Tunneling through challenges

One Vanderbilt is directly above a web of railroad tunnels, making it the city’s best connected building to public transit.

Also taking up space in the basement is what will become One Vanderbilt’s nontraditional, underground loading dock. In order for trucks to access this loading dock, a huge elevator has to be installed, along with a giant turntable to spin the trucks around in the tight quarters.

The winding train tunnels, combined with space mapped out for the truck elevator, posed a challenge when placing the building’s steel framing and columns. Custom box columns were built and fixed around these obstacles. One of these unique box columns starts in the basement and is unbraced from the ground floor to the sixth, allowing the southeast side of the building to be cantilevered. This opens up the pedestrian view of Grand Central from 42nd Street — a view that has been obstructed for nearly a century.

OneDesign for One Vanderbilt

Efficiency in construction leads to cost and time savings. With this in mind, ArchTam Tishman’s Emerging Technologies team implemented a proprietary coordination process called OneDesign.

Traditional coordination processes allow fabrication of structural steel to move forward without input from large-scale mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) systems. This strictly limits the owner and construction team’s ability to make changes that may have financial benefits in the long run.

Instead, OneDesign focuses on coordinating the major MEP systems sooner, allowing for greater flexibility and greater price certainty at the time of the MEP award. By implementing OneDesign at One Vanderbilt, steel erection and MEP coordination began ahead of schedule. It also fostered collaboration between the design and construction teams and prevented the potential for costly field changes.

OneDesign’s success is not limited to One Vanderbilt — ArchTam Tishman has implemented the process at several iconic projects including the World Trade Center, Hudson Yards and Manhattan West.

Cementing a place in history

One Vanderbilt’s dual steel-framed and reinforced concrete core requires a complex foundation. When it was time to lay this mat-foundation, it was the largest continuous concrete pour in Manhattan’s history. Over a span of nineteen hours, five pumps poured 8,438 tons of concrete to lay a mat-foundation that is nine and a half feet deep. It will support One Vanderbilt’s nearly 9,000 tons of reinforced concrete and 25,000 tons of steel. You can stack 5,500 elephants on this foundation, and it wouldn’t falter.

SL Green imagined One Vanderbilt as New York City’s newest icon. ArchTam Tishman is proud to deliver.

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Two key drivers of this development are high levels of overseas investment and the infrastructure race. Both cities are growing due to an increased amount of investment from foreign stakeholders. In 2016, New York attracted nearly $9 billion of overseas investment. Likewise, in the first six months of 2017, outside investors spent over $5 billion on London development.

Another trend in both cities is transit-oriented developments and associated infrastructure expansion and improvement. You can see this with our work on Hudson Yards in New York City – the 7 Subway Extension was a vital part of the entire area’s revitalization and was the first new subway station in over 25 years. In north-west London, ArchTam is leading a team to develop the master plan for the Old Oak Common site, a transformative urban regeneration project at the point where High Speed 2 and Crossrail 1 will intersect. High Speed 2 will be the U.K.’s second high-speed railway, connecting to the cities of Northern England. When complete, Old Oak will be the best connected site in the capital.

At ArchTam Tishman, our experience in the vertical market is a skill set that is highly exportable and serves us well abroad. When combined with ArchTam’s master planning and engineering prowess, it allows us to partner with cities and developers throughout the life cycle of a significant project like Old Oak.

Overseas investment and the infrastructure race increase affordable housing options, address the desire for more public green spaces, and bolster economic activity. London, like New York, must think through complicated logistics, prioritize the preservation of views, focus on social equity, and work to ensure local policies are met. In this way, both cities can successfully contend with the rapid pace of development taking place globally.

One look at the ever-changing skylines of these two cities – the number of cranes on the ground, the tall buildings beginning to make their vertical ascents – and it’s clear why New York and London are the only Alpha++ cities in existence. By advancing infrastructure, continuing to welcome overseas investment, and allowing room in iconic skylines for new additions, they will grow. It will be exciting to follow this progress and see how it is matched in cities across the globe in years to come.

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What millennials want

The problem is, we’re doing a poor job of touting the extensive benefits of construction to the younger generation. Millennials have different priorities when choosing a career. One is status, with dreams of moving to Silicon Valley and landing a job at Google. Another is social responsibility, they are looking for companies that make a difference. A third is simply enjoying their job – they will work hard, but they want to be doing something they love.

Building our future

Construction is a clear match for all of the above and it is up to us – the industry as a whole – to spread this message. We employ cutting-edge technology to build efficiently. The work we do makes a tangible difference to communities around the world. It’s not surprising that our employees like coming to work every day. Millennials are a perfect fit for construction because they think innovatively, are tech-savvy, learn quickly, and are great collaborators.

To recruit and develop the next generation of our workforce, we need to place value on the idea of apprenticeship and ramp-up these efforts now so the current generation can pass on their years of knowledge to the next.

Interns hold the key

That’s why ArchTam’s robust intern program is vital to our future success. This summer, more than 150 interns participated in our Building Construction internship program. Our interns were placed throughout the organization in both project and functional office roles, which shows you don’t have to work on a project site to have a career in construction. Of course, our goal is to fill full-time positions, but we also want our next workforce to discover what they love – and what they don’t.

Our internship program is successful – we’ve hired many full-time employees after they’ve spent a summer with us. Last year alone, we hired 42 former interns. More importantly, it’s clear these individuals are satisfied with their jobs because they are among our most engaged, productive employees.

Pursuing a passion

Our employees benefit from being part of a diverse, global organization at ArchTam – from interns to entry-level to more senior employees, there are many avenues for people to truly pursue what they love. Someone on their way to becoming a superintendent may decide they find urban planning more interesting. Someone who designs parks may look up at One World Trade and decide they want to build super tall structures. There are endless opportunities at ArchTam for everyone to find and follow their passion.

For those just beginning their careers, or those looking for a change, I strongly encourage a look into the construction industry. And, remember: sometimes the dream job is one that hasn’t yet been considered.

Interested in a career in construction? Learn more about ArchTam and check out our current job openings, here. 

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