Case study

Wilshire Grand, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Uponor in the Wilshire Grand

At 1,100 feet tall and 73 stories, the Wilshire Grand Center in Los Angeles, Calif., is the 10th tallest building in the United States and the tallest building west of the Mississippi. A structure of this magnitude requires precise engineering to ensure the building’s integrity while also incorporating creative and thoughtful design elements to meet the owners’ LEED® Gold certification requirements. A team that included architect AC Martin, engineer of record Brandow and Johnston, Inc., structural engineer Thornton Tomasetti, and general contractor Turner Construction Company gathered to meet the lofty challenge.

Project Facts

Los Angeles, CA, USA
Hospitality
Completion: 2017

Uponor Involvement

Project Highlights

  • 1,100-foot tall, 73-story, 2.1-million-square-foot commercial building
  • Largest continuous concrete pour in the world
  • Used 100,000 ft. of Uponor PEX tubing for a concrete thermal cooling system to keep an even temperature in the slab as it cured, preventing cracking

Benefits of using Uponor PEX for concrete thermal cooling

  • Lighter weight of PEX made it easier to move around the job site
  • Extreme flexibility of PEX made it fast and easy to install around the rebar in the base of the structure
  • Any kinks in the pipe were easily repaired (which can only be done with PEX-a tubing), eliminating the need to add couplings in the slab

New construction trend that promotes business-smart sustainable design

The first decision was to deconstruct the original, 1951-built, 1.1-million-square-foot building instead of demolishing it. This allowed for many of the existing steel and concrete materials to be recycled instead of heading to the landfill.

The concrete was crushed into material that can be sold as Class II Base for structural fills, roads or building pads, while the steel beams were sent to a local foundry and melted down to make recycled reinforcing bars. This “green” deconstruction of the old building saved $4 million, making it not only good for the environment but also good for business. After deconstruction, the focus turned to the design of the new, $1.2 billion structure. The base for the 2.1-million-square-foot building required a 21,200-cubic-yard concrete foundation located 84 feet below street level. To place that kind of concrete mass required a world-record continuous pour.

Completed in less than 19 hours, the 82 million pounds of concrete set a Guinness World Record for the largest continuous pour in a 24-hour period. And, to ensure structural integrity of the foundation’s massive slab, the design specified a hydronic radiant cooling system to draw off the heat as the concrete cured — a new trend that is becoming more popular for large concrete projects such as building foundations and bridges.

According to Mike Martin, piping department manager of Couts Heating and Cooling, Inc., the installing contractor for the thermal cooling radiant tubing installation, the idea of thermal cooling came about from an engineer in Minnesota who was looking to redirect the heat and keep an even temperature in the slab to prevent cracking after it cured. To ensure an effective thermal cooling system that would keep the slab at the proper temperature, the team at Couts installed more than 100,000 feet (20 miles) of ¾" PEX tubing from Uponor that intertwined through the rebar of the foundation. The tubing was used to convey 40-degree water throughout the system to maintain an even temperature that was not to exceed 160 degrees Fahrenheit as the concrete was poured and then cured.

“The lighter weight of PEX made it easier to move around the jobsite and its extreme flexibility made it fast and easy to install around the rebar in the base of the structure,” said Martin. “Also, PEX is very forgiving. The installers were walking on it and dumping concrete on it, and it never damaged the pipe. Plus, any kinks in the pipe were easily repaired with a quick shot of heat from a heat gun, which is a big advantage for PEX-a type tubing. This eliminated the need to add in couplings in the slab.

Couts installed the radiant tubing at 6" on center and dropped it down 18 feet from the 8" HDPE supply header before looping it back up. Once the radiant tubing installation was complete, the concrete pour began. It was a steady, organized plan that required more than 400 workers, eight concrete plants, 208 mixers and more than 2,000 truckloads. During the pour, the 40-degree water, sourced from a chiller system featuring a 40,000-gallon storage tank, began running through the system. The thermal cooling system pumped water throughout the tubing for two weeks while being continuously monitored by 24 sensors to ensure proper system temperatures. After the two-week timeframe, the water was removed from the system and the tubing was filled with grout and remained in the slab.

