Showing posts with label Willis Tower. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Willis Tower. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Trump International Hotel & Tower

Trump International Hotel & Tower

401 North Wabash Avenue, River North Downtown
Chicago IL United States

Status:built
Construction Dates
  Began2005
  Finished2009
Floor Count98
Basement Floors4
Elevator Count26
Units / Rooms758
Building Uses
 - mixed use
 - hotel
 - parking garage
 - residential
 - retail
 - fitness center
Structural Types
 - highrise
Materials
 - glass
 - steel
 - concrete, reinforced

 Heights ValueSource / Comments 
Spire423.4 m
to tip of spire
Roof356.9 m
to highest roof deck
Main roof344.7 m
to main roof deck

Description
• Construction officially began with drilling of first caisson on March 17, 2005.

• Building was completed in 2009 to become the second tallest building in the city and the country, surpassed only by the 442m (1,451ft) Willis Tower. However, it will be surpassed by One World Trade Center in 2013, currently under construction in New York.

• The buildings is the tallest building in the world with an all-concrete structure at the time.

• Design of glassy Setbacks at 3 levels matching its surroundings the heights of the Wrigley building's main block, the Twin Towers of marina city, and the IBM building. An asymmetric shape gives the building a different appearance from each angle because of its triangle site.

• Highest residential units on the 89th floor breaking the 37-year world record held by the John Hancock Center.

• The silvery color of the stainless steel facade forms a transition between the brilliant white terra cotta of the east Wrigley Building and the west black 330 North Wabash.

• A projecting stainless steel latticework on the facade gives the building surface an impression of depth, reinforced by the metalwork's glass facade reflection.

• The building was originally planned with a large office section on the lower floors, but sales of the residential portion performed so well that the office floors were dropped from the plan. The floorplan tapers gradually in four steps at heights of 65, 121, 201 and 338 meters.

• The spire will rise from a glassy cylinder, surrounded at its base by a futuristic screen wall covering the mechanical elements.

• Residential floors on the mid-levels above the trump international hotel will be convertible for hotel usage at the discretion of the unit owners.

• When this project was originally announced, it was proclaimed as a future world's tallest building. After the terrorist acts of september 11, 2001 the plans were scaled down a few hundred feet.

• An abandoned freight tunnel, roughly 40 to 45 feet under the surface, runs partway below the site formerly occupied by the low-rise headquarters of the chicago sun-times, one of the city's two major newspapers.
http://www.trumpchicagohotel.com/

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Willis Tower

Willis Tower

233 South Wacker Drive
Chicago IL United States

Status:built
Construction Dates
  Began1972
  Finished1974
Floor Count108
Basement Floors3
Floor Area418,064 m²
Elevator Count104
Building Uses
 - office
 - communication
 - observation
Structural Types
 - highrise
 - tube
Architectural Style
 - international
Materials
 - glass
 - steel
 - aluminium
 - concrete, reinforced

 Heights ValueSource / Comments 
Antenna527.3 mFCC Reg. #1032959, CTBUH
West antenna
Lower antenna521.1 mFCC Reg. #1032960
East antenna
Antenna mounts462.7 m
Original construction
Roof442.1 mCTBUH / CBD
Main roof436.5 mbuilding blueprints
main roof deck
Observation deck412.4 mbuilding blueprints
103 floor deck
90th floor361.4 mChicago Building Dept.
Upper level setbacks
66th floor266.4 mChicago Building Dept.
Middle level setbacks
50th floor200.5 mChicago Building Dept.
Lower level setbacks
Ground level0.0 m
Wacker Drive entrance
Back-1.2 m
Franklin Street entrance
Basement-13.1 mOfficial website
Sea level-181.4 mFCC Reg. #1032959

Description
• Originally the Willis Tower was going to be two twin towers occupying the site at half the height of the current tower.

• When completed as the Sears Tower in 1973 it surpassed One World Trade Center in New York City, completed earlier that year as the World’s Tallest Building. It stayed the WTB from 1973 to 1996, where the Petronas Towers in Malaysia surpassed it, although this was only possible because of the spires atop the buildings, counting by roof height the Willis Tower remained the tallest until 2003 when Taipei 101 in Taiwan was completed, 19 feet taller than the Willis Tower’s roof.

• The building's structure is a "bundled tube" system of nine squares with sides of 75 feet (for an overall width of 225 x 225 ft btw. exterior column lines and 229' at outside faces). Height to width ratio is 6.45:1. The tower was completed for $160 Million and used 76,000 tons of steel, 72,000 cubic yards of concrete, 17,500 tons of mechanical equipment. At peak construction, over 2,400 workers were on site representing 60 different subcontractors. There are 76 single-deck elevators in addition to 14 double-deck elevators, bringing the total to 104 cabs. Other impressive quantities include 25,000 miles of plumbing and 2,000 miles of electrical wire.

• The building has been climbed up twice, by Dan Goodwin in 1981 and by Alain Robert in 1999.

• Sears is no longer headquartered in this building, having sold the building and moved out to Hoffman Estates, Illinois in 1992.

• The "Skydeck Pavilion" entrance on Wacker Drive was added in 1985, the large antennas in 1982, and the 4 HDTV antennas in 1999 (or thereabouts). Extra height was added to the western antenna on 5th June 2000.

• Due to its antennas atop the tower, the Willis Tower rises to a full height of 1730 feet, as of 2008 no skyscraper, even with antennas has risen any taller.

• The Willis Tower has become one of America’s most iconic skyscrapers, appearing in several movies, books, and television shows since its completion in 1973.

• The building was officially renamed the Willis Tower on July 16, 2009, after a London-based holdings firm retained the naming rights along with leasing space on multiple floors within the building.

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