2022 PCI Design Awards: Best Hotel/Motel Building Winner

10-Ionia is a modern flat iron structure designed to fit the confines of a small urban lot and bring back forms of the original structure built on this site in the late 1800’s.  Utilizing precast allowed for efficient vertical construction of a complex building shape with tight radiuses.

The projects geometry created multiple challenges outside the normal space usage.  The use of a precast load bearing wall system and a hybrid steel framing, eliminated any vertical elements in occupied space.  The precast shear core was challenging due to the restriction on the corridor and vertical transportation, leading to heavily reinforced walls with many openings.  Engineering analysis of this structure was very involved and was re-done several time to address changes in openings due to BIM Coordination, using 3D analysis methods.  Curved precast was made on custom steel forms design to hold the three radiuses with in the tolerances required by PCI.  The precast panels were also pre-glazed to eliminate the need to install windows on site and provide a quicker path to a dried in structure.

This is the first Hybrid Framing system used in Michigan. Hybrid Framing is a steel composite beam and column system utilizing a cast in place filling in conjunction with precast hollow-core slabs and precast load-bearing walls. It provides for a thinner floor profile vs. other systems, does not require fireproofing, and can mimic the same properties of a cast in place system.