Masonry Magazine January 1971 Page.112
Tampa's Jet-Port
AGELESS CLAY BRICK PLAYS VITAL ROLE IN BUILDING OF ULTRA-MODERN TERMINAL
Architects: Reynolds, Smith & Hills
Mason Contractors: Dixie Construction Co. (MCAA)
Masonry Constructors, Inc. (MCAA)
General Contractors: McDevitt-Street Co.
C. A. Fielland, Inc.
J. A. Jones Construction
Consulting Engineers: J. E. Greiner Co.
Jet-age travelers using the new $80 million International Airport in Tampa, Fla. are walking on, being guided by, and enjoying the beauty of a building product that dates back to the beginnings of civilization. Yet a modern-day systems method was used to fabricate the product into 18-ft. panels for the walls of the structure.
The product is the ageless clay brick which hasn't changed much from the time the first bricklayers, the Sumerians, used it in the Tigris and Euphrates Valley in what is now Iraq. And, because of its aesthetic value and economy, it is highly adaptable to modern methods, according to the International Masonry Institute.
Thirty-one bricklayers were involved in the panelization of the terminal walls, according to Joe L. Fernandez, business agent for Tampa Local 3 of the Bricklayers, Masons & Plasterers International Union (BM&PIU). Using a job-site fabrication approach and Dow Chemical Company's Sarabond mortar, they made 46 brick panels. Each of the 8 x 18 ft. panels were erected near their foundations and after 28 days moved to wall positions with a crane.
Project engineer Charles Richman of J. E. Greiner Co., consulting engineers of Tampa and Baltimore, said the panel method was used by the mason contractor and bricklayers because the design called for masonry walls at 30-degree angles. They were sloped for aesthetic reasons and to provide space for air returns and grills. It was, therefore, much simpler and more economical, Richman pointed out, to have the bricks laid nearby in straight, ordinary wall panels, and then installed in their splay positions. Steel templets to get the plan profile and guides to get the coursing were used in the process.
Fifty-six BM&PIU members laid 1,140,000 brick and concrete block to complete the masonry portion of the six-story structure. The mason contractor for the panelization and other conventional brick work was the Dixie Construction Co. of Birmingham. Dixie's owner, H. M. Strauss, Jr., says the job marked his firm's first venture into panelization of this type. "We're well pleased with the way it came out both from a cost and appearance standpoint," he said.
Masonry Constructors, Inc. of Tampa, whose president is Al Kramer, did the conventional masonry work on two of the air-side buildings.
Glass in black anodized aluminum frames is extensively used in the terminal, split marble is used on columns, and there is some precast. In addition to the 760,000 brick and 380,000 concrete block, 130,000 dark brown paving bricks, 30,000 light tan ones, and 6,000 concrete pavers were required for exterior plazas and passageways on the baggage claim and ticket levels. By artistically using brick of various manufacturers and colors and textures for the paving and walls, the architects color-coded areas to help guide people in and out of the structure. The Greiner Company hired the architectural firm of Reynolds, Smith and Hills, whose Jacksonville office did the design for the main terminal. The RSH office in Tampa designed the air-side buildings.
In the opinion of Earl Lawton, executive director of the West Coast of Florida Chapter of MCAA, the building is an "outstanding example of masonry's beauty, structural soundness and durability."
General contractors were McDevitt-Street Co., of Charlotte, N.C., C. A. Fielland, Inc., of Tampa, and J. A. Jones Construction, of Tampa.
masonry
Nov./Dec., 1971