HK Ties & New Braunfels' Das Rec
/Now open for recreation, Das Rec is in motion. This 77,000 sf recreation center in New Braunfels, TX is a great reminder that concrete and aesthetics can play well together. Designers Brinkley Sargent Wiginton of Dallas scored a visual victory blending color, dimension, materials, and a great deal of thought into this facility. Over 35,000 sf of integrally insulated tilt-wall represents a significant portion of the envelope. Soft building materials often do not fare well in the presence of high humidity conditions like indoor pools. The Das Rec pool is of no small size. And at 82 degrees F, humidity is of certain factor. Insulating the large tilt-walls integrally allowed the facility to meet IECC standards while giving the interior and exterior a clean, durable, face. HK Composite ties are there to hold together the concrete on both sides of the insulation layer.
HKST 50 and HKST 100 ties were used to connect inner and outer concrete wythes together without creating thermal shorts in the assembly and providing the engineering to keep these walls together for the life of the building. Choosing the right system includes accounting for proper tensile, shear, and pull-out strength of the connector ties as well as fire and alkalinity resistance. AC 320 has been the industry standard for this type of wall assembly. All of HKC's ties are tested to this standard.
It was a fun experience getting to participate in this project. I Hope to see more of these down the road.
- Darren
