I can understand them not having an observation deck, for all the obvious reasons--but--I think someone ought to suggest they put a world-class camera system up there that would give everyone a great view of the city, not unlike this one here on OKC Talk that is such a draw to all of us. Would cost very little to install and maintain. A nice panorama setup would be nice...and innovative.

I may be mistaken but I could have sworn Larry Nichols made a definitive statement about this around the time the project was announced.

I'll do some research and see if I can confirm it.

You are correct. Nichols said there would be no observation deck when the building was announced.

Here's a post from 'Insider' on 8/20/2008 about the public/private parts of the project:


The tower will be secured and only available to Devon Employees. There will be no observation deck as this is an obvious security risk and takes away from usable space.

The round rotundra is only available to the public on the first and second floor. Floors 3-6 are secured and for Devon employees only.

The brown areas are only available to the public on the first and second floors. These will consist of restaurants, dry cleaners, coffee shop, etc. Floors 3-6 are conference rooms for Devon Employees only.

Here's a post from 'Insider' on 8/20/2008 about the public/private parts of the project:

Maybe in 5-10 years it could change. You never know.

I haven't heard anything about the pier. I doubt they would be jack-hammering it out because it was placed in the wrong location. More likely the rebar was tied wrong or the concrete was bad.

At least they discovered it early. Vegas has a new hotel at the new City Center Resort that is only half its planed height because all the rebar in the columns were tied wrong.

And Seattle has to destroy a 9-year old residential high rise downtown due to bad construction.

It is easy to think of the footprint of the Devon Building as being "small", I think do to it's height--it can look too "skinny". Here is a google-earth pic of the Chase Buidling a few blocks away to view, by way of comparison...

does anybody know when they start 2 shifts (24 hr operation)

Looks like they could start on the second floor on the far left.

The Northeast core inner forms are being lifted up to the next level now.

How high are they going to go and how long will it take?

does anybody know when they start 2 shifts (24 hr operation)

They are working at 5 AM - aren't they already doing 24/7?

It is easy to think of the footprint of the Devon Building as being "small", I think do to it's height--it can look too "skinny". Here is a google-earth pic of the Chase Buidling a few blocks away to view, by way of comparison...

Typical Devon Floor - Approx - 28,530 SF

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/DevonFloor-3.jpg

Chase Tower Footprint - Rectangle - Approx-17,250 SF

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/TYPFLOORPLATE28330SFModel1.jpg

The building is proportionately sound, it's not going to look too skinny....

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/DEVONTOWER-VIEW7-1.jpg

Thanks Architect5311--the floorplan overlay was an excellent example. Perhaps I worded it incorrectly--what I meant was--to the casual observer, tall buildings SEEM to be smaller (in diameter) than they are because of their height -vs- footprint.

Thanks for the floor plan. It helps those of us watching this from a distance gain a better perspective of this massive project.

It Rises! It Rises!!!!!!!!

anyone know why they have only built that wood scaffolding on the southern side of the tower and not northern? It's weird they are starting the 1st floor above the basement level on it, but have not yet started it on the north side basement level.

Will the floor their working on be a post tension slab? This floor will be different from all the other floors (ex. multi-level, connects to basement floor).

anyone know why they have only built that wood scaffolding on the southern side of the tower and not northern? It's weird they are starting the 1st floor above the basement level on it, but have not yet started it on the north side basement level.

There was a big hole on the north side where they were working on a pier, maybe that has something to do with it. Not sure if they finished that work yet.

Pictures from today. Awesome to see that first elevator core rise a level. But can't wait to see the entire floor poured. Maybe within 2 or 3 weeks? What do you all think?

http://i651.photobucket.com/albums/uu235/okcmomentum/f2f68ba4.jpg

http://i651.photobucket.com/albums/uu235/okcmomentum/5edc05ef.jpg

http://i651.photobucket.com/albums/uu235/okcmomentum/02426fef.jpg

Silly question maybe, but does anyone know if tornado shelters have been designed into the overall plan. Given the size of the core, it looks like there would be room there for the people on each floor to take shelter.

