Precast Solutions - November/December 2008 - (Page 8) A TOWERING PROJECT IN PRECAST WHEN BUILDERS AND ARCHITECTS STARTED PLANNING VIRGINIA’S TALLEST STRUCTURE, THEY DIDN’T WANT TO TAKE ANY CHANCES . WHEN IT CAME TO STRENGTH AND DURABILITY PROJECT PROFILE Project: Westin Hotel and Residences, Virginia Beach Town Center, Virginia Beach, Va. Project Owner: Armada Hoffler, Virginia Beach, Va. Executive Architect: Brennan Beer Gorman Architects, Washington, D.C. Precast Manufacturer: SmithMidland Corp., Midland, Va. Builder: Armada Hoffler Construction, Virginia Beach, Va. BY DEBORAH HUSO A LIGHTWEIGHT PRECAST PANEL SYSTEM OFFERED THE SOLUTION. the Westin Hotel and Residences at Town Center, the city’s “new” downtown about 10 miles from the oceanfront. The 38-story structure now ranks as Virginia’s V irginia Beach has always been known for its tallest, and its penthouse condos have sold for as much as $4 million each, ocean views included. The new condo owners will also be paying the highest tax rates in Virginia Beach. But those owners consider the price well worth it to live in what has instantly become the city’s most coveted real estate. And that real estate owes a lot of its value to the strength of precast concrete, which makes up the vast majority of the 900,000-square-foot building’s façade. high-priced real estate, and that real estate just got a little pricier with the completion of LIGHTWEIGHT ARCHITECTURAL PRECAST MAKES THE GRADE The Westin project, which began in 2006, has a structure of cast-in-place concrete with a structural precast garage. The lower four stories of the building’s imposing tower are brick in keeping with the surrounding architecture, but the rest of the Westin’s exterior actually sports more than 77,000 square feet of an innovative, lightweight architectural precast panels known as SlenderWall. Most of the structures in Virginia Beach’s 8 PRECAST SOLUTIONS | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2008
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