Uniquely Curved Precast Concrete Panels Define New Center of Science & Industry (COSI)

The new $125 million Center of Science & industry (COS!) in Columbus, Ohio, combines a new building featuring an innovatively curved precast concrete exterior and flooring system with an existing high school to create a learning center housed in an exhibit of ifs own. The facilityʹs facade consists of a "clothoid curve" shape with precast concrete panels shaped similar to the sections of a tangerine, curving both side-fo-side and bottom-to-top. Because of the intricate shapes and the need for a smooth exterior face, innovative casting, hoisting and alignment equipment and procedures had to be devised. Double tees supporting the second floor also produced challenges, with most incorporating cantilevers, some as long as 19 ft (5.79 m). The museum, which opens in November 1999, will highlight its unique precast construction techniques with cutaways in the walls to show the wall panel backs and by leaving the double tees exposed over the first level.