Cedar Ridge High School

To create an aesthetically pleasing building for Cedar Ridge High School, the contractor blended tilt-up concrete walls with masonry, metal panels, aluminum, glass, plaster and paint.

Tilt-up was used structurally to facilitate the architectural finishes while keeping costs in check. For example, to accommodate the gymnasium's large windows, roof joists were originally designed to bear on structural steel behind the tilt-up wall. However, a redesign eliminated the majority of the steel and used the panels to support the joists, which reduced interference of the columns with the folding bleacher sections along that wall. Tilt-up panels also were used as supports for four large "flyovers," composed of large steel beams and joists, which sit 40 feet above the courtyard.

By recycling concrete into special containers and on-site casting beds, the contractor was able to divert 89 percent of its construction waste from landfills, thus surpassing the 75-percent requirement under LEED guidelines. That, combined with the fact that the concrete supplied for the project came from plants within a 20-mile radius of the construction site, has the school on track to achieve LEED Silver Certification.