And to add to that, I imagine that this tower had to go through extra-stringent wind tunnel tests. Would be great if we could see a mock up of that, or see the results about how much force the curtain wall can sustain before breaking.

Awesome pics! Thanks okcmomentum!

Pictures from today. Awesome to see that first elevator core rise a level. But can't wait to see the entire floor poured. Maybe within 2 or 3 weeks? What do you all think?


Yeah, 2-3 weeks sounds about right. I think they will pour the northwest core later today. I'm beginning to think that something was wrong with the column on the north side, otherwise they would have been done with it by now and the shoring system would have been set up on the north side.

And to add to that, I imagine that this tower had to go through extra-stringent wind tunnel tests. Would be great if we could see a mock up of that, or see the results about how much force the curtain wall can sustain before breaking.

Those systems are designed to withstand a certain design load that is determined by location, height, etc., plus an additional factor of safety. Meaning the system is designed to withstand 95-97.5% of normal wind speeds (plus a bit extra) with the exception of tornadoes. The cost of making the system tornado-proof would be much more than the cost of just replacing the glass in the extremely unlikely event of a direct hit. It doesn't make economic sense.

The structure, however, will be able to withstand a direct hit by a tornado. The stairwells will likely provide the necessary shelter.

Silly question maybe, but does anyone know if tornado shelters have been designed into the overall plan. Given the size of the core, it looks like there would be room there for the people on each floor to take shelter.

I guess people could take shelter inside the cores. I imagine they would try to evacuate everyone to the basement given enough time of course.

It looks as if the second section of the core just rose.

It looks as if the second section of the core just rose.

??

??

It appears as if 2 of the 3 climbing concrete forms have risen to the next level.

you can finally see the building rising from the street. Also early this week my dad took me down to the site and he said the Tower Cranes look like a family. The two tower cranes that are building the tower is like a father and mother and the other two are the children. All working together to build a better future for Devon Energy and Oklahoma City.

Troypin--your Dad is a wise man. Glad you got down there to see the site.

This is my first post here at OKCtalk. Here are some photos from today, taken at my noon lunchbreak. I apologize for the poor quality, these are from my cell phone. I took also took a panorama shot... the link to view that is at the end of this post.

http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/7638/kdk0187.jpg (http://img412.imageshack.us/i/kdk0187.jpg/)

http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/5286/kdk0185.jpg (http://img412.imageshack.us/i/kdk0185.jpg/)

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/5133/kdk0184.jpg (http://img163.imageshack.us/i/kdk0184.jpg/)

http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/9486/kdk0183.jpg (http://img291.imageshack.us/i/kdk0183.jpg/)

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/5790/kdk0182.jpg (http://img706.imageshack.us/i/kdk0182.jpg/)

Link to pano shot. (http://img504.imageshack.us/i/kdk0186.jpg/)

Awesome shots Vandy! Nice panorama too!

When should they start building up the pillars on the east side?

This is a picture from the 34th floor of the Chase Building looking down at the Devon construction site on Friday.

Looks like they started placing the first floor. :poke:

Well guys, it appears that the structure will begin rising from the earth :)

Does anyone know what the realistic time frame is per floor of framing? I know there's been a lot of "speculation", it seems based on the reading I've done that 1.5 floors/week average if it is a concrete structure. Can anyone confirm? does anyone know?

Well guys, it appears that the structure will begin rising from the earth :)

Does anyone know what the realistic time frame is per floor of framing? I know there's been a lot of "speculation", it seems based on the reading I've done that 1.5 floors/week average if it is a concrete structure. Can anyone confirm? does anyone know?

I heard eight days per floor.

I'm surprised they started pouring part of the floor. I was under the impression that they would pour the whole floor at one time.

