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
| May 24, 2013
James Turrell's art installation turns Guggenheim Museum into 'skyspace'
James Turrell, an artist whose projects are more properly defined as "light sculptures," will have a major installation at the Guggenheim Museum this summer, turning Frank Lloyd Wright's famed serpentine atrium into a show of shifting colors and textures. The site-specific project, Aten Reign, will run from June 21 to September 25.
| May 24, 2013
First look: Revised plan for Amazon's Seattle HQ and 'biodome'
NBBJ has released renderings of a revised plan for Amazon's new three-block headquarters in Seattle. The proposal would replace a previously approved six-story office building with a three-unit "biodome."
| May 23, 2013
Supertall 'Sky City' will house 4,400 families in Changsha, China
Broad Sustainable Building has completed a long and arduous approval process, and is starting excavation and construction on Sky City in June, 2013. The proposed "world's tallest building" will be a mixed-use project that could accommodate life and work needs of up to 30,000 people.
| May 23, 2013
Are design-build contracts killing small architecture firms?
Are federal design-build contract laws unfair to small firms? AIA thinks so, citing an interesting fact: an architecture firm spends a median of $260,000 to compete for a design-build project.
| May 23, 2013
Is the 'bring your own device' discussion stumping your IT group?
A new twist to the communication challenge most companies and IT departments face is the “bring your own device,” or BYOD, conundrum. I call it a conundrum because it is stumping many IT professionals.
| May 23, 2013
Portland State University’s School of Architecture launches Center for Public Interest Design
Portland State University’s School of Architecture is proud to announce the launch of its new Center for Public Interest Design, a research center that aims to investigate and utilize the power of design to make social, economic and environmental change in disadvantaged communities worldwide. The Center is the first of its kind in the nation.
| May 22, 2013
Return of retail? Rent growth seen in recovering markets
Like digging a ditch with a spoon, retail demand driven by population growth has eaten away at the supply of available store space in the markets that have been slowest to recover from the downturn. Vacancy rates are reaching a point that will give at least some landlords in every market the clout to demand slightly higher rents.
| May 22, 2013
New ASTM standard enhances hollow structural sections
ASTM A1085 is a big step forward in simplifying HSS design and usage, thereby making it a more desirable option for HSS.
| May 22, 2013
Architecture billings take a step back in April, ending growth streak
For the first time in 10 months, the AIA's Architecture Billings Index slipped into negative territory, falling to 48.6 in April, down from 51.9 the previous month. This is the ABI's lowest mark since July 2012.