Architect and Builder November/December 2018 | Page 24

floors six to eleven and premium rooms from floors
twelve to seventeen, with the presidential suite
at the top floor. The public areas for the premium
hotel offering sit in the ‘cube’, which sits on top of
six storey high columns, propping it to the height of
the premium hotel bedrooms. The ‘cube’ houses
the premium hotel reception, executive business
lounge, conferencing, gym, and the Solis Bar and
pool deck.
Structural Solutions
Along with the columns for the ‘cube’, the hotel
boasts some interesting structural solutions. The
structural grid for the premium hotel is different to
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the grid for the standard and luxury hotel, creating
the need for transfer beams at the twelfth floor.
This is evident in the larger spandrel panel on the
façade. This zone is used to transfer plumbing and
extract ducting for the different hotel modules.
The ballroom sits on the first floor, with two levels
of bedrooms and the ‘cube’ above it. Part of the
client’s requirement was that the ballroom was a
clear room, without any internal columns. Its ceiling
sits at 5m, and above that, is a grid of almost 3m
deep transfer beams.
The hotel façade is a double-glazed unitised
system, which insulates the hotel both thermally
and acoustically. Due to its proximity to the
Time Square