MKA is back in the spotlight! This week’s episode of “How Did They Build That?” features the story of 150 North Riverside in Chicago, with segments told by MKA Senior Principal and Project Manager Rob Chmielowski.
Titled “Heights and Balance,” the episode “takes viewers on a thrilling journey through some of the most impressive architectural feats in the world,” including 150 North Riverside, “a remarkable 1.2 million square foot building in Chicago, which stands tall on a surprisingly narrow 39-foot-wide base. This architectural marvel challenges the limits of balance and design, showcasing innovative engineering techniques.”
The concrete structural blade core MKA developed for 150 North Riverside is one of the most slender ever created for a high-rise building, standing at 750 feet tall and 39 feet wide for a jaw-dropping aspect ratio of 19.2-to-1. The tower’s design features twin balancing 45-foot structural overhangs (cantilevers) on two sides of the building to allow for a reduction in the building’s footprint area by 70% at its base. The design of the 16 sloping columns at the cantilevers utilizes the world’s largest rolled steel sections with high strength steel 30% stronger than the steel typically used in modern buildings.
To deal with the building’s unprecedented structural height-to-width slenderness, MKA employed the first use in the world of a water tank damper on a blade-core building, placing twelve water-filled tanks (160,000 gallons) at the top of the building to minimize motion. The water tanks also serve as the first line of defense for the building’s fire sprinkler system—a first for Chicago office buildings.
To support the building at its base, MKA designed 16 massive concrete caissons drilled 110 feet deep and socketed six feet into solid bedrock. To support the adjacent urban park lid structure, MKA developed a compact foundation system that employed more than 100 high-capacity micro-piles—one-third of the diameter of traditional piles used in Chicago—to create the highest capacity-to-diameter ratio of any piling ever used in the city.
Learn more when the episode airs this Sunday, September 15, at 9 p.m. on the Smithsonian Channel and Paramount+.