More than a year before the first exhibits open at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, a massive jigsaw puzzle is on display at the construction site in Dallas' Victory Park. Crews are wrapping the 14-story building in 725 precast panels—each with unique dimensions—to create the unusual textured exterior of the $185-million museum. Getting the complex design to fit properly required precise coordination of the project's engineering, construction, fabrication and installation phases.
“This is the most difficult and challenging precast job I've ever seen,” says Christopher Wolfe, senior project manager for Balfour Beatty Construction, Dallas.