Award Description

Project Participants

Owner – Lincoln Property Company, Bethel Park, PA
Architect/Designer – HKS, Inc, Dallas, TX
Structural Engineer – Brockett Davis Drake Inc, Dallas, TX
Concrete Contractor – Mascaro Construction Co., LP, Pittsburgh, PA
Concrete Producer- Frank Bryan, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA
Masonry Contractor – Franco, Pittsburgh, PA
General Contractor – Mascaro Construction Co., LP, Pittsburgh, PA
Construction Manager – Oxford Development Co., Pittsburgh, PA

Rising 190 feet above the street level, the 18-story Encore on 7th, with its lighted crown, stands as a beacon to those entering the Cultural District from the North side. The ground floor contains 5,268 sq. ft. of retail space, with the top floors providing residential living space for 151 units (102 units are one bedroom and 47 are two bedroom). With spectacular views of the North Shore and Allegheny River, the 208,000 sq. ft. complex provides easy access to Pittsburgh’s business center, the theater district, and the stadiums across the river.

Even though post-tensioned concrete frame is not common in Western Pennsylvania, Lincoln (owner), HKS (architect), and Mascaro knew that a post-tensioned, cast-in-place concrete provided the best overall value. In addition to the economy of construction and green construction features, concrete provided 14 to 18 in. of space per vertical square foot by eliminating steel beams. The Encore on 7th features 9-ft., 4-in.ceiling heights – an important selling point in residential housing.

The limited amount of post-tension construction in Western Pennsylvania posed a challenge for Mascaro and its subcontractors. In particular was the placement of sleeves and boxouts that required extreme precision. Each floor had close to 500 sleeves for conduits, domestic water, sanitary, storm risers, and fire protection systems. Mascaro proposed the use of GPS technology in lieu of traditional hand layout or core drilling. The MEP subcontractors supplied Autocad drawings that identified the location of sleeves, boxouts, and penetration. Mascaro surveyors converted the drawings into data points and uploaded that information to a data collector. Using a GPS robot, the data point for each utility was located and marked with a tack. Subcontractors would then easily center their sleeves over the tack. The result was both speed and accuracy. With over 9,000 items placed in the slab, less than 20 had to be modified or connected.

As noted above, Mascaro worked closely with the structural engineer, Brockett Davis Drake, Inc., and the concrete supplier, Frank Bryan, Inc. The team was able to develop a high strength concrete mix that allowed post tensioning to occur in 24 hours as opposed to the normal two- to three-day cycle. The concrete mixes also used recycled fly ash. The mix for 10,000 psi used 30 percent fly ash and the 8000 psi concrete mix used 20 percent fly ash.

Other elements of sustainable construction included the development of a waste management plan that was extremely successful in that 93 percent of construction, demolition, and land clearing wastes were salvaged and/or recycled. This includes scrap metal, concrete, plaster and drywall, wood, cardboard, brick and block, and earth. Of the 1,163 tons of waste materials fenerated by this project, only 81 tons went to a landfill.

Mascaro also assisted with material specifications to ensure the use of low emitting materials for adhesives, paints, and carpenting. Mascaro worked with the design team to specify that energy-efficient, operable windows were installed. Whenever possible, Mascaro recommended the use of local and regional materials.