This project is a $130 million, 36-story residential tower on the west side of St. Louis, located on the eastern edge of Forest Park. The project was designed by Jeanie Gang, principal of Studio Gang, the award winning architectural firm responsible for a number of innovative concrete high-rise projects. Completed in 2019, the overall building footprint is leaf-shaped - inspired by the flora of the park. Many of the 316 luxury rental units command unobstructed views of the adjacent Olmsted designed urban park to the west, and sweeping views of the Gateway Arch and St. Louis skyline to the east. Mac Properties is the developer of the project.
For this project, the concrete lab edges varied in tiers of 4 floors, to give the building an unusual angular stepped profile, each topped with a balcony. This creates double-exposure corner windows that enhance the amount and quality of daylight in each apartment. The angled windows also increase energy efficiency by reducing solar heat gain in the summer, when sun angles are steeper, wile allowing lower winter sunlight to penetrate. Building Information Modeling (BIM), and GPS technology were used to digitally locate each slab edge. This advanced technology not only supported the realization of the design intent, but allowed sequencing of the project phases to speed up construction. A total of 22,500 cubic yards of high, early-strength concrete was provided by NRMCA member company Kienstra Material Company, used for faster curing so formwork could be moved up at a rate of one floor per week. Clayco and its self performing concrete company, Concrete Strategies (CSI), reached the buildings 36th floor in 15 months.
Scheduling and timing of this project were very important. Kienstra looked at traffic patterns to determine how to better service this project in a timely manner and made adjustments for each pour to ensure excellent service and keep the project on schedule.
All concrete mixes used on the project were designed with regional material harvested within 500 miles of the site. Recycled materials including fly ash were used to replace various amounts of portland cement to reduce the embodied carbon footprint, reduce permeability, and increase the durability of the concrete structure.