ThyssenKrupp Innovation and Qualification Center

Our team designed the 420-foot elevator qualification and test tower that anchored the complex. The test tower was used to trial new concepts and products, including high-speed elevators, the two-cabins-per-shaft elevator system, and the world’s first rope-less and sideways-moving elevator system. The tower also conducted rigorous tests to ensure compliance with strict safety requirements for standard elevators.

We developed a future-proofing method for the support framing of the tower’s test elevators, which involved a network of steel tube framing positioned inboard of the slab edges. This provided the flexibility to support a variety of elevator types in each shaft. To avoid exterior braced frames that would have been visible through the atrium curtain wall, we engineered a solution that placed horizontal bracing beneath the elevator lobby floors, supported by cantilevering from the concrete test tower walls, to provide stability without impacting the building façade.

The project used slipforming, a construction technique commonly applied in tall structures. Concrete was poured continuously into formwork that moved upward as the lower sections cooled and cured. One of the biggest challenges in designing the slipform system was preparing for the installation of nearly 190 openings and more than 3,300 embed plates required for both interior and exterior steel framing. We designed the concrete tower walls to be fully built and stable before any of the steel infill framing members were installed, which was essential to the success of the slipform wall construction.

Keeping a consistent concrete wall thickness at all elevations eliminated the need for formwork resets to adjust wall dimensions. This approach saved an estimated three months of construction time while reducing equipment costs and improving site safety. The method also created a safer environment for workers by minimizing elevated steel installation activities during the slipform phase.