Mercy Gilbert Medical Center

Summarize the project's program, features, and achievements: Mercy Gilbert Medical Center III successfully broke ground in late April of 2022. Located in Gilbert, Arizona, this new two-story, 45,000 SF Medical Center was created in partnership with PMB & Dignity Heath, utilizing Venn Construction as the General Contractor and Riggs Companies as the concrete trade partner. The project features several intricate architectural designs including a staggered wood formliner, stepped recess design, sloped recess design, and 2 1/4" reveal.

What obstacles were overcome related to the schedule, budget, program, specification, site, etc. on this project? There were several unique features when it came to the execution of Mercy Gilbert, as it was pushing the envelope of what tilt-up concrete can do architecturally. The selected “Wide Plank, Random Depth” formliner was the first roadblock. The project team created a mock panel to ensure that this architectural vision would be well executed throughout. The mock panel results determined that the quality and chosen pattern would pose an issue at install. Although working with .090 thick formliner, the staggered wood design was being bowed when concrete was applied to it. Junior Marquez, Riggs Superintendent worked with his crew to strengthen the formliner backing using lumber to then try another mock panel. The results of the second mock panel was able to complete the original architectural vision. Another challenge Riggs had to face was the fact that with Mercy Gilbert being a two-story tilt up and a small overall floor area, there was nearly as much wall square footage as there was floor square footage. Not only did this make it difficult to find the best way to cast panels, but due to the site conditions already being constricted, Riggs had to plan how to successfully mobilize their crane to reach all panels. To make this work, a portion of the interior slab had to be blocked off, which limited the already small scale of usable slab for panel casting. Riggs had to offset this by placing waste slabs for 22 panels, while not getting in other trades way.

Please communicate any engineering complexities or unique features of the panel design for this project. ? The thickness of the panels created an engineering challenge. Architecturally, the panels were 7-1/4”. However, after considering the recesses near windows, reveals, and formliner, the structural design of the panels was 6-3/4”. This required Riggs Companies to get creative on how to lift the thinner-than-usual panels without compromising the intended design. Riggs Companies had to selectively increase the proposed concrete PSI design strength on almost every panel to ensure that they met the minimum modulus of rupture requirement. This also made it difficult to locate proper pick points and brace insert locations. This engineering process not only implicated that the panels be properly cast, cured, and handled to avoid cracking or other damage, but that they were strong enough to withstand the loads and forces that were applied to them without compromising the architectural design.

What is the potential for this project's impact on the community and/or environment? Mercy Gilbert Medical Center III has a huge positive impact on the surrounding Gilbert community. As the East Valley’s population and families continue to grow, healthcare and education is in high demand. This tilt-up construction has been fully leased and partnered with Dignity Health’s East Valley’s graduate medical education program for future passionate physicians to pursue their careers and support medical imaging services with Arizona Diagnostic Radiology. This project is a perfect example of taking initiative to optimize and expand healthcare resources by creating a site that will advance the local community’s clinical care and well-being.