Strategically placed along I-10 in Seguin, Texas, the new Continental Structural Plastics (CSP) industrial manufacturing facility is one of a kind within the Texas region. In partnership with the economic development efforts by the City of Seguin, this project supports key automotive customers in both the greater Austin and San Antonio areas and offers 200 new jobs to residents. The approximately 200,000 SF, tilt-wall facility supports manufacturing with highly specialized equipment to develop and manufacture lightweight materials for the automotive and transportation industries. RO partnered with Page Architects on the project.

What started as a simple warehouse box evolved through the design-build process into a highly purpose driven space that leveraged the qualities of thoughtfully selected materials and systems. As part of the preconstruction  phase,  RO  and Page team  members visited  existing  CSP  facilities  to gain greater understanding of how the space would function and what needs the client and end users had. This initial discovery was expanded on and adjusted throughout the design-build project through feedback from the plant’s Maintenance and Facilities Manager and key stakeholders. These considerations ranged from special code-compliances dictated by the production use down to details addressing practical cleaning within common areas.

While  the  overall  structure  may  seem  straightforward,  details  below  the  surface  illustrate  a  variety  of challenges.  In  the  center  of  the  production  floor,  the  foundation  not  only had to be  designed  to  support  over one million pounds, but also featured 20 foot deep concrete “press pitsâ€? with an overall structure that runs  25 feet wide and 110 feet long. The walls for this oversized pit utilized a mix of heavily reinforced concrete retaining walls in thicknesses from 24 feet to 48 feet.

The front of the facility houses a high-bay area that extends above the tilt-wall panels and is constructed of insulated metal panels to achieve additional equipment height requirements and provide maneuvering space for an 80-ton in-house crane. The largest tilt wall panel pick exceeded 200,000 lbs. with a nine foot thickness and height of 30 feet.

The new CSP facility also includes corporate offices, a staff break room, meetings rooms, and an inviting lobby.