MAPEI gets straight As for crack isolation, large-format tile installation and waterproofing solutions
A private institution founded in 1701, Yale University resides on 315 urban acres in New Haven, Conn. Its graduate business programs are part of the Yale School of Management, and follow an integrated MBA curriculum in which students study “raw” cases and analyze a wide array of materials.
The school conducts education and research in leadership, economics, operations management, marketing, entrepreneurship, organizational behavior, and other areas; at this time, its most acclaimed programs are finance, strategic management, and organizational behavior. The school offers a wide range of graduate-level academic programs and concentrations, and is known for its finance faculty, emphasis on ethics, and International Center for Finance. In addition, the school has an Executive MBA degree program with opportunities for focused study in healthcare, asset management or sustainability. The school also offers student exchange programs with HEC Paris, IESE, the London School of Economics, and Tsinghua University.
Edward P. Evans Hall houses the Yale School of Management. The 242,000-sq.-ft. campus opened in January 2014. The building is situated at the northern end of the Yale University campus at 165 Whitney Avenue. The building was designed by Foster + Partners, Design Architect with Gruzen Samton, Architect of Record. Foster + Partners is the prominent firm chaired by Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate Lord Norman Foster (1962 graduate of Yale School of Architecture).
Edward P. Evans Hall is home to state-of-the-art classrooms, faculty offices, academic centers, and student and meeting spaces organized around an enclosed courtyard. The design is intended to create a teaching and learning environment that will support the school’s integrated MBA curriculum and connect the Yale School of Management (SOM) community.
MAPEI products at work on the jobsite
Various large-format tiles from England were used throughout this project. Mapeguard 2 was used in many of the large-format tile areas to protect it from cracking. Tile sizes include 24” x 24” (61 x 61 cm), 18” x 18” (46 x 46 cm), 12” x 18” (30 x 46 cm) and 12” x 24” (30 x 61 cm). Smaller sizes were also used on walls and floors in the bathroom installations.
Atlantic Masonry does the majority of the tile installation work at Yale University, and they were called in to work with general contractor Dimeo Construction on this project. The crews installed quarry tile in the kitchens, porcelain tile from Daltile in the bathrooms, and a large-format English porcelain tile from Royal Mosa in the first-floor lobby surrounding the courtyard.
The work began with the application of a pre-screed composed of sand and cement fortified with Planicrete AC. This mixture was used in a mud-set application to cover the tubing of an underfloor radiant-heating system. The most important aspect of this step was to ensure that the installers did not break any of the heating tubes; so, when the installers were pre-screeding, they continually tested the tubing to make sure nothing was damaged.
Over top of the pre-screed, the Atlantic Masonry crews applied Mapeguard 2 premium crack-isolation and sound-reduction membrane to protect the large-format tiles from cracking – “issues that are becoming too common with the increase in tile dimensions in educational facilities, such as this Yale project, ” said Atlantic Masonry Project Manager Mike Coassin. Atlantic Masonry prefers Mapeguard 2 because it is thicker and denser than competitive products, and the installers think it does a better job in the long run.
The English tiles from Royal Mosa, predominantly the 12” x 24” (30 x 61 cm) size, were installed in the lobby with Ultraflex LFT and grouted with Ultracolor Plus. Mapesil 100% silicone sealant was used at the soft joints in the lobby – approximately every 15 to 20 ft. (4,57 to 6,10 m).
These setting materials were also used for the quarry tiles in the kitchens and the black-and-white porcelain tiles in the bathrooms. The joints in the wall tiles of the bathrooms were grouted with Keracolor U unsanded grout. The bathrooms were also waterproofed with Mapelastic AquaDefense.
Coassin commented on the project:
“This was a pretty standard project for Atlantic Masonry,” Coassin said. “We have installed tile in most of the renovated and new buildings on the Yale campus, and we are very satisfied with the way the MAPEI products work for us.”
Technical data:
Project Category: Institutional – University
MAPEI Sales Rep: Mike Shay
Project Owner: Yale University
MAPEI Distributor: Daltile – North Haven, Conn.
General Contractor: Dimeo Construction
Installer Company: Atlantic Masonry
Architects: Gruzen Samton of New York, NY, and Foster + Partners Architects
Photographer: Philip Handler, AIA
Project Size: 51,000 sq. ft.
MAPEI products used:
Planicrete AC
Mapeguard 2
Ultraflex LFT
Mapelastic AquaDefense
Mapesil
Keracolor U
Ultracolor Plus
