| Moody
Gardens Hotel Phase V Expansion
Houston, Texas
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Studies: Hotels > Moody Gardens Hotel
 The
Moody Gardens complex began almost two decades ago as a place where those
with serious head injuries could go to receive hippotherapy at its riding
arena and horse barn. Today it continues to serve as a therapy center
for those with disabilities and has grown to include animal and horticulture
research facilities. Drawing more than 2 million visitors annually to
Galveston Island, it is one of Houston’s favorite tourist attractions.
The entertainment complex features an aquarium, a museum, the Rainforest
Pyramid, an IMAX theater, a 9-story hotel, and an artificial white-sand
beach.
 A
new hotel expansion was constructed to keep up with the ever growing needs
of the rapidly expanding Moody Gardens complex. The $115 million Phase
V expansion includes the new hotel tower, expansion of the existing hotel
restaurant, an expansion and renovation of the convention center, a new
1,000-car cast-in-place post-tensioned parking garage, new maintenance
and warehouse structures, expanded utility infrastructure, and other campus
improvements.
The Phase V addition to the hotel adds a new 7-story plus basement structure
and was designed for two floors of future expansion to eventually match
the existing 9-story hotel building. The first floor consists of meeting
rooms with numerous slab depressions required to accommodate the high
end finishes. The complexity of this level, including ground walls framing
into it, drove the decision to use a 10-inch-thick flat slab with mild
reinforcing steel. The design team carefully considered the complex column
layout and the small floor-to-floor heights required to match the 9-foot-8-inch
existing floor heights. A post-tensioned cast-in-place flat plate system
was the obvious choice for the hotel’s typical upper floors. Irregular
and complex column layout resulted from the saw-tooth profile of the building
designed to provide scenic picture windows and balconies that overlook
the West Bay just off the Gulf of Mexico. The hotel frame consists of
typical 8-inch two-way post-tensioned flat plate floors with 14 X 24-inch
concrete columns and 12-inch-thick shear walls at the stair and elevator
cores. The hotel also includes a single level basement, flood protected
with 12-inch slab-on-grade concrete designed for 300 psf of buoyant uplift
pressure and with flood gates at door openings.
Adding to the design challenges, all work had to be performed on a site
congested with facilities that had to remain in operation during construction.
The hotel was literally squeezed between the existing hotel, conference
center, and pool deck that remained open year-round with the warm gulf
coast climate. Construction Manager, Gilbane Building Company, phased
construction to best accommodate Moody Gardens operations.
With the Phase V expansion of the hotel, Moody Gardens met their lodging
needs to serve their continued growth. The hotel was designed to enhance
the quality of stay by providing scenic views and easy access to many
of its other entertainment and educational facilities. Their continued
attention to the total patron experience as well as their focus on research,
therapy, and education will ensure that Moody Gardens will continue to
be one of Houston’s most popular entertainment and educational attractions
for years to come.
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| Owner:
Moody Gardens®
Architect:
Morris Architects
Structural and Civil Engineers:
Walter P. Moore
Contractor:
Gilbane Building Company
Concrete Contractor:
Baker Concrete Construction
Concrete Supplier:
Kelso Concrete Company
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