The Torre RLG Consulting Engineers Project Location: Austin, Texas Project Start Date: 3 December 2018 Project Completion: 2 August 2021
Project Team: David Cumming, PE, SE, Principal-in-Charge, Mark Kaiser, PE, Project Manager, Meagan Weaver, PE, Project Engineer Project Summary: The Torre is a residential high-rise tower built in the heart of Austin. It is located directly west of the University of Texas Campus and conveys both industrial and modern luxury. The 18-story concrete framed structure has a wide variety of residential floor plans with 275,000 square feet of living, workspace, and parking. The building also features an amenity deck with a rooftop pool, social media lounge, fitness center, sky lounge, and multiple terraces. As for this complex project, RLG Consulting Engineers worked with Rhode Partners Architects, Parallel Development, and Rogers-O’Brien Con - struction. This team had worked together on several prior high-rise projects, so collaboration was valued, and teamwork was supported. With full participation of the partners, schedule and cost were actively controlled even while the pandemic occurred. Various concrete framing components were integrated and expressed in the final architectural form including diagonal columns and concrete slab soffits. This property had a 62-degree angled stepback line above the 8th floor, which resulted in the need for reducing floor plate areas between Levels 9 and 18. The stepback line and the maximum building height limit provided unique opportunities for the design team. A stair-step pattern of floor plates was developed which allowed for more rentable interior space and more exterior terraces. From the early development concept sketches, RLG was engaged to incorporate solutions from cantilevered slab edges to traditional transfer beams; however, due to the lack of depth in several key areas, the concept idea of a Supertruss was developed. The 3-story Supertruss transfers loads from the rooftop deck to offset column positions below while keeping within the overall building height limits. Shallow post-tensioned concrete beams were used as the top and bottom chords of the truss at Levels 13 and 16. Sloped concrete columns were used as the truss diagonals. The Supertruss was expressed within the individual residential units and expressed overall by use of exterior glass walls. This exposed concrete framing became the showcase signature element of this project.
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