Special Masonry Systems Prefabricated Panel System
(A Case Study)

Elliott Bay Office Park
Prefabricated Panel System

View from west side

The Elliott Bay Office Park is a low rise office building developed for corporate and institutional users. The five story, 225,000 square foot building was planned with very large floors ranging from 44,000 square feet to nearly 48,000 square feet. The large floors were designed to provide for single floor occupancy for large users while being flexible enough to provide for small users as well.

The building was constructed with a poured- in-place reinforced concrete frame and clad with a curtainwall of prefabricated brick spandrel panels and bronze glass strip windows.

Masonry was used to enhance the buildings aesthetic qualities, provide for cost effective details and finishes, and allow for a life of low maintenance and durability. The selection of brick as the dominant exterior material insured that the color and scale of the building would retain its same visual image from year to year throughout the life of the building.

The masonry system used for this building was the prefabricated panel, which uses a four-inch hollow brick combined with grout and reinforcing steel to provide a structural unit of not only high compressive strength but one also of high tensile strength. It is the high tensile strength quality of the panel that allows it to stand alone as a complete structural unit ready to be integrated into the building. The success of the Elliott Bay Office Park building is due in part to the unique qualities of the panel system itself. This masonry technique provides for flexibility in design, all weather construction, an assembly with an integral structural system, quality control, and cost effective repair of damaged work.

Typical floor plan

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Masonry Institute of Washington
Washington State Conference of Mason Contractors