Recreating the stone

Spancrete offers unique facade for Middleton fire stations

Archways and other parts of Middleton Fire Station No. 1’s facade are concrete forms meant to look like cut limestone. To create this effect, Spancrete worked with a Michigan firm to develop custom forms. Photo submitted by Spancrete Group Inc.

Precast concrete firm Spancrete Group Inc. makes forms for structures all over the world, but it was a job in Middleton that forced the company to come up with something new.

Middleton Fire Chief Aaron Harris asked for something a little different for the exterior of the Middleton Fire Station No. 1: an artificial limestone facade.

“The fire chief was looking for a very unique texture for the building,” said John Kaiser of Spancrete. “It forced us to really go beyond what we would be looking at doing as far as the forms. What we produced looks like cut limestone, large-block cut limestone in 2-foot-by-2-foot squares.”

To complete the task, Kaiser said he worked with Universal Systems in Bailey, Mich., to develop custom forms for the precast concrete. Spancrete also customized forms in-house for the accent bands on the 32,000-square-foot building, he said.

“We are really excited about it,” Kaiser said. “At first, we recognized what the challenges were going to be. As ideas, forms and shapes started to materialize, we took on the challenge with great anticipation to give the customer what he wanted.”

Kaiser said one challenge was visualizing the way the building would go together using the 18,500-square-feet of precast blocks and then developing custom panels for the returns and the window sills to give the illusion of actual stone construction.

Beside the uniqueness of the limestone-shaped forms, Kaiser said the concrete is naturally colored with aggregate used in the mixture, giving the concrete a buff-colored look without the use of pigment.

When completed in June, Fire Station No. 1, also the Fire District’s headquarters, will have five bays, office space, equipment maintenance and storage, dorm rooms and a dayroom, training space, and a fitness area for firefighters. Spancrete also is working on Middleton Fire Station No. 2, a single-bay station attached to the town of Middleton garage, which will now feature three bays.

“It’s a very unique, challenging and very time-demanding project,” Kaiser said, “which added to the complexity of a tight delivery schedule through one of Wisconsin’s worst winters.”

Once complete, the fire stations will have a big impact on the community, Kaiser said, and not just because of the first-responders they will house.

“What’s really neat is where the station is, as you go around the 12/18 [highways] beltline,” Kaiser said. “As you come into Middleton, the fire station is the first thing you see. It’s the gateway to the community.”

— Melissa Rigney Baxter