It's nice seeing that freshly poured floor!

lol.

To answer a question that was asked a while back, the fist level floor is a traditional mild steel reinforced slab with concrete beams formed into the floor as the support from the columns back to the shear walls of the elevator cores. The beams were visible just prior to last nights pour, but you will be able to see them again as they continue to form the next third of the floor currently taking place. They then have to tie the reinforcing for the beams and get it all in place prior to the pour.

Notice that this morning they have already set the steel reinforcing for the first column of the second level!

I would anticipate that the first couple of floors to be done this way and then once we get above grade I would expect it to become post tensioned, as that is the only way the floors will rise at the projected rates as previously discussed.

I have a question for someone who knows construction...will this building be a skeleton of reinforced concrete pillars--in lieu of steel beams as we often see in high-rise buildings? Instead of the dark conglomeration of I-beams--it will be gray pillars of formed concrete? I saw the Chase Building go up in the early 70's (Liberty Tower at the time)--a mass of steel beams, but this one will appear different? Also--why would one choose one type over the other?

It looks like the whole north side of the tower is pretty much at a stand still. I guess the misplaced column really slowed progress. I doesn't look like they'll be able to go much further until they get the framework wrapped all the way around.

It looks like the whole north side of the tower is pretty much at a stand still. I guess the misplaced column really slowed progress. I doesn't look like they'll be able to go much further until they get the framework wrapped all the way around.

I think the time it takes to lay rebar for the floor is the biggest factor.

So is it true that they effed up and poured (placed/whatever'ed) the pillar in the wrong spot? That mistake has gotta be costing them some major cash. This thing is basically at a stand still. Like I said before, it appears they've hired the Three Stooges to oversee this project. For shame.

The Floor plans that I have seen indicate a concrete structural system, so yes it will likely be concrete columns & post tensioned floor vs. a steel framed structure.

There are a myriad of reasons one structural system is used over another. Material costs vary and we have seen times past where there were shortages of concrete and the price skyrocketed, but more recently we have seen the price of steel skyrocket due to the insaitiable appetite and development taking place in China and other developing regions and so material costs increased. This was also at the peak of the building boom in the US as well so virtually all costs were escallating rapidly.

There are some structural engineers on this forum who would be better equipped to go into the details of why each are used, but sometimes there are seismic considerations, (stiffness vs elasticity) availability of the skilled labor in the area that able to do the work, as well as speed of erection, fireproofing, and many many others. I am not sure if this helped but it is a start.

OKC@heart ...Not meaning to get off topic here (really), but you mentioned "seismic considerations." Have you been watching the construction of the New Oakland Bay Bridge?

Bay Bridge Info (http://baybridgeinfo.org/)

OKC@heart ...Not meaning to get off topic here (really), but you mentioned "seismic considerations." Have you been watching the construction of the New Oakland Bay Bridge?

Bay Bridge Info (http://baybridgeinfo.org/)

I haven't seen this but at first glance looks pretty amazing! Thanks for the link, I am continually interested in complex construction projects with difficult constraints and how the solutions are arrived at. Bridge construction is often fascinating for the difficulty in having a construction site that is basically in mid air. Thanks again for the link!

I haven't seen this but at first glance looks pretty amazing! Thanks for the link, I am continually interested in complex construction projects with difficult constraints and how the solutions are arrived at. Bridge construction is often fascinating for the difficulty in having a construction site that is basically in mid air. Thanks again for the link!

I had a bit of a hunch you might like that. You are welcome.

I have a rather interesting question to as the engineers and building consruction guys on the forum: How do tower cranes get their power? Do they use batteries or is there a power cable that runs up from the bottom? Or, is there a way that power is transferred up the frame lattice, hence the carefully designed staging and jacking processes?

These are just my simple and very uneducated hypotheses; but I have always been interested to know. It seems sort of weird to have a power cable going up so high - and what about when you jack up the crane, how would you add power cable or even move it out of the way so you could get the new crane lattice in place?

