User:Agradesk/sandbox

Aqua Tower
Aqua tower located in the heart of Chicago, Illinois, institutes a magnificent blend of architectural beauty and structural ingenuity. Soaring 870 feet into the Chicago skyline, it is the tallest skyscraper, at the time, designed by an architectural firm led by a woman. The architect, Jeanne Gang, also incorporated environmentally friendly designs into the building. These included the outstretching balconies to block incoming sunlight, the largest green roof in the area, and electric car chargers located in the underground parking garage. The facility can be broken down into multiple sections: the underground parking garage, the lobby on the first floor, hotel rooms, residential (condominiums and apartments), and the top floors used for mechanical needs. Since its opening the building has been granted many pristine awards for architectural design.

Structural Description
The structural form of Aqua tower consists of portal frames which are built up story by story as the concrete is poured. At first this is not immediately determinate, but closer analysis of photos from the exterior will show visible components of columns through the glass. These columns then support girders which support the floor slabs. An interesting note about the tower is the structural components are visible in the facade. The facade consists of not only glass panels, but also cantilevered balconies which are the poured floor slab. During construction, the concrete was cast monolithically which means the girders, columns, and floor slabs are all one piece. Prairie Material Services Inc. is supplied the normalweight concrete with strengths varying from 5,000 to 12,000 psi and James McHugh Construction Co. poured approximately 100,000 cubic yards of concrete. The project also required approximately 11,000 tons of reinforcing steel bar.

Qualifications as Structural Art
Aqua tower is an elegant super structure, but is not a work of structural art because it lacks efficiency and economy throughout construction. Despite this, it is still an architectural masterpiece.

Elegance
First off, the building the name “Aqua” is significant to the area in which it resides. It is located in the Lakeshore East development area which echoes a nautical theme because it is situated near Lake Michigan and the Chicago River. Another elegant feature of the tower is its overall form which is uncharacteristic of any other structure. The nature of its facade is to represent ripples and waves in water much like that of the surrounding area. It’s interesting to note how it can be linked to the economy in a symbolic manner. The city of Chicago is a major shipping hub for much of the United States and one major way of transportation is via waterway. In this manner, it is visible how the architect, Jeanne Gang, incorporated Chicago’s economy into the design.

Efficiency
Despite the architectural beauty of this masterpiece, there are numerous flaws regarding its efficiency. The construction of this project is an engineer’s nightmare. Each floor has a completely unique concrete slab which makes it impossible to reuse forms. This induces major expenses to not only creating the floor slabs, but also impedes on the time allotted for construction. Although this is a major setback, the engineers attempted to cope with the situation by “implementing a computerized civil engineering and surveying software program and digital CAD files for inputting coordinates of each unique slab to a robotic station used on site" . Yet, this still adds additional costs. The design of the building does optimize the use of its construction materials. The building is constructed of reinforced concrete which is excellent in compression and since the tower is so tall the weight of the structural components relieves some the stresses experienced due to wind loads. After all, Chicago is known as “The Windy City.” Another note on efficiency is the manner in which load reaches the ground. From plain view it is unclear how load travels through the structure, but if analyzed closely the skeleton of the building can be seen through the glass. Peering through the panels, it is easy to see the building consists of portal frames built up. This allows for an efficient load path. Loads travel from the floor slab to a girder, which is not visible, and then to the columns leading the load to the foundation. Overall, the uniqueness of the building outweighs the positive features.

Economy
To address the economical aspect of the building, the cost of construction is addressed. Construction costs accumulated to 475 million dollars. With this cost, some companies, one being Strategic Hotels and Resorts, had to back out of their original plans. Luckily in March 14, 2010, Carlson Hotels Worldwide bought out the vacant hotel property and began developing the first Raddison Blu in America. . This caused a vacancy in 15 floors of the tower and empty space doesn’t generate revenue. Secondly, the apartments are unequally balanced with respects to the balcony sizes. Some residents only have access to a balcony which extends a couple feet and others extend almost 4 yards! Of course, what is also unknown is if residents pay a lower rent for not having this upscale amenity, and this should be kept in mind. With respect to permanence and upkeep of the establishment, window washing becomes less practical. Because of its unconventional design, “a specialized window washing rig with telescopic and rotating arm" that lowers a basket from the roof will have to be installed. This is another down side to the architectural magnificence of the building, which causes it not to be structural art.