Masonry Magazine February 1974 Page. 25
Birmingham Civic Center Features
Extensive Use of Masonry Units
This company is "proud to have been a part in such a great project. I feel that it is something in which Birmingham, Jefferson County and the State of Alabama can take pride through its completion and its operation."
Some of the projects in which S & W Masonry has been involved recently include the exhibit hall of the Birmingham Civic Center; First National Bank/Southern National Gas Building, Eye Foundation Hospital and Southern Services Building, all in Birmingham; Memorial Coliseum, Biology Building. Denny Stadium and a 13-story dormitory at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, and additions to the Southern Research Institute, Carraway Hospital and Liberty National Insurance Co.
John E. Swindal (left), vice president and secretary-treasurer; Harrell R. Webster, president, and Bill Gibson, superintendent, double-check blueprints on the job S & W Masonry, Inc. is performing on the new $50 million Civic Center in Birmingham, Ala. Shown here is the lobby area containing intricately curved block walls. More than 700,000 units have been specified for this project.
More than 70 masons and laborers of S & W Masonry, Inc. (MCAA), Bessemer, Ala., have been pressed into service to perform a unique job of masonry on the concert hall and theater sections of Birmingham's new $50 million Civic Center.
The hall and theater are being constructed by Brice Building Co., Inc., a general contractor in Birmingham with branch offices in New Orleans and Atlanta. S & W Masonry began the project in March, 1972, having worked previously on the exhibit hall phase.
"This was one of the toughest jobs we have tackled," said Bill Gibson, S & W's superintendent. "However, the workmanship is an outstanding example of the skills of Bricklayers International Local #1 of Birmingham. The men exhibited a lot of pride in completing this project which will benefit their families as well as the other residents of the Birmingham/Jefferson County area."
Some 200,000 units of natural aggregate block and another 510,000 block units were manufactured from molds especially designed by George Qualls of the Philadelphia architectural firm of Geddes Qualls Cunningham, P.C. The natural aggregate for all block and precast stone used in the two buildings came from Vulcan Materials' Elmore (Ala.) quarry. The blocks were made by Wilcutt Block Co. of Tuscaloosa.
The unusual buildings were designed to assimilate whole (16x8x8) and half (8x8x8) blocks and contain intricately curved block walls in the lobby areas. The 116-foot stage wall in the concert hall, which is made of solid aggregate blocks, serves as a sound barrier. As a further acoustical refinement, isolation pads were placed between the concrete slabs and the block walls. Acoustically this isolates both the concert hall and theater from the outside environment.
The natural aggregate blocks, which contain waterproofing and are chemically cleaned, are to remain unpainted. Even though the stone and block work did not have color added, colored mortar was utilized to match the aggregate color of the block.
Harrell R. Webster, president of S & W Masonry, said
Canadian Safety Association Award
Bob Wheelan (left) presents the Construction Safety Association of Toronto's Certificate of Safety to Tom Filipowich of Filipowich Masonry Contractors Ltd., Toronto, as Peter L. Martini, president of Metro Mason Contractors, Inc., looks on at the group's recent annual meeting in the Bristol Place Hotel, Toronto.
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masonry
February, 1974
25