MIAMI'S latest skyscraper looks like no other. Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, the distinctive
62-storey residential tower is situated on Biscayne Boulevard and features the architect’s
signature curved forms.
But these sinuous shapes are far from aesthetic flourishes,
they are in fact the building’s structure – this tower has an exoskeleton.
Named “One Thousand Museum” the skyscraper is described as an “ultra-luxury” condo development.
The 700-foot high tower is the epitome of luxury – containing just 83 units
and with the most expensive apartments on the market at USD $49M. T
The building offers stunning views across Miami and boasts a two-storey aquatic centre -
sky lounge, multimedia theatre and the city's first private helicopter pad.
But the project’s most impressive feature is arguably that sinuous frame – that climbs
up all four elevations.
Unusually, much of the structural supports for One Thousand Museum lie outside of the
building’s skin – rather like the skeleton of an insect.
The exoskeleton was designed to maximise the amount of lettable open floor space within the building.
Although several contractors proposed a conventional structure within the
curving exterior concrete forms, Zaha Hadid Architects was determined that these elements
be more than just a design flourish.
The result is an exoskeleton that is a key component of the skyscraper’s structure,
taking both gravitational and lateral loads.
Its position on the building’s exterior
also provides a high degree of overall rigidity.
Along with eliminating the need for column lines between the centre of the floor plate
and the perimeter walls, the exoskeleton also
allowed the thickness of the building’s central service core to be reduced.
While traditional proposals for achieving the structure included a three-foot-thick
concrete shear-wall core, the concrete exoskeleton bracing, along with a post-tensioned floor
slab system, meant the core wall thickness could be reduced by half.
Exoskeletons are far from typical in skyscraper construction – so building this structure
presented significant engineering, construction and logistical challenges.
Although the team initially considered
using conventional cast-in-situ reinforced concrete for the entire exoskeleton, this
proved to be too expensive.
A permanent formwork system for the exoskeleton was designed using Glass-Fibre
Reinforced Concrete (or GFRC); a type of concrete containing extremely strong strings of glass.
GFRC was first used by Zaha Hadid and her project team to form the cladding at the Heydar
Aliyev Center in Azerbaijan.
For One Thousand Museum, some 4,800 pieces of GFRC were fabricated in Dubai and then shipped to Miami.
These sections of formwork were then assembled onsite before rebar was placed inside them.
Concrete was then poured within the formwork to complete the exoskeleton.
Being permanent formwork, the GFRC moulds remain on the building’s structure.
Now complete, this curved exoskeleton has enabled Miami’s most impressive skyscraper
to become a reality whilst giving it that distinctive Zaha Hadid aesthetic.
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