PHILADELPHIA | W Hotel & Element by Westin | 617 FT | 51 FLOORS

[Knight Hospitaller]

Originally Posted by 1487

They are installing stairs for the workers on south side of building today.

Concrete floors take a long time- 52 floors is a long way off. Since this is tallest concrete tower in Philly I'm assuming it's also probably going to have one of the longest construction periods of any major hi rise in the city's history.

Except City Hall.

[jjv007]

Originally Posted by Knight Hospitaller

Except City Hall.

Can we really call it a highrise when it's not 12 floors (or even 10)? 🤔

[iheartphilly]

Yes it's a highrise, the building is only 9 floors, but the official height of the entire structure is 548 ft. The International Building Code (IBC 2000) and the Building Construction and Safety Code, NFPA 5000TM-2002, define high-rise buildings as buildings 75 feet or greater in height measured from the lowest level of fire department vehicle access to the floor of the highest occupiable story.

[jsbrook]

Originally Posted by 1487

They are installing stairs for the workers on south side of building today.

Concrete floors take a long time- 52 floors is a long way off. Since this is tallest concrete tower in Philly I'm assuming it's also probably going to have one of the longest construction periods of any major hi rise in the city's history.

They seem to have found a rhythm, though. Already good process as to Floor 3, and Floor 2 just went up. Whu, are you expecting 1 floor a week on this one? Faster? Slower?

[1487]

Originally Posted by Knight Hospitaller

Except City Hall.

very true, but that's in a class of it's own.

[skyscraper]

Originally Posted by iheartphilly

Yes it's a highrise, the building is only 9 floors, but the official height of the entire structure is 548 ft. The International Building Code (IBC 2000) and the Building Construction and Safety Code, NFPA 5000TM-2002, define high-rise buildings as buildings 75 feet or greater in height measured from the lowest level of fire department vehicle access to the floor of the highest occupiable story.

city hall's structure is not concrete, it's masonry. it is the tallest masonry building in the world, 100 feet taller than the pyramids. while the washington monument is also masonry and about 7 feet taller, it's not an occupiable building, it is a monument.

[1487]

Originally Posted by jsbrook

They seem to have found a rhythm, though. Already good process as to Floor 3, and Floor 2 just went up. Whu, are you expecting 1 floor a week on this one? Faster? Slower?

We have to go back and check the pics but I'm thinking its been at least a month since they got to grade level, likely more. So thus far I don't think they have been close to a floor a week. BUt of course time is saved by not having to fireproof each floor like a steel building. so vertical progress may be a bit slower, but you recover time later on in the process.

[thisisforreal]

Originally Posted by iheartphilly

Yes it's a highrise, the building is only 9 floors, but the official height of the entire structure is 548 ft. The International Building Code (IBC 2000) and the Building Construction and Safety Code, NFPA 5000TM-2002, define high-rise buildings as buildings 75 feet or greater in height measured from the lowest level of fire department vehicle access to the floor of the highest occupiable story.

This website classifies it as a tower.

[Knight Hospitaller]

Another candidate if City Hall is too tower-like for y'all: The Rittenhouse Hotel

[iheartphilly]

The walls are brick, faced with white marble, and rise to a height of 337 feet above the ground. Not including the statue of William Penn, the tower rose 173 feet above the top of the building's masonry construction.

http://www.asce.org/project/philadelphia-city-hall/

[jsbrook]

Originally Posted by 1487

We have to go back and check the pics but I'm thinking its been at least a month since they got to grade level, likely more. So thus far I don't think they have been close to a floor a week. BUt of course time is saved by not having to fireproof each floor like a steel building. so vertical progress may be a bit slower, but you recover time later on in the process.

The first floor took a long time. The second one quicker. The current one is still going quicker still. I hope Whu can weigh in with estimates on time per floor once they are past the first number. The early floors are more complicated on this and most buildings.

[Knight Hospitaller]

^ Due to multiple lobbies, etc.?

[1487]

Originally Posted by jsbrook

The first floor took a long time. The second one quicker. The current one is still going quicker still. I hope Whu can weigh in with estimates on time per floor once they are past the first number. The early floors are more complicated on this and most buildings.

floor heights are higher but I'm not sure what else is drastically different. Perhaps they will get to one floor per week. If so we got a year to go before topping out!

[summersm343]

Update from Building Philly



https://www.facebook.com/BuildingPhilly

[jjv007]

Originally Posted by iheartphilly

Yes it's a highrise, the building is only 9 floors, but the official height of the entire structure is 548 ft. The International Building Code (IBC 2000) and the Building Construction and Safety Code, NFPA 5000TM-2002, define high-rise buildings as buildings 75 feet or greater in height measured from the lowest level of fire department vehicle access to the floor of the highest occupiable story.

Lol I know but for some reason CTBUH doesn't classify it as such unfortunately.

[hammersklavier]

Originally Posted by jsbrook

The first floor took a long time. The second one quicker. The current one is still going quicker still. I hope Whu can weigh in with estimates on time per floor once they are past the first number. The early floors are more complicated on this and most buildings.

Lobby floors take the longest time to do in cast-concrete buildings, I would imagine because they're taller and have unique floor plans. Once you get onto the main shaft, the pours become much quicker and easier because you're just repeating the same floor plan over and over.

[City Wide]

Originally Posted by hammersklavier

Lobby floors take the longest time to do in cast-concrete buildings, I would imagine because they're taller and have unique floor plans. Once you get onto the main shaft, the pours become much quicker and easier because you're just repeating the same floor plan over and over.

There's also a learning curve, as each building has its own particular soul. The crews have to get used to a certain flow, a pattern of the work. How much rebar does it make sense to pile up in this spot and not over there, when can the concrete trucks show up and how many can wait in line. Its not unlike a dance. But you are correct, the floors do get done faster, then as the floor count increases it some times slows down. There are more demands on the crane, more time to get supplies from the ground up to the work level. This is where good management can really shine. Of course the opposite is all too true; poor planning, poor scheduling, indifferent or bad managers can really bring on a case of the slows. (but usually its the union guy with a hammer that gets blamed)

[summersm343]

2/23/2017

[El Duderino]

i walked by here this evening and it looks way taller in person - surprisingly so.

[Whu215]

This building doesn't go typical till the 10th floor. There are lots of changes until then on each floor. Usually on a poured in place building once you go typical it's around a 3 day cycle which means a floor is completed every 3 days.
This is when I start having fun being up high on the edge.



Flying a table form



And I got my worker tattoo