The city of Tukwila hopes a new skyscraper currently under construction will be the catalyst to new growth in South King County, so reports the local King 5 News. The skyscraper is another high-rise The Conco Companies are providing concrete services for, and another “tallest” building project between Seattle and Tacoma. The 19-story tower is also the first Class A high-rise to be built in South King County.
Once complete, the mixed-use Washington Place tower will offer a 185-room hotel, 370 residential units and a four-story parking garage to accommodate 300 vehicles. The expected cost of the project is $120 million. The developer, Omar Lee explains how he put together the financing for the new skyscraper. He explains that, "Instead of a conventional bank loan, we decided to finance 50% by EB-5, the rest on our own funding, and small loans, so that's something unique about this project.” The city of Tukwila is currently building a new bike and pedestrian bridge over the nearby Green River that will connect the new high-rise to the commuter rail station to make it a short 10-walk. City planners also have a long-term goal of connecting the nearby mall to the commuter rail and encouraging other redevelopment near the new tower. They hope that the Washington Place project is the start of something big for the city. Along with the business-class hotel and apartment units, the tower will include a rooftop garden and a 90-seat restaurant. The hotel will occupy the first 11th floors of the building and the residential apartments will occupy floors 12-18. Amenities for the residents and hotel guests include a lounge, club, and exercise room on the top floor, and a pool at ground-level. The new pedestrian/bike bridge is expected to open in 2017 and the Washington Place high-rise by late 2017 or early 2018. Conco is one of the leading concrete contractors in the Western U.S. and offer a wide range of quality services and products. While we tackle projects both big and small, our experience includes providing the entire cast-in-place concrete for the Wilshire Grand, the tallest building west of the Mississippi, along with other notable projects. We serve California, Washington State, Oregon, Colorado and Nevada. Source:king5.com/news/local/tukwila-hopes-new-skyscraper-will-be-catalyst-for growth/375558472
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The history of concrete is actually quite interesting. For example, did you know that the art and science of concrete was almost entirely lost after the fall of the Roman Empire? Concrete is, in fact, an ancient material dating back thousands of years. From the earliest use of cement some twelve million years ago to the rediscovery of cement in the early 1700s, let’s review the little-known history of cement.
12 Million Years ago: Earliest known occurrence of cement. Deposits of cement were formed due to oil shale burning next to a bed of limestone. Although these deposits dated back millions of years, they were not discovered and researched until the 1970s. 6500 BC: The earliest concrete structures were built by the Nabataea or Bedouins traders who, literally, built an empire in Syria and northern Jordan. 5600 BC: Homes were being built along the Danube River (in what was formerly Yugoslavia) which used concrete floors. 700 BC: Kilns were being used to create mortar for the construction of homes, concrete floors, and water cisterns. 200 BC: The Romans built an empire out of concrete. Although their concrete was very rudimentary (almost plastic-like), they were also creative and created cement from volcanic sand. 125 AD: The Pantheon is erected. The structure has one the largest un-reinforced concrete domes ever created in history. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the art of Concrete was lost to mankind. 1756: The building blocks of concrete begin to re-emerge and John Smeaton rediscovers hydraulic cement. 1824: Joseph Aspdin invents Portland cement! The material was aptly named “Portland” cement because it resembled the building materials found in Portland, England. 1825: The commercial demand for concrete begins to soar. In the United States, the Erie Canal was commissioned to be built out of cement. The Conco Companies one of the foremost suppliers of concrete services for the Western U.S. We got our start in 1959 in the Bay Area by offering clients the best value on a broad range of concrete services and products. Since that time, we have taken a leading role as top concrete contractors in the region. We have four regional offices serving California, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado and Washington. Concrete is one of the most popular building materials in the world and has maintained that popularity for centuries. What makes concrete so great and why has it been the staple building material since the ancient times? The answer includes a number of concrete’s distinct characteristics: long lasting durability, energy efficiency, cost effectiveness, proven safety, and sustainability. Let’s take a deeper look at each one of these characteristics of concrete.
Durability Concrete is a material that is made to last. It’s resistant to most environmental exposures (weathering, chemicals, and abrasion) while still maintaining its engineering properties. Energy Efficiency When combined with other energy efficient remedies (such as radiant heating and cooling), concrete can reduce the energy requirements of a building by as much as 30%. Affordability Taking lifespan, energy efficiency, and overall cost of the material into consideration, concrete offers one of the most cost-effective means of constructing an energy-efficient building. Safety Concrete is an extremely safe building material for humans and pets. The materials used to create concrete are inert, non-flammable, will not rot, will not mold, does not release gas, and helps fight the entry of pollutants into the structure. Sustainability Concrete creates a steady temperature environment because heat passes slowly through the material. As a result, less heating or air-conditioning is needed to maintain a comfortable temperature. Over the lifetime of the building, this amounts to less energy use and cheaper energy bills. Additionally, although concrete is not biodegradable, it can be recycled and easily repaired; thus, limiting the amount of concrete waste on the planet. Conco is one of the foremost suppliers of concrete services for the Western U.S. We got our start in 1959 in the Bay Area by offering clients the best value on a broad range of concrete services and products. Since that time, we have taken a leading role as top concrete contractors in the region. We have four regional offices serving California, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado and Washington. Source: concretenetwork.com/concrete-homes/benefits.html Along with the several iconic construction projects that The Conco Companies have been involved with in California during the last couple of years, the rest of the country has also seen some pretty incredible projects completed. One example is the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington D.C. that just had its opening dedication ceremony on September 24th.
