| Hilton
Americas
Houston, Texas
Buildings Home > Case
Studies: Hotels > Hilton Americas
 As
the most populated city in Texas, Houston finally has its greatly anticipated
convention center hotel. The Hilton Americas hotel is strategically located
adjacent to the newly expanded George R. Brown Convention Center and the
new Toyota Center. In addition to filling the need for nearby guestrooms,
the hotel’s meeting and banquet space supplement the conference
and exposition facilities of the convention center to create a fully integrated
convention facility.
In 2000, the City Council created the Houston Convention Center Hotel
Corporation, a nonprofit organization, with a mandate to build the convention
center hotel. After breaking ground in September 2001, the project reached
substantial completion in November 2003. The $200 million, 24-story hotel
totals over 1.2 million square feet and comprises three towers of guestrooms
wrapping around the centrally located ballroom structure in a C-shape.
The structure houses 1200 guestrooms, a grand ballroom (39,000 square
feet), a junior ballroom (26,000 square feet), meeting rooms, public areas,
restaurants, a health spa, and fitness facilities.
Several different structural systems were implemented in this building.
The first five levels constitute the “podium” floors. Excluding
the grand ballroom roof, the podium structural system is a wide-module
pan and joist construction. The wide-module joists are 6 inches wide by
24 ? inches deep, spaced at 6 feet on center, spanning 28 feet. They are
supported on 42 x 24 ? -inch beams, which span 25 feet, 8 inches. Supporting
the grand ballroom floor above the 160 x 168-foot column-free junior ballroom
are two 2-foot-6-inch-wide x 17-foot-9-inch-deep post-tensioned girders,
spaced 56 feet apart and spanning 160 feet.
Starting on the sixth level, the guestroom tower floors are 8-inch-thick
post-tensioned concrete flat plate, using a 5,000-psi concrete mix. This
framing system is the most economical for accommodating the 28-foot x
25-foot-8-inch exterior bays (with a 10-foot corridor bay), while allowing
9-foot-6-inch floor-to-floor heights to minimize the structure’s
overall height. A pour strip was required in the center leg of the C-shaped
tower configuration, creating two L-shaped segments. This typical construction
practice was required to accommodate shrinkage due to the 423-foot length
of the building in one direction. In order to create additional space
for the lobby areas below the guestroom towers, two interior guestroom
columns were transferred to a single column via a V-shaped transfer column
located below the sixth level.
The lateral-force-resisting system consists primarily of cast-in-place
concrete shear walls, varying from 12 to 18 inches thick, located around
the elevator and stair cores. A 3-bay exterior moment frame is also provided
in the southwest corner of the tallest (west) guestroom wing, due to lack
of space for another shear wall. At least two shear wall groups were located
in the L-segment, providing adequate lateral resistance prior to the pour-strip
closure. The shear walls, as well as the columns, used concrete strengths
of 7,000 to 5,000 psi as the vertical elements progressed up the structure.
Reinforced concrete framing played a key role in the success of this
project. “Concrete is the typical preferred structural material
for hotel projects due to rigidity, cost, and superior acoustical attributes,”
says Sam Crawford, project manager for Gensler. Using concrete construction
helped showcase the talents of the Houston design and construction community,
which the owner wanted to incorporate. The timely completion of the Hilton
Americas allowed for full occupancy while the city hosted the 2004 SuperBowl
XXXVIII.
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| Owner:
Houston Convention Center Hotel Corp.
Development Manager:
Hines Interests Limited Partnership,
Houston, Texas
Architect:
Gensler,
Houston, Texas;
ARQ,
Miami, Florida
Structural Engineer:
CBM Engineers,
Houston, Texas
General Contractor:
Turner Construction Company,
Houston, Texas
Concrete Subcontractor:
United Forming, Inc.
Houston, Texas
Concrete Supplier:
Texas Industries (TXI),
Houston, Texas
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