Architects

It's a world record! Largest uninterrupted concrete pour kicks off Wilshire Grand project

Feb. 20, 2014

After about 20 hours of continuous pouring, judges from Guinness World Records verified that the concrete pour at the $1 billion Wilshire Grand project in Los Angeles is the largest uninterrupted pour of slurry on record.  

It took 208 trucks making as many as 10 deliveries each last weekend to complete the pour. In all, 21,000 cubic yards of concrete were poured to form the foundation for the 73-story tower. 

The project, led by Turner Construction for developer Korean Air, includes office space, restaurants, retail, and 900 luxury hotel rooms. Scheduled to open in 2016, the tower will be the tallest building west of Chicago. AC Martin Partners is designing the 1,100-foot-tall tower, with Thornton Tomasetti as structural engineer.

Here are some of the pour’s impressive numbers:
• 19 pumps dispensed concrete into the pit through 13 hoses
• 24 temperature sensors provided hourly readings (the concrete should remain between 120 and 160 degrees)
• 45 degree water pumped through 100,000 feet of polyethylene hose snaked throughout the pit will help counteract the natural heating
• The concrete weighs some 82 million pounds

12:00 noon PST February 15, 2014
12:00 midnight PST February 15, 2014
12:00 noon PST February 15, 2014
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