The Irene and George Woodruff
Family Residence Center

Atlanta, Ga.

This hospital residence center was built to provide a place for families to stay and remain emotional and physically involved in the rehabilitation of family members who have suffered catastrophic spinal injury. The project attempted to maximize accessibility as well as take the not-for-profit hospital’s limited budget as far as possible. Pivotal to this was the use of precast concrete, which did more than just save money and allow the expansion of services; in this project, it allowed the architect to establish a new design language. Beginning with the building’s southeast corner, an interesting geometric pattern formed in glass and precast concrete causes the observer to leave the repetition behind and focus instead on the interplay of tessellated rectangular forms. This geometric play continues as one follows the building’s exterior across the east face. Attached to the base of each window pair is a precast geometric form that makes the observer question its true nature and the scale of the window units themselves. Such an engaging design that remains durable and cost effective is just one more example of the flexibility of precast concrete.

Precaster: Metromont USA, Dalton, Ga.
Website: www.metromontusa.com/

Architect: Howell, Rusk, Dodson Architects, Atlanta, Ga.
Website: www.hrd-arch.com/

Engineer of record: Rosser International, Atlanta, Ga.
Website: www.rosser.com/

Area: 87,871 ft²
Number of stories: 7
Structural system: Precast Concrete
Precast concrete components:
252 double-tees
93 interior insulated wall panels
159 exterior wall panels with brick veneer
28 beams and inverted-tee beams
4 precast columns
Total number of pieces: 536