PCI announces winners of the 2016 Sidney Freedman Craftsmanship Award

Chicago — The Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI) announced the co-winners of the fifth annual Sidney Freedman Craftsmanship Award, an award that recognizes PCI certified plants for excellence in manufacturing and craftsmanship of architectural precast and glass fiber-reinforced concrete (GFRC) structures and individual components.

Two PCI certified precast concrete producers were honored with this year’s award. Forterra Structural Precast was recognized for producing the cladding on the new Payson Temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Payson, Utah. Gage Brothers was recognized for producing the cladding panels for the Sanford Medical Center Fargo, located in Fargo, N.D.

Payson Temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is purposefully designed to be inspirational. Forterra Structural Precast created forms to cast the architectural precast concrete, which resulted in the creation of very complex and varied geometric shapes that captured the pioneer essence of the Payson area. The project was designed by Architectural Nexus. Wadman Corporation served as the general contractor.

The Sanford Medical Center Fargo is a classic collegiate gothic architectural style which includes more than 2,213 precast concrete cast pieces. The precaster created molds of flutes, spires, and scrolled arches. This resulted in a highly detailed façade with a timeless look that is low-maintenance and serves as a visual embodiment of Sanford Health. The project was designed by HKS Architects. The general contractor was M.A. Mortenson Company.

The awards program was judged by the PCI Architectural Precast Concrete Services and Manual Committee. Judging was based on the precaster’s success in overcoming obstacles to production, solutions to formwork or finishing challenges, and quality of individual architectural precast/prestressed concrete or GFRC units.

PCI will begin accepting entries for the 2017 Sidney Freedman Craftsmanship Award in May 2017.