The shell construction of Building CA 3E at Lam Research Corporation’s Fremont, California campus is nearing completion for delivery to the owner in April 2016. This unique structure supports Lam Research’s core business as an innovative supplier of wafer fabrication equipment and services for the global semiconductor industry.
Thirty 8 inch thick precast prestressed concrete wall panels, measuring 12 feet wide by up to 50 ft tall, were used to enclose two elevations of the structure. In their final position, these non-load bearing wall panels are laterally supported at three points: at the foundation; at the mezzanine level located 18 ft above the base; and at the fan deck located 49 ft above the ground. The utilization of prestressing accommodates a building geometry that requires the panels to span 31 ft from the mezzanine to the top of panel in a high seismic region. The performance demand was further elevated by a project specific seismic design criterion specifying an importance factor of 1.5, thereby increasing the seismic design loads by 50% when compared to an ordinary structure. The inherent benefits of prestressing the panels also simplified the shipping and handling operations.
This project was built on an existing, operating campus with significant limitations to the space available for the contractor’s use. The construction zone was not significantly larger than the footprint of the new building. Offsite production of the wall panels allowed fabrication concurrent with jobsite construction activities and mitigated adverse impacts to the construction sequence, schedule and space that would have occurred with site cast walls, providing yet another example of the benefits associated with precast building elements.
Project Name: Building CA 3E
Location: Fremont, California
Owner: Lam Research Corporation
Architect: Devcon Construction, Inc.
Engineer: Biggs Cardoza Associates, Inc.
Prime Contractor: Devcon Construction, Inc.
Precast Subcontractor: Con-Fab California Corporation