These constraints are leading me to believe the crane must either battery powered or gets power from contacts built into the frame structure.

Please elaborate, oh kind building wizards. ... :)

Probably won't make any difference to ronronnie1 but it is my understanding that the pier cracked. It wasn't poured in the wrong place. I for one think it's a good thing they found it when they did.

Probably won't make any difference to ronronnie1 but it is my understanding that the pier cracked. It wasn't poured in the wrong place. I for one think it's a good thing they found it when they did.

Was your source reliable? Just wanting to know becuase it is highly unusual to see a pier crack without a load being placed on it. If they are building a transfer and setting a column in a spot adjacent then it was more likely a location issue, rather than material failure. However if they just redid the same one in the same location it could be that the concrete used on the top portion was not adequate in design strength or mix or whatever and had to be redone.

Again I have no direct knowledge of what really has taken place with regard to that pier and am very curious as to what really is the situation. Would like to hear from someone who is privy to that info.

Probably won't make any difference to ronronnie1 but it is my understanding that the pier cracked. It wasn't poured in the wrong place. I for one think it's a good thing they found it when they did.

No, it won't make any difference to me because your "understanding" is merely hearsay, so it wasn't worth mentioning my name now was it?

Everything on this board is hearsay, so he's no more in the wrong than you are for calling it a "Three Stooges" project based on the hearsay.


Probably won't make any difference to ronronnie1 but it is my understanding that the pier cracked. It wasn't poured in the wrong place. I for one think it's a good thing they found it when they did.

I just went over there. The problematic pier appears to be replaces but now has a large concrete rectangular base around it.

Someone get back to me when they find out exactly what the problem is with the troublesome pier.

to answer your question, there was an issue with roughly the top 8' of the pier and they had to jack hammer the pier down until the found solid concrete and then they built this large strap concrete beam over the top of it and once that is done then they can stand the column that goes on top of it.

Thank you Redneck!

Love seeing the Crystal Bridge showing some Thunder spirit!

to answer your question, there was an issue with roughly the top 8' of the pier and they had to jack hammer the pier down until the found solid concrete and then they built this large strap concrete beam over the top of it and once that is done then they can stand the column that goes on top of it.

Are you sure that it wasn't position related? I am not pointing fingers at all in asking because I have been on construction sites enough to know how sometimes those things can happen. Plus the large "rectangular box beam" otherwise known as a transfer beam is typically used to transfer large amounts of load from one position to another laterally such as a case where a column has to land somewhere other than on top of another column to continue to transmit the force directly down. The enormous forces required for the X-fer beam to succeed require that it be so large. So the use of the X-fer supports the missed position theory, more than a bad top pour to the column. If that was it they would have simply been able to jack hammer it out and then set new steel and then re-pour in the same place without the X-fer beam.

As I have said in my first post on here, the pier is NOT in the wrong location,the concrete is fine.The extra concrete poured around the pier is flowable fill.It is there to hold the wet soil away from the pier so it can be formed up and concrete poured cleanly.The dewatering well near that location isn't getting the water table down far enough to prevent the wet soil from making this pier a pain in the butt. It was poured high to keep the top of pile elevation clean,so it did have to be chipped down. I know this for I have worked for Berkel and Company for 18 years. So, I do know a little bit about drilled piles.

I think this is the pier that is in question

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4026/4522742165_1bce134665_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2790/4523376926_0ff45ef6dd_b.jpg

I was at the site over the weekend and it did appear to be a transfer beam, a big mother. The pier in question as in Kinggobers pics did look misplaced and what I saw is depicted in below plan.( Red being misplaced column, gray the transfer beam and circle shown as correct pier/column location.)
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk92/gandjdunlap/devonplan.jpg

Thanks everyone for their insight... dumb question here, but why wouldn't they just redo the whole pillar? since they're in a position to do so 'now', wouldn't that be better than the 'patch' job?