To date, the Wilshire Grand stands as a testament to new construction trends that promote business-smart sustainable design and even “green” deconstruction, an idea that will also be gaining traction as older buildings make way for new structures. And, according to Martin, concrete thermal cooling will also continue to increase as more and more professionals look to smarter building practices to make structures of higher performance.

In fact, just in his business alone, he notes that many general contractors are reaching out to his company to install thermal cooling systems for these types of applications. Since the Wilshire Grand, Couts has completed two bridges with concrete thermal cooling, and Martin estimates the trend will continue to grow.

The lighter weight of PEX made it easier to move around the jobsite and its extreme flexibility made it fast and easy to install around the rebar in the base of the structure.

Wilshire grand

Exterior image of Wilshire Grand in Los Angeles California - features Uponor radiant commercial application

Project Information

Project Information

Country
USA
Completion
2017
Project Type
New building
Building Type
Hospitality

Similar projects

Cavalier Hotel

Cavalier Hotel

See how a century-old luxury hotel receives a major renovation that includes an Uponor PEX plumbing system...
Zugspitz Resort, Ehrenwald

Zugspitz Resort, Ehrenwald

The Zugspitz Resort at the foot of the Wetterstein Mountains relies on Uponor's products and know-how when it comes to underfloor heating and chilled ceilings
Hotel Bellevue

Hotel Bellevue

Uponor has delivered a solution for underfloor heating and cooling to Superior City Hotel Bellevue ****. The hotel provides spacious and modern rooms and suites which meet all of the guests needs. One of them is a comfortable room temperature throughout the year. 

Heiligenhafen Pier 2

Heiligenhafen Pier 2

Uponor Ecoflex Supra Plus provides frost-free drinking water and waste water transportation at Heiligenhafen Pier all year round.
aquaTurm Radolfzell

aquaTurm Radolfzell

The former water tower in Radolfzell was converted into the zero-energy design hotel aquaTurm, with the Klett and Smatrix Base solutions from Upanor being used for heating and cooling.

Panorama 2962 Zugspitze

Panorama 2962 Zugspitze

At nearly 3,000 meters above sea level, Uponor ensures cosy temperatures and clean drinking water in Germany's highest mountaintop restaurant.
Al-Kalaa Hotel

Al-Kalaa Hotel

Uponor provides the world's largest hotel and shopping mall complex in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, with Uponor mulit layer composite pipe systems for the bathrooms.
Hotel Mediterraneo - Sauna

Hotel Mediterraneo - Sauna

Located in Amantea, a lovely village on the coast od Calabria, founded in the 600s, the Hotel offers modern rooms and all the best comforts.
Radisson Blu

Radisson Blu

See why the the first hotel to be connected to the Mall of America brought in Uponor PEX as the plumbing solution for this...
H-Tower in Kyiv

H-Tower in Kyiv

H-Tower, the luxury residential complex in the centre of Kyiv, Ukraine is scheduled to open for business during spring 2012.
Hotel Lone, Rovinj

Hotel Lone, Rovinj

Hotel Lone je spektakularan, jedinstveno dizajniran hotel smješten uz more i Park šumu Zlatni rt. Živahno središte Rovinja i marina udaljeni su samo 15-ak minuta hoda. Hotel Lone je cjelogodišnja destinacija za slobodno vrijeme i posao te predstavlja srce Maistrine konferencijske ponude. Zajedno s ostalim luksuznim hotelima koji ga okružuju, idealan je domaćin velikih događanja s više od 3000 sudionika ili sastanaka.
Hotel Parentium

Hotel Parentium

Hotel Parentium je istarski hotel Resorta Plava Laguna u Poreču, kategorije 4 zvjezdice. Smješten je tek 50 metara od plaže, a šetnica uz more vodi do centra grada Poreča. Gosti mogu birati između dvokrevetnih soba, apartmana ili raskošnog predsjedničkog apartmana; opustiti se na vanjskim bazenima te u wellness i SPA centru. Hotel Parentium je i jedan od najboljih kongresnih hotela na tom području pa nudi i pomoć pri organiziranju poslovnih evenata. Spoj je savršenog godišnjeg odmora i uspješnih poslovnih događaja. 
Château Gbeľany

Château Gbeľany

Internal distributions of health technology - footboards and horizontal distributions from dimension 20 to 90.
Vuglec Breg - Vinarija, pansion & restoran

