a quarter mile, and includes 26 continuous concave brick arches reaching up to 20 feet high. The masons bolted the template to the cast-in place concrete wall, placed the brick, and repeated the process for each arch.

Dexter saved time and money by using a thin-brick precast arch to build the dorm’s main entrance, which consists of two 52-foot concave arches at the front and back. The arches were made in Canada, pointed and washed onsite, then lifted by crane and bolted into place by the masons.

The project also included five two- and three-story student dorms with CMU walls, face brick, and precast elements, and a student center.

Project Participants Owner: Quinnipiac University, Hamden, Conn. Architect/Designer: Centerbrook Architects, Centerbrook, Conn. Structural Engineer: Gilsanz, Murray, Stefi cek, LLP, New York, N.Y. General Contractor: O & G Industries, Torrington, Conn. Masonry Contractor: B.W. Dexter II Inc., Danielson, Conn. Masonry Consultant: International Masonry Institute (IMI), Glastonbury, Conn. Masonry Suppliers: O & G Industries, Waterbury, Conn.; Mack Brick Co., Enfield, Conn.; Connecticut Valley Block, West Springfiled, Mass.; Cheney Flashing Co., Trenton, N.J. Precast Suppliers: Rex Precast Systems, Cheshire, Conn.; BPDL Inc., Alma, Quebec, Canada

Click to see the full project description and slideshow.

WEB EXTRA: Download the project .pdf