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
Related Stories
| Dec 16, 2013
Is the metal building industry in a technology shift?
Automation is the future you can’t avoid, though you may try. Even within the metal building industry—which is made up of skilled tradesmen—automation has revolutionized, and will continue revolutionizing, how we work.
| Dec 16, 2013
Why employees don’t trust their leaders
Trust, one of the key elements to productive business relationships, is in short supply these days. An Associated Press-GfK poll discovered that only one-third of Americans say most people can be trusted and nearly two-thirds says “you can’t be too careful” in dealing with people.
| Dec 16, 2013
Construction materials prices remain stable in November
Overall, construction materials prices fell 0.5 percent in November and are up only 1.1 percent year over year, according to the Department of Labor’s Dec. 13 Producer Price Index.
| Dec 16, 2013
Helene Combs Dreiling, FAIA, inaugurated 2014 AIA President
Helene Combs Dreiling, FAIA, executive director of the Virginia Center for Architecture, was inaugurated as the 90th president of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) during ceremonies held on December 12th at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium. She succeeds Mickey Jacob, FAIA, in representing nearly 83,000 AIA members.
| Dec 13, 2013
GRW acquires West Virginia design firm Chapman Technical Group
GRW is expanding its capabilities through the recent acquisition of Chapman Technical Group, a 36-person West Virginia-based firm.
| Dec 13, 2013
AIA, MIT issue joint report on impact of design on public health
The research looks at the health of eight U.S. cities and lays out a path for translating the research into meaningful findings for policy makers and urban planners.
| Dec 11, 2013
Wyndham unveils hotel prototype for its Hawthorn Suites chain
The extended-stay hotel prototype reduces development costs by 46% for franchisees and enhances the overall guest experience.
| Dec 10, 2013
16 great solutions for architects, engineers, and contractors
From a crowd-funded smart shovel to a why-didn’t-someone-do-this-sooner scheme for managing traffic in public restrooms, these ideas are noteworthy for creative problem-solving. Here are some of the most intriguing innovations the BD+C community has brought to our attention this year.
| Dec 9, 2013
Tips for designing higher education's newest building type: the learning commons
In this era of scaled-down budgets, maximized efficiencies, new learning methods and social media’s domination of face time, college and university campuses are gravitating toward a new space type: the learning commons.
| Dec 9, 2013
Does technology help or hinder innovation?
Whether digital technology will help or hinder workplace insights remains a topic of ongoing debate. FastCo.Design features insights from business scholars on both sides of the issue.