Preview Released for CA (W)rapper Tower

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16, 2017


A new video has been released detailing the long-anticipated commercial high-rise in Los Angeles that was first conceived in 1999.

The History

What is now called the (W)rapper, a 17-story office building, was at one time the Jefferson Towers project in the late 1990s, and had been dormant for several years. The project was brought back to life in 2006, after a light rail system was constructed near the site.

The building’s signature design, which came out of the collaboration of developer Samitaur Constructs and architect Eric Owen Moss, remains the same: a continuous system of curvilinear ribbons wraps around supporting the T-shaped plan, allowing for an open, column-free interior.

Though one tower now instead of two, the T-shape was retained over the years, along with the ribbons.

The Design

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The tower’s floor plates are slated to be 15,000 square feet per floor, and will be supported by a structure of those curvilinear steel tube ribbons, which will be one foot by five feet, and filled with concrete.

“The ribbons are resolved at the base of the tower as a series of intersecting hyperbolic support walls that geometrically join ribbons on one elevation of the bar with ribbons on the opposite side,” according to Moss’ website.

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Seymour Midwest

An external elevator and two staircases will also be positioned in the floor plan, allowing the structure’s shear loads to be supported by the intersection of the ribbons as well as those service points.

Each floor plate is a pair of parallel, steel girders, which are supported by beams that connect to the ribbons. Vierendeel trusses span between the girders to support the floor slabs.

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APV Engineered Coatings

Groundbreaking and excavation for the building’s lower parking garage is set to begin in the next few months.

Tagged categories: Building Envelope; Commercial / Architectural; Design; Design build; Steel


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