Vuglec Breg - Vinarija, pansion & restoran

Turističko selo Vuglec Breg nalazi se nedaleko od grada Krapine na oko 300 metara nadmorske visine s pogledom na zagorske brežuljke. Na površini od 12 hektara u ponudi je veliki vinograd kao i prostrani vinski podrum, restoran, vanjski bazen sa sunčalištem, a obnovljene autohtone zagorske hiže namijenjene su za smještaj gostiju. Idealno je mjesto za aktivni obiteljski odmor jer se u sklopu kompleksa nalazi dječje igralište i mala farma s domaćim životinjama. Okolicu Vuglec Brega i prekrasan zagorski krajolik moguće je otkriti Quad i biciklističkim turama, a nedaleko od samog turističkog središta i zaigrati tenis ili nogomet. Osim toga, turističko središte Vuglec Breg nudi programe za sastanke, konferencije i team buildinge. Kompleks je opremljen salom za sastanke, a mirna lokacija i udaljenost od urbanih središta omogućuje idealne team buildinge kroz bogatu ponudu aktivnosti
Villages Nature (R) Paris

Villages Nature (R) Paris

Villages Nature (R) Paris is a new european vacation destination and a major innovation in family-friendly sustainable tourisme, designed entirely around the quest for harmony between Man and Nature.

Zugspitz Resort, Ehrwald

Zugspitz Resort, Ehrwald

The Zugspitz Resort nestled at the foot of the Wetterstein mountains relies on Uponor products and know-how for its underfloor heating and cooling ceiling systems
Hospital Østfold Kalnes

Hospital Østfold Kalnes

Kalnes, Sarpsborg, 27.02.2014

Uponor is proud to deliver flexible tapwatersystem, underfloor heating and snow and ice melting system to the new hospital Kalnes.
Frank Myhrer, Sales Manager Østfold

Read more about the project on this site Byggeindustrien.no
 
Leonardo Hotel, Bristol, UK

Leonardo Hotel, Bristol, UK

Uponor provides water solutions for Leonardo Hotels’ new 200-bed Bristol resort

The Jurys Inn Group has utilised a variety of high-end heating and plumbing solutions from Uponor, the total solutions provider of systems for the safe transportation of water around a building, for a new 200-bed, Leonardo Hotels branded facility in the heart of Bristol

Located in Temple Way at the gateway to Bristol’s Temple Quarter business district, close to the main train station and within walking distance of the city centre, the new hotel will become a popular destination for tourists and business travellers alike when it opens in early 2021.

To ensure that the hotel’s users would be provided with a hygienic water supply and a highly reliable heating system, the project’s M&E contractor Totus Engineering worked closely with Uponor on the building’s plumbing and water network.
Clayton Hotel

Clayton Hotel

Uponor supplies industry-leading multi-layered plumbing systems for the offsite construction of bathroom PODs for a £60m Clayton Hotel development in Manchester city centre.
 Hotel Monte Mulini

Hotel Monte Mulini

Monte Mulini je vrhunski hotel s pet zvjezdica i član udruge The Leading Hotels of the World. Smješten uz obalu i na pješačkoj udaljenosti od središta Rovinja, hotel je okružen bujnim mediteranskim raslinjem te uklopljen u prirodni ambijent stoljetne park šume. Gosti mogu uživati u Lobby Baru Gin Library, privatnoj večeri za dvoje u restoranu Amatis ili iskustvu kuharskog stola u restoranu Wine Vault. Za opuštanje u zatvorenim prostorima tu je Wellness&Spa centar s ekskluzivnom ponudom usluge i proizvodima na bazi prirodnih materijala: drva, kamena, vode i zlata.
Hotel Park

Hotel Park

Moderno dizajniran hotel Park s 4 zvjezdice smješten je u sklopu novog Park Resorta u Poreču. S obzirom da u ponudi ima sport, dječju animaciju i čak pet bazena idealan je za obiteljski odmor. Moguće je prošetati uređenim šetnicama unutar Resorta, pijuckati koktele uz bazen ili uputiti se šetnicom uz more do grada Poreča. U ponudi su dvokrevetne classic sobe, superior sobe s balkonom, premium i suite sobe koje kao i ostatak hotela osiguravaju ugodnu klimu u svako doba godine s ugrađenim Uponor podnim grijanjem.