Professor Bearup
CON 252
25 October 2016
Homework #4:Concrete Frame Structure
Okland Construction is a regional construction company that is based out of Salt Lake
City, Utah. They have offices in Arizona and have constructed several buildings around Tempe.
The concrete structure that we had the opportunity to tour was particularly interesting.
Okland’s concrete structure is a large concrete build off of Rio Salado and just north of
ASU’s main campus. This structure is being built as a six story hotel for Mariott Hotels utilizing a
concrete structural system. Okland decided to go with a concrete structure for this project due to
the cost efficiency, energy efficiency, and load bearing properties of concrete. In addition to the
benefits that concrete provides, it can be mixed together and constructed relativley quickly
which can save a project manager time, money and resources.
When choosing a foundation for their hotel project, Okland decided to utilize a mat slab
foundation with a friction piers system. The project manager of oklands project spoke of the
friction pier system in high regard. He mentioned that it provide a solid foundational system at a
fraction of the cost the caissons and other pier systems would require. Friction piers work simply
by drilling piers into the ground, and the friction of the earth on the piers anchors the foundation.
This project did not have many sustainable features. Okland decided not to pursue a
leed rating, because mariott did not require it, and pursuing leed points could place the project
out of budget.
I thought this project had several interesting components. One part I found interesting
was the pool on the roof that they installed. The project manager mentioned that constructing a
pool on the roof providing for some interesting challenges as they had to use materials that
