PHILADELPHIA | W Hotel & Element by Westin | 617 FT | 51 FLOORS - Page 66

summersm343 · #**1301** Posted **Dec 30, 2015, 1:50 AM**

Update from Building Philly

More photos here:
https://www.facebook.com/BuildingPhilly/...7979067/1220353491312410/?type=3&theater

Philly-Drew · #**1302** Posted **Dec 31, 2015, 2:27 AM**

What is that large steel beam sticking up in the lower center of the above pic? Part of a foundation, or something new?

And building Philly, thanks for all of the awesome updates!

thisisforreal · #**1303** Posted **Jan 5, 2016, 3:04 PM**

Dec 17th:

Jan 5th:

1487 · #**1304** Posted **Jan 5, 2016, 3:50 PM**

the dirt looks a bit different after 3 weeks.

GarCastle · #**1305** Posted **Jan 7, 2016, 12:13 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1487

the dirt looks a bit different after 3 weeks.

Yeah, it looks frozen. :^)

Cheers,
G.

Arch+Eng · #**1306** Posted **Jan 7, 2016, 5:21 PM**

I see they also gathered the rocks into a nice neat pile in those three weeks...

Cro Burnham · #**1307** Posted **Jan 7, 2016, 5:51 PM**

Wow. What is up with this development??? Or is it just a giant sand box for rich folks' kids to play around in with life-size Tonka trucks?

Very disheartening, the rate of progress here.

boxbot · #**1308** Posted **Jan 7, 2016, 9:10 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cro Burnham

is it just a giant sand box for rich folks' kids to play around in with life-size Tonka trucks?

If you're attempting to summon Lenfest to this thread, you have to turn off the lights and chant his name three times into a mirror.

Knight Hospitaller · #**1309** Posted **Jan 7, 2016, 9:11 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by boxbot

If you're attempting to summon Lenfest to this thread, you have to turn off the lights and chant his name three times into a mirror.

Bloody Mary!

Human Scale · #**1310** Posted **Jan 8, 2016, 5:19 AM**

I'll reserve judgement on Lenfest's crack of the whip until after I see how fast (or slow) vertical construction goes. I don't know enough about excavation to know if they are pulling one over on anybody.

thisisforreal · #**1311** Posted **Jan 8, 2016, 2:20 PM**

If we could harness the frustration from the readers on this site and expel that energy on this construction site, they'd be 3 floors above grade by now. Or maybe we'd be done, because, you know, unlimited powah!

1487 · #**1312** Posted **Jan 8, 2016, 3:59 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by thisisforreal

If we could harness the frustration from the readers on this site and expel that energy on this construction site, they'd be 3 floors above grade by now. Or maybe we'd be done, because, you know, unlimited powah!

everytime you think they got beyond whatever was slowing things up the pace remains the same. So who knows why it's barely moving now.

Cro Burnham · #**1313** Posted **Jan 8, 2016, 4:53 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1487

everytime you think they got beyond whatever was slowing things up the pace remains the same. So who knows why it's barely moving now.

That very old-looking big rusty steel beam sticking straight up out of the dirt - that's not new, right? - ominously suggests there may be even more big unforeseen masonry foundations hidden away under all that shifting earth.

It's odd to me. Presumably, there have been many excavations of sites with large scale pre-existing foundations requiring removal. Think of the constant demolition and rebuilding in Manhattan and Chicago. How many of those took this long? It's unclear, to me at least, why in this case the pre-existing conditions seem to have only been made gradually apparent well into the excavation process. I wonder what kind of (would that have been the geo-technical?) investigation was ever done before the excavation.