UMT Community Lifestyle Center in Engineering News-Record

Our Upper Macungie Township Community Lifestyle Center mission, spanning 281 ft (86 m) with hybrid timber/metal trusses, was featured last week in Engineering News-Record.

Johanna Knapschaefer of ENR tells the constructing’s story, from preliminary funding, idea design, technical engineering constraints, building workflow, and group affect.

British Columbia-based StructureCraft – structural engineer of report and superstructure design builder for the $49 million mission – was tasked with conceiving a long-span timber constructing that might match the mission’s price range, a key concern for Upper Macungie Township.

“I have had this vision for some years now to see how we can create an economical and attractive wood/steel hybrid structure as an alternative to the utilitarian steel buildings the public has grown accustomed to,” says Gerald Epp, president and chief engineer at StructureCraft.

Upper Macungie Township Manager Robert Ibach recollects when the township of 29,000 folks determined to think about a mass timber design, “we took a final look at steel and found the cost of timber construction was cost competitive with steel at the time slightly higher in cost.”

Including 4 interconnected buildings, the recreation middle with a complete gross flooring space of about 188,000 sq ft. The 133,000 sq ft indoor soccer facility is the biggest of the 4 buildings that may embrace two flex gyms with basketball courts, and an amenity/foyer constructing. The indoor soccer facility contains gable partitions framed with glulam columns and wind girts. The flex fitness center buildings are comparable with gable partitions and purlin-plywood roof panels, and the amenity/foyer constructing function a mixture of mild wooden body partitions and glulam framing.

Set for total completion subsequent summer season, the mission’s timber superstructure erection started in April and can end by yr’s finish.