Design Awards

Hunt & Joiner, Inc. has been recognized by professional organizations and the construction industry for its innovative structural engineering solutions. The Excellence in Engineering Award for Outstanding Engineering Project was received from the Texas Council of Engineering Companies for 1) the West End Cinema in downtown Dallas, Texas in 1994, 2) the Country Club Plaza Barnes & Noble in Kansas City, Missouri in 1995, and 3) the Alamo Quarry Market in San Antonio, Texas in 1997. In 1996, the company received the Merit Award for Tilt-Up Construction by the New Jersey Concrete and Aggregate Association and the New Jersey Chapter of the American Concrete Institute. In 1998, the company was recognized for the Alamo Quarry Market by the San Antonio chapter of the American Concrete Institute. In 2001, the company was awarded the Golden Trowel Award for the St. Stephen Episcopal Church in Hurst, Texas by the Texas Masonry Association.

Alamo Quarry Market
San Antonio, Texas

For almost two decades, a landmark 41-acre industrial site adjacent to the affluent Alamo Heights neighborhood in San Antonio sat vacant and deteriorating. The site was the former home of the Alamo Cement Company, which abandoned the plant after nearly seventy years of operation. The unsightly cement plant has now been adaptively renovated into a new 520,000 square feet upscale retail and entertainment complex.

The signature elements of the historic cement plant include five 200 feet tall concrete smokestacks that ranged from 40 to 74 years old, a 600 feet long by 90 feet tall clinker shed building that was built in phases in 1923, 1927, and 1973, the original rock crusher building which was also constructed in the 1920's. The three north stacks, which were built in 1923, were significantly distressed and have been completely restored, using an innovative epoxy fiberwrap repair system. Four of the five smokestacks have been incorporated into the façade of a new 34,200 square feet retail building. The original single story clinker shed building has been transformed into a new four story flagship building containing approximately 171,000 square feet, including a new book superstore, a health and fitness club and a state-of-the-art sixteen screen cinema multiplex with elevated stadium seating in all auditoriums. The rock crusher building has been renovated and expanded into a new 6,500 square feet theme restaurant. The original power generator building, which had to be razed due to environmental contamination, has been replicated using brick covered concrete tilt panels that extend to 55 feet in height. These buildings are surrounded by seven new conventional retail buildings containing approximately 320, 000 square feet all designed with a neo-industrial architectural theme.

 

West End Cinema Ten
West End Market Place Dallas, Texas

The $3 million West End Cinema Ten is a state-of-the-art ten screen theater located in the West End Marketplace, a landmark enclave of restaurants, nightclubs, and shops in the Historic Warehouse District on the edge of downtown Dallas, Texas. The project's architectural design dictated that the seven story, 1920's era concrete framed building be modified to accommodate a total of ten theaters ranging in size from 100 to 250 seats each, located on the fourth and sixth floors. In order to allow 20 feet tall, two-story ceilings above each of the theaters, it was necessary to remove 44 percent of the existing concrete slabs on the fifth and seventh floors. In addition, 24 load bearing concrete columns that were located within the planned auditoriums had to be demolished.

In order to allow the removal of the columns, numerous under slab steel transfer trusses and above slab concrete girders were constructed to distribute the floor and roof loads to the remaining concrete columns, many of which required reinforcing and strengthening with full height steel jackets to safely support the additional redistributed loads. In addition, new structural raised and sloped concrete floors were poured over the existing fourth and sixth floor slabs within the theaters to facilitate screen visibility.