Wilshire Landmark Concrete Pour
The Wilshire Landmark, located at the corner of Malcolm and Wilshire, poured its concrete foundation yesterday. The trucks began arriving early (about 6am), and work continued through 5pm or so. Wilshire (in the Westwood area) was reduced to two lanes for much of the day, as concrete trucks brought in their loads.
This site had some controversy, as the building exceeded current Westwood height restrictions. A press release from the builders is here and (earlier) here. The Portland Cement Association noted that there were some interesting challenges in this particular building.
Personally, I favor the continuous development of my neighborhood, and (as an engineer) enjoy large engineering projects. But I also love the late afternoon sunbeams in my home, and hope that this building does not interfere.
 | There were at least five cranes tending the pit. |
 | Each crane was anchored to a large flatbed truck. These trucks were heavily braced, to keep them from tipping over. |
 | A fleet of concrete trucks provided the working stream to the pump cranes. |
 | The physics behind the hydraulic cranes can be found here. The concrete runs up the white tube, and down into the pit. The pump has to provide enough pressure increase to move the stuff up the arm, but the workers have more control over the concrete placement than if it was just dropped into the pit. |
 | A view from the roof of my complex. The pit was surprisingly deep, but the building is going to be about 30 floors high, I think. A strong foundation (and lots of parking) is necessary. |
 | At the working end of the pumps. |
 | The next day. The properties of concrete are heavily influenced by the drying process, so it has to be monitored carefully. Some notes (about household concrete projects, I think) are here. |