Modern-looking cable system offers curtainwall support
Posted
07/6/2011
Ronstan Tensile Architecture, Portsmouth, R.I., provides a sleek
cabling system to help support 20,000 square feet of glass
curtainwall inside the JW Marriott Hotel at L.A. LIVE, part of a
new cutting-edge tower built for the premiere entertainment campus
in Los Angeles.
Serving as the main hub for L.A. LIVE, the tower
stands 54 stories tall, making it the first skyscraper in L.A. to
reach such heights in two decades. While JW Marriott is the focal
point of the complex, a Ritz-Carlton Hotel, the Residences at the
Ritz-Carlton condominiums, and the Nokia Plaza all share the
space.
The high-profile brainchild of world-famous Los Angeles-based
Gensler architects, the new L.A. LIVE complex features the
stainless-steel truss system that laterally braces the JW Marriott
lobby curtainwall. The system is composed of Ronstan's ACS1-SS and
ARS1-SS rods and turnbuckles, which employ Ronstan cabling to
uphold segments of the south-facing glass façades in a
corner-tocorner fashion.
The resulting design is a vertical tower of graceful
crisscrossing cable patterns, providing delicate accents to the
glass and an engaging geometrical pattern without inhibiting views
of the outside. Ronstan provides further lateral support on the
north- and west-facing glass walls with horizontal bracing cables.
The modern-looking system complements the aesthetic of the lobby,
which itself pays special attention to geometry, balance and
contemporary style.
The Ronstan-supported curtainwall was designed, engineered and
installed by Enclos Corp., San Juan Capistrano, Calif. Nabih
Youssef Associates, Los Angeles was the general engineer and Webcor
Builders, Los Angeles, was the general contractor. The project was
completed in 2009.
Ronstan Tensile Architecture, www.ronstantensilearch.com, Circle
#63
www.ronstantensilearch.com