Signia by Hilton Atlanta Georgia World Congress Center and Convention Center Expansion
Using sustainable engineering to stabilize new structures
Project Facts
| Location | Atlanta, Georgia |
| Owner | Georgia World Congress Center Authority |
| Size | 920,000 SF |
| Status | Completed 2024 |
Overview
Walter P Moore provided structural engineering and building enclosure consulting services for the Signia by Hilton headquarters hotel at the Georgia World Congress Center, a 976-key, 40-story tower, a six-level amenity-rich podium, with a two-story ballroom and event space expansion. Our engineering solutions helped implement the project’s mixed-use program and meet expected building performance requirements, providing the capacity and flexibility needed to host a variety of events while also reducing cost and embodied carbon.
Services
Challenges
Site Conditions
Building on top of the demolished Georgia Dome required detailed analysis of the site, particularly managing the remains of pile foundations and nearly 250,000 cubic yards of steel and concrete rubble.
Structural Complexity
The engineering team had to ensure that the structure’s post-tensioned parking deck and plaza could support a 40,000-square-foot ballroom, even though it was not designed for expansion.
Performance Requirements
The structural design had to account for loads due to high footfall during ballroom events to ensure that the structure met vibration performance requirements while minimizing steel usage and cost.
Solutions
Reusing Foundations
Through digital modeling and an extensive exploration program, Walter P Moore analyzed foundation sections and repurposed 200 existing pile foundations from the Georgia Dome, alongside new auger-cast piles and drilled piers, which reduced the need for additional steel, concrete, and drilling operations.
Braced Structure
Walter P Moore specified and designed Buckling Resistant Braced Frames (BRBF) to help support the 2,600-ton, two-story ballroom, which reduced the need to strengthen or retrofit the existing parking deck, providing cost and material savings in the process.
Vibration Control
Instead of relying on conventional trusses, we used slender steel hanger posts to “virtually tie” the ballroom floor to the mass of the parking deck below and dissipate vibrations effectively, reducing them to acceptable levels without any other intrusive structural elements.
Results
Carbon Savings
The project’s sustainable foundation strategy involving the adaptive reuse of the Georgia Dome’s foundation piles, along with the avoidance of heavy steel trusses, resulted in a total embodied carbon savings equivalent to 2.18 million miles driven by an average gasoline-powered passenger vehicle.
Resilient Design
The decision to use BRBFs reduced the seismic loads on the existing parking deck by 200% compared to what it would have been with a conventional braced frame system while also reducing steel and concrete usage in the structural frame.
High Performance
The use of hanger posts to tie the ballroom and parking deck together, helps the combined structure to limit vibrations to acceptable levels even when events involving dancing and other rhythmic activities take place on the ballroom floor.
Project Team Leaders
