LA Live

The JW Marriott Hotel and Ritz Carlton Hotel and Residences at LA Live

Kurt Fischer was a senior project engineer at Nabih Youssef Associates for the design and construction phases of this project. The project is a 55-story steel frame and steel plate shear wall high-rise tower. The building is the visual anchor for the larger six-block sports and entertainment district known as L.A. LIVE. The tower houses two distinct hotel brands, an 878-key JW Marriott hotel, and a 123-key Ritz-Carlton boutique hotel, as well, the tower’s top 25 floors house Ritz-branded condominium residences. The hotel tower takes full advantage of a new leading-edge Performance-Based structural steel lateral force-resisting system, comprised of un-stiffened thin steel plate shear walls (SPSW). It is the first high-rise to use this technology in California. Using 1/4 to 3/8″ thick steel plate shear walls as opposed to 30″ thick concrete columns created increased usable square footage. Outriggers at mid-height and the rooftop using Buckling Restrained Braces (BRB) fuses were utilized in order to maintain the structure's narrow aspect ratio. The structural steel frame follows the curved shape of the structure in order to optimize the usable square footage of the structure. The design process exemplifies a successful collaboration of performance-based engineering and rigorous peer review by a panel of noted experts.

Developer
AEG

Contractor
Webcor Builders

Architect
Gensler

Engineer of Record
Nabih Youssef Associates

Project Information
- Completed 2010
- 55 story steel frame building
- 1001 hotel rooms, 224 luxury condominiums
- 2,000,000 sqft of space
- $1.0 Billion development cost
- SEAOC 2009-2010 Award of Merit for new construction