tangledwoods

word on the street is that McCarthy got the bed tower and Tellepsen got the Central Plant / Parking Garage.  Curious to see how this job evolves now that the Clark/Linbeck JV is out of the picture.

not to be that guy but I am pretty certain that the train riding demographic doesn't have much overlap with the demographic that Post wants in their building.....

it just dawned on me how lucky a few of those apartment renters are going to be having what will likely be the nicest gardens in all of Houston right outside your balcony doors!

thats a lot of concrete!  can wait to see them bring in the landscaping on the southern side.

I saw some good stats on LinkedIn from Skanska:

687,000 SF

43,000 CY Concrete

448'9" Total Height

Bold move classifying that existing structure as a "single family dwelling".

Quote

Why the galvanized steel toward the top of the structure? 

Here is a brief intro into steel coatings or lack thereof.  in steel buildings there are a few different ways we coat steel:

1. Bare (unprimed).  This is typically used anytime we are going to use cementitious fireproofing (cheap / ugly / has to be hidden).
2. Primed. This is typically used anytime we are doing a finished paint often refered to as HPC (High Performance Coating).  You also prime steel when you are using an intumescent fireproofing (expensive / pretty / exposed to view)
3. Galvanized. When we have steel exposed to the elements (under a cooling tower / up on the roof / etc).

The grey steel in these pictures to me looks like it is primed (particularly the columns).  I am not sure about that roof framing on if it is primed or galvanized.

Note:  all of the grey steel you see is permanent to the structure, there is a bit of falsework and bracing that they are using but that is just the kickers they are using to keep the columns true as the roof structure is welded / bolted up.

https://littleredridingbag.tumblr.com/

Quote

And some landscaping including fun rock berm thingies

They are called "gabion walls" they can be brutish if the landscape design isnt well thought out but they look pretty good on this one. 

probably not the design intent they are going for, but those renderings give off a strong hong kong skyscraper hellscape vibe.

Also what developer uses the term "heated area" in Houston, TX??

Quote

Question for any Architect’s/Engineers and Contractors on here:  have any of you ever worked on a high profile project with a crazy high budget - such as a museum or building like this?

Contractor here: I've worked on a couple very high profile and also high budget jobs, they are rarely the same. I was involved in a Billion + job that argued about the price of accent wall tile, just because it is bigger and higher profile doesn't mean the client wants to blow money out the window....Typically when you deal with people that have billions of dollars you quickly find out how they got that way (by not recklessly spending it).

I have worked on a few crazy high budget jobs, they tend to be smaller urgent type things where client needs "x" and they need it completed no later than "y".  You then throw shift work, overtime and the kitchen sink at it.  Its nice to have all the money in the world but there are some schedules that even money has a hard time improving so these jobs can be as stressful as the ones without any money!

I have yet to be on a job that was both crazy high profile and crazy high budget.

One thing to keep in mind, in my experience the best clients to work for are people who build frequently and have an organization to support the process.  The worst clients I've worked with have been people who wanted something "epic" or "grand" but also had little experience building stuff.  

keep seeing those lovely little Tadano Mantis cranes on jobs around town.  Those things are dope, crazy to think they have gone from unicorn status to common in such a short time.

I fully expect that this building is going to end up gorgeous but every rendering they put out is horrible.  After staring at these for a while I finally realized its the lighting.  They all seem to use a very diffuse natural lighting which gives the renderings a very bland feel.  For the kind of money the are paying Moussavi, I would have expected a much better product.

Its also a big pet peeve of mine when architects put out renderings that ignore the structural and MEPF disciplines. I get that ductwork and diffusors arent always sexy but its never good to just ignore it. 

Quote

Tangled, I think I've seen you reply to construction questions in the past:

Don't they typically test the glass before putting it on the building? It seems like they are moving fast, doesn't it?

Long story short, yes the unitized system is always tested before getting installed.  What typically happens is you have a base system that has been lab "chamber" tested to perform to the required strength and water infiltration requirements.  Then as each project comes along and the gingerbread stuff like fins, extrusions, etc gets added the client can then decide if they want to pay for a whole new chamber test.  

The full pull lab test is VERY expensive and time consuming, most developers try and avoid it by using previously tested systems.  Not sure whos curtain wall this is (there are only 5-7 companies that do this kind of work).

They will also do in place performance testing to make sure things arent leaking.

I was not expecting Skanska to bring out curtain wall with that much detail, depth and down right beauty!!!  Their past projects have all been a fairly conservative and simple facade designs but this is amazing.  It looks like they finally decided to build themselves a trophy tower.

The scallop panels look incredible.  Its an inverse of the Kinder building but has a very similar affect (effect IDK)....  This building is turning out to be one hell of a looker!!

On 6/18/2022 at 12:22 PM, houstontexasjack said:

Interesting green marble going up on the exterior near street level:

 

This project continues to deliver truly "exceptional" / original design ideas.  I have been involved in a number of projects where we demolished tons of that green marble.

This dude should not be trusted with a 58 story building!!!!

IMO parking podiums are 1000% better than a detached freestanding garage.  When you have a podium you have to resolve parking into the overall building facade (some people do this FAR better than others).  When you have a freestanding garage it seems much more likely for the developer to just treat it as a pure parking barn and give the thing zero to little ornamentation. 

This site is developer nightmare fuel: major flooding risk (yup), contaminated site (yup), bad neighbors (a lead battery place YUP)....

On a positive note, there is a very nice development going in right across the Bayou so maybe someone will throw a few dollars at it.

Quote

it's a Skanska property. They have a track record of doing what they say they will do. It may take a couple of years like the new BoA tower, but, when they came to town, they built, they sold, they built again.

FWIW Skanska has been trying to develop the corner if Hardy and I-45 by Exxon for 7+ years now.... Its planned as a 3 building 850,000SF development that has sat there as a forest waiting for a tenant.  Skanska will only move as fast as the market dictates.  They might not need stellar pre-leasing but they are also not going to sit here and ignore the crazy cost escalation factors the industry is facing coupled with softening demand and a potential for economic collapse.

Project is coming along quite nicely.  I am a bit suprised that they were able to get a lane closure permit on montrose.  Their trucks are crazy backing up traffic in the mornings and evenings. 

Found this on linkedin:

CWIC next trip at Skanska job site:
Mar 23, 7:30 AM – 11:00 AM
Houston, 1550 Lamar St, Houston, TX 77010, USA

Join us as Skanska takes us on a tour of their high profile project "1550 on the Green."

Interested? Sign up through our website🦺🚧www.uhcwic.org 🏗