W Dallas Victory Hotel and Residences
Dallas, Texas
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W Dallas Victory Hotel and Residences
To the Victor Go the Spoils!
And spoiled is Dallas with its new W Dallas Victory Hotel and
Residences.
 A
state known for thinking big and living large, it comes as no surprise
that Texas is home to one of the most ambitious urban redevelopment
projects in the country. To counteract the urban sprawl that drew
businesses and residents from downtown, the Dallas Brownfield Program
was created to stimulate development into the declining areas of
the city. In 1998, the Victory Project began with the construction
of the highly successful American Airlines Center, home of the Dallas
Mavericks and Dallas Stars. The many fans flocking to the AAC may
be unaware that their new civic showcase stands on a formerly unusable
brownfield site, which housed a Dallas Electric Company generating
plant, built in 1890. Since its completion in 2001, the AAC stood
alone, but now area visitors will finally have a place to live,
work, stay and play. In 2005, Phase II of the project began, called
Victory Park, the more than $3 billion, 75-acre mixed-use development
comprised of a mix of high-end residential, retail, indoor and outdoor
recreation facilities, a 45-story office tower, a museum and an
upscale hotel.
 Located
in the center of this luxury playground is the W Dallas Victory
Hotel and Residences, serving as a signature beacon standing out
against the Dallas skyline with its modern and simple clean lines.
With its recent opening in June 2006, the new W Hotel and Residences
will serve as the catalyst to spur the remaining projects in the
master plan for the Victory development. The $100 million, one million-square-foot
project includes two adjacent towers rising from a shared footprint.
Combined, the 33-story north tower and the 15-story south tower
feature 252 hotel guestrooms, 150 luxury residences, a spa and fitness
center, an upscale steakhouse, and the trendy Vegas-style Ghostbar.
Becoming almost synonymous with high-rise hotel and condominium
construction, post-tensioned flat plate concrete construction was
the chosen structural framing system. Advantageous for maximizing
floor-to-ceiling space while minimizing structural floor depth,
the overall structural height of the 33-story tower tops out at
438 feet, while accommodating ceiling heights ranging from 9 feet
to 14 feet. The structure is comprised of continuous 28-foot bays
in one direction and only 3 bays in the transverse direction, measuring
22 feet–10 inches at the exterior bays and 14 feet-4 inches
at the interior bay. In the hotel zone, a 7½ -inch thick
slab was necessary for the longer 28 foot spans, using a concrete
strength of 5,000 psi. In lieu of using drop panels, shear stud
rails were designed to resist the critical punching shear to further
economize the design. The resulting flat soffit was also an architectural
requirement, since the ceiling texture was applied directly to the
underside of the slab to maximize the ceiling height for the typical
9 feet-6 inches floor-to-floor heights.
As the building occupancy transitions to the W Residences on the
16th floor, the floor-to-floor heights increase to 12 feet–0
inches for a luxury loft atmosphere. The top penthouse floors have
been given Texas-sized ceiling of 14 feet, just adding more to the
living large mentality. The slab thickness throughout the condominiums
is slightly greater at 8 inches. Although the occupancy loads do
not differ from the hotel zone, the residence units are designed
for an additional 3 inches of thinset topping with high-end tile
or terrazzo floor finishes. The increased slab thickness useful
in accommodating the cantilevered balconies for each residence,
which exceeded lengths of 12 feet in some units. In the preliminary
design stages a structural steel alternative was evaluated, but
its higher comparative cost, deeper structural floor depths and
the lateral cross-bracing made the concrete solution more desirable.
The most significant engineering challenge was designing for the
7:1 slenderness ratio. Since the footprint of the structure is very
long and narrow, it became a difficult task to effectively transfer
the lateral loads in the narrow 3-bay direction. The final design
incorporated a lateral-force-resisting system that consists primarily
of 8,500 psi cast-in-place concrete shear walls, 18 inches thick,
located around the elevator and stair cores and 1 room wall in the
hotel levels, acting in conjunction with frame action. To increase
the stiffness of the structure and decrease lateral drift, 40 inches
wide by 18 inches deep spandrel beams were incorporated around the
perimeter. The columns within the hotel zone are 30 inches square
at the exterior and 24 inches by 42 inches for the interior core
columns. In the condominiums, the columns switch to 30-inch diameter
exposed concrete columns to achieve a trendier loft aesthetic.
Inside and out this structure speaks with a modern voice. The façade
consists of a light gray punched precast system in the hotel section
and follows up the exterior shear walls to the roof. The upper residence
levels are clad with floor-to-ceiling curtainwall to exude the sleek
look with clean lines. A contrasting limestone look with a light
gray cast-stone sets apart the street entrances at the base, calling
the passerby to enter.
 The
highly visible, two-story, open-air atrium at the 16th floor certainly
will attract even more attention. Appearing as if the upper stories
are floating, eyes are drawn to this space with 25-foot ceilings
and an amazing view, which houses an outdoor infinity-edge pool.
Despite appearing to float, stiff structural framing systems occur
above and below the atrium. Above the atrium, post-tensioned beams,
60 inches wide by 36 inches deep, span for three bays in each direction
to stiffen the soft-story. On the 16th floor, post-tensioned beams,
55½ inches wide by 38 inches deep, were incorporated to support
the heavy pool loads. The added structural depth below the pool
generated a 12 feet-2 inches floor-to-floor height for the 15th
floor of the hotel. Since this only occurs in three out of the seven
bays in the hotel space, the guestrooms directly below the typical
flat plate have a generous 11 feet – 6 inches clear height.
Taking advantage of the extra space and the hotel’s close
proximity to the AA Center, these select guestrooms will likely
host the basketball stars of visiting NBA teams. The W Dallas Victory
Hotel and Residences will accommodate all their clientele with true
Texas hospitality.
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| Owner and Developer:
Hillwood Capital
Dallas, Texas
Architect:
HKS, Inc.
Dallas, Texas
Structural Engineer:
Brockette Davis Drake
Dallas, Texas
General Contractor:
McCarthy Building Companies
Dallas, Texas
Concrete Supplier:
Texas Industries (TXI)
Dallas, Texas
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