The design for the building was awarded to lead designer David Adjaye and lead architect Philip Freelon and their architectural firm of Freelon Adjaye Bond/SmithGroup. The firm was selected after winning an international competition that took place in April 2009 with a design that “synthesized a variety of distinctive elements from Africa and the Americas into the building’s design and structure.” Construction on the five-acre site began in February of 2012. The Clark Construction Group, Smoot Construction, and H.J. Russell & Company were joint general contractors on the project. The first African American-owned architectural firm in the U.S., McKissack & McKissack, worked on behalf of the Smithsonian and provided the project with management services. The 350,000 square feet museum has a total of ten floors with five above ground and five below and is the deepest building on the National Mall. Site work included digging an 80-foot deep foundation for the building. The first concrete was ready to be poured in November of 2012, and during work on the lower levels, a crane was used to install a segregated railroad passenger car as well as a prison tower. Both pieces would have been too large to bring as more of the building was completed. The NMAAHC was topped out in October 2014 and the steel superstructure and above-ground concrete was completed in January 2015. An architectural highlight of the museum includes 3,600 bronze-colored panels that wrap around the entire building in homage to the lattice ironwork crafted by many enslaved African Americans throughout the South. Conco’s mission is to be the best supplier of concrete services in the Western United States and to bring expertise, experience and quality to each project. We continue to upgrade and expand facilities to better serve the growing market for public works projects, commercial, parking structures, educational, and other construction development. We serve California, Washington State, Oregon, Colorado and Nevada. Sources: nmaahc.si.edu/explore/building en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_African_American_History_and_Culture During 2015, the world was treated to an array of new construction that continues to push the envelope in terms of both size and architectural design. One of those buildings is 432 Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan that overlooks Central Park. The new tower represents a “new generation of supertall, superslim skyscrapers,” as the pencil-thin design efficiently maximizes the confined Manhattan site.
Featuring 104 condominium apartments, the building topped out at 1,396 ft. (426 m), to make it the third tallest building in the United States, and the tallest residential building in the world. In New York City, it is right behind the One World Trade Center, which is the tallest building in both New York City and the country. The Empire State Building is now the third tallest in the city. The tower’s owner is 56th and Park (NY) and the developer was the CIM Group / Macklowe Properties. The architects were Rafael Viñoly Architects and SLCE Architects, LLP. The construction of the tower includes a 30-ft. square reinforced concrete core with 30-in. thick walls that house the elevator shafts and building mechanical services. Wikipedia reports that, “the facade, with the formed surface left as the final finish without any added facia, was poured in place from concrete using 14,000 psi white Portland cement, and cast around preassembled full-floor cages of #20 rebars with articulated steel formwork.” The 85-story building has a floor-to-floor height of 15 ft. 6 in. While most of the floors consist of 10-in. thick slabs, the upper stories have slabs of up to 18-in. thick to provide more mass and help to reduce swaying. In addition to improve stability of a building with a 1:15 slenderness ratio, “A regular grid of exposed concrete that creates an open basket from which seven “independent buildings” are separated by spaces where the building’s core is exposed to the outdoor elements.” The Conco Companies are a leading supplier of concrete services for the Western U.S. We got our start in the Bay Area in 1959 by offering clients the best value on a wide range of concrete services and products. Since that time, we have taken a leading role as one of the top concrete contractors in the region. We have four regional offices serving California, Nevada, Washington, Oregon and Colorado. Sources:skyscrapercenter.com/building/432-park-avenue/13227 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/432_Park_Avenue With an original opening date of 2012, later moved up to 2015 (and missed), we are now being told that as August 2016, the Louvre Abu Dhabi museum is now 95% complete. Located on the Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi, UAE it has been announced that the museum will be finished in late December or early 2017 with an opening date sometime in 2017. In terms of ambitious architectural design there is good reason why the Louvre Abu Dhabi has taken so long to complete. Designed by the French architect Jean Nouvel, recipient of the highest architectural honor, the Pritzker Prize, the 260,000 sq. ft. structure is expected to have a final cost between €83 million and €108 million (U.S. $120 million). To complete Nouvel’s “Rain of Light” vision, the dome’s approximately 1,855-foot circumference is constructed as a giant jigsaw puzzle that took over 30 million man hours and 424 days to complete. And that does not count the underside of the dome’s cladding. One of the 7,850 stars that form the eight layers of the Rain of Light installation is over 160 square feet and weighs almost 915 pounds. The walls of the structure required 4,680 panels of ultra-high performance, fiber-reinforced concrete that used a matrix of glass fibers instead of steel to increase its compressive and tensile strength. Since the museum will be constantly exposed to sea water as it sits right on the edge of the Arabian Gulf, this type of concrete offered minimal shrinkage and impermeability. Another feature includes the roof that “sits on top of four towers that have been carefully concealed inside the museum buildings, creating the illusion that the whole 7,000-tonne structure is hovering in mid-air.” The museum, which is accessed by boat, will eventually be joined by two more museums, the Zayed National Museum and the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, as part of the new Saadiyat Island Cultural District. Along with the Louvre’s 23 permanent galleries, it also has space for temporary exhibits as well as a research center. In addition to the cost of the museum, the country of Abu Dhabi also paid $525 million to be a part of the Louvre name along with an additional $747 million to receive art loans, special exhibitions and management advice. The Conco Companies are one of the foremost suppliers of concrete services for the Western U.S. We got our start in 1959 in the Bay Area by offering clients the best value on a broad range of concrete services and products. Since that time, we have taken a leading role as top concrete contractors in the region. We have four regional offices serving California, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado and Washington. Sources: archdaily.com/793182/in-progress-louvre-abu-dhabi-jean-nouvel thenational.ae/uae/tourism/louvre-abu-dhabi |
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