STRUCTURES + BUILDINGS
One of Salt Lake City’s most revered religious leaders provided the insight long ago that proved prescient in the construction of a new theater in nearby Sandy, Utah: “You can’t build a great building on a weak foundation,’’ said Gordon B. Hinckley, who served as the 15th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for 13 years. “You must have a solid foundation if you’re going to have a strong superstructure.” Establishing such a foundation was among the most significant challenges in construction of Hale Centre Theatre. The $80 million structure, which opened in September 2017, provides seating capacity for 1,368 patrons and includes two theaters and 130,000 square feet. The theater is also the most technologically advanced in the world. It is filled with components that will enhance the experience for any theater-goer, including fly lofts 80 feet above the stage from which ac- tors will descend; ascending, descending, and rotating stages; sophis- ticated technology for patrons with hearing impairments; 32 women’s restroom stalls; six inches of extra leg room; and huge LED screens that circle the perimeter of the theater. “This theater, by all standards, is a world-class venue,” said Mark Di- etlein, president, CEO, and executive director of the theater. Once the foundation for the building was established, Jared Adamson, project manager for Layton Construction, said the project stayed on schedule. But, as Hinckley pointed out, it was critical for the founda- tion in the watery Utah soil to support the building. Strong foundation Deep piles and constant dewatering support a technologically advanced theater on wet Utah soils. By Steve Weyel
The theater — the most technologically advanced in the world — features fly lofts 80 feet above the stage from which actors will descend; ascending, descending, and rotating stages; and LED screens that circle the perimeter.
Base building Even before Layton Construction started the project in September 2015, Adamson recognized the site’s high water table, estimated at 6 feet below the surface, could be challenging in securing the theater’s foundation. Ralph Wadsworth Construction, which built the founda- tion for Hale Centre, delved much farther into the ground than officials had planned. Adamson said the top of the ground consisted of “silty clay that was holding a lot of water.” As workers dug deeper, they reached a sand layer at about 35 feet. They drove piles down another 55 feet to reach bedrock. “We drove 30 piles into the bottom and those hold the building down so the water pressure doesn’t push up the foundation,” Adamson said. “Half the piles we drove in were much further down than we originally intended.” If the theater had been built entirely above ground, it would have stood 11 stories high. “We’re pumping water 24/7,” Dietlein said. “And we always will.” Construction teams drove 225, 16-inch piles into the ground, some as much as 90 feet below the surface. Laborers removed 72,400 cubic yards of dirt for the complex and placed 9,200 cubic yards of concrete. Because of the extensive time it took to establish the foundation after breaking ground in September, the first walls for the exterior of the building were not established until April 2016. “There was a lot of dewatering that had to occur,” Adamson said. “We
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csengineermag.com
february 2018
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