Athenahealth West, The Arsenal on the Charles, Watertown, MA

Details

This precast concrete, seven-level parking garage provides 1,390 spaces and replaced an existing surface parking lot. The West Garage features an exterior aluminum screening feature that contrasts with the precast concrete system. Due to the small size of the site, Dailey Precast worked closely with the contractor as we delivered and installed 979 pieces of precast.

Cars enter from two sides – one entrance is from Arsenal Street and the other is through the campus. In order to handle almost 1,400 cars in one facility, the garage employs a double-threaded helix ramping system to move cars around more efficiently.

The parking garage features a custom-designed sculptural screen that elegantly wraps a textured, precast concrete façade to the north. The connection points for the screening system required intensive coordination between the screen manufacturer and Dailey Precast via modeling during the design phases and then coordination in the field.

This project highlights some particular capabilities of precast, including the exposed cantilevered stair on tree columns and intricate formliner pattern on precast spandrel panels, which serves to break up the large façade on this big garage.

Read more in the profile of this project by the Precast Concrete Institute.