Retail
Strawberry Square

Strawberry Square is a unique complex of retail shops and dining facilities, which were converted from an entire city block of buildings.  The building facades were maintained and enclosed creating an indoor/outdoor feel for patrons.  Alexander also served as the Construction Manager for the complex facade upgrade, which included an extensive frame­work of metal struts was attached to the exterior surface to support new cladding. Because extreme care had to be taken while drilling to avoid spalling or chipping of the inner surface of the precast panels, the framework could be secured only to a depth of 5 inches. Grey Alucobond panels were then affixed to the struts. These panels were lifted by crane onto the building’s roof, and lowered into place using a 30-foot-long swing scaffold. Each panel was carefully secured to three struts using specialized anchor bolts. Ports in the Alucobond panels allowed engineers to monitor the condition of the under­lying framework using fiber optic videoscopes. In total, 3,940 panels were affixed using 48,900 stainless steel super studs.