2005 Washington Aggregates and Concrete Association award winners -- Seattle DJC.COM

Special Applications
Technical Merit


photo
The terra cotta facade from the 1918 Crystal Pool building was reinforced and integrated into the new Cristalla tower.
Photo courtesy Cary Kopczynski & Company

Cristalla facade

Location: 2030 First Ave., Seattle

Owner/developer: Cristalla LLC

Project team: MacDonald Miller Corp., general contractor; Albrecht Birkenbuel, concrete contractor; Weber + Thompson, architect; Cary Kopczynski & Company, structural engineer; Stoneway Concrete, ready-mix supplier




The challenge of this project was incorporating a 1918 terra cotta facade from the old Crystal Pool building into the 22-story Cristalla residential tower that was being built on the site.

The terra cotta facade was rigidly attached to unreinforced masonry on the Crystal Pool building, with no protection against earthquakes. A pre-demolition examination of the facade revealed it to be old and fractured. That complicated the process of stabilizing it during demolition and reattaching it to the Cristalla building.

The first step involved bracing the facade to the ground, preventing it from moving during and after demolition of the Crystal Pool building. Next, a shotcrete wall was constructed to support the facade from the back.

Installing the reinforcing wall required successive shotcrete operations followed by isolated demolition. The wall was bonded to the facade with threaded rods and hooked bars.

Once a sufficient number of floors had been completed, the facade was attached to the Cristalla building.

The reworked facade has a ductile system that allows it to withstand an earthquake without coming apart.



Copyright ©2005 Seattle Daily Journal and DJC.COM.
Comments? Questions? Contact us.