LOS ANGELES—Almost three months into the construction of the$1-billion Wilshire Grand development, the projectis on track, according to the lead architects and contractors whogathered at Elevate Lounge, overlooking theconstruction site, for An Insider's Look at WilshireGrand, hosted by NAIOP SoCal. CareyMcLeod, AC Martin principal-in-charge;Brendan Murphy, VP and operations manager atTurner Construction; and JonStarr, senior project architect for the Wilshire Grand,spoke about the details of the building and some of thechallenges.

As many already know, the massive development will become thetallest building west of the Mississippi once complete. It willhave hotel, office and retail space, and is centrally located toall the downtown freeways and several public transit lines. Whenconstruction began in early February, developers broke the worldrecord for the longest continuous concrete pour when 21,000 cubicyards was poured into create the foundation. “Our claim to fame isthat Dodger's Stadium wanted to pour a sidewalkthat day, and there was no concrete left in the city. We used everylast drop,” said Murphy at the event.

AC Martin designed the building from the inside out, creatingthe buildng's signature curve. To develop the unique curvature,architects used a 3D printer to play with stylesbased on a watercolor painting created by AC Martin DesignPrincipal David Martin. Because the building has aglass façade, architects were challenged to find a way to lay theglass over the building. According to Starr, bending glass cancreate stresses and streaks that make it unattractive, especiallyas light from the sun hits and reflects off the building. To avoidthis problem, architects laid smaller pieces of glass out in a veryspecific pattern to ensure that they will need to bend only a fewpieces for the building's exterior.