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The Ion
The Ion
Houston, TX, United States
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Other Projects by Walter P Moore
The Ion
Houston, TX, United States
Firm
Type
STATUS
Built
YEAR
2021
SIZE
100,000 sqft - 300,000 sqft
BUDGET
Undisclosed
In 2017, Rice Management Company, the stewards of the Rice University endowment, bought out the remaining years of a 99-year ground lease for the Sears department store in Houston’s Midtown with a plan to redevelop the building into a 266,000 sf anchor for the planned Ion District. The former department store was transformed and expanded into a collaborative technology innovation hub for Houston’s entrepreneurial, corporate, and academic communities.
Walter P Moore served as structural engineer of record for this ambitious project. The existing three-story concrete building, originally constructed in 1939, was not designed for future expansion. The reconstruction project involved the addition of two stories of steel framing on top of the existing structure and a horizontal expansion at all levels to the south property line.
Renovations to the existing structure, which would be conventionally framed in steel, were strengthened with concrete to appear part of the original construction. This primarily included widening existing concrete beams by pumping concrete through port holes in the existing slab. The vertical expansion required not only the strengthening of every existing foundation but also developing a system of new concrete shear walls and steel braced-frames to resist wind loads on the taller structure.
A total of four columns in the middle of the building were demolished to add an angled, full height lightwell. The lightwell cut an angled slice out of the building following the path of reflected light from the skylight above. The remaining slab at each level was hung from the new steel framing over the existing roof level by means of three-inch diameter stainless steel hanger rods. The hung solution was used to conceal bulky structural transfer elements while exposing lighter, more architecturally sculpted elements within the occupied space.
The exposed structure played an integral part of paying homage to the past, while creating modern spaces. This is reflected in refurbishing the historical façade on the north side, addition of the sleek curtainwall on the south, introducing light by means of large window openings in the east and west concrete exterior walls, and preserving the beauty of the exposed interior concrete structure.
Walter P Moore served as structural engineer of record for this ambitious project. The existing three-story concrete building, originally constructed in 1939, was not designed for future expansion. The reconstruction project involved the addition of two stories of steel framing on top of the existing structure and a horizontal expansion at all levels to the south property line.
Renovations to the existing structure, which would be conventionally framed in steel, were strengthened with concrete to appear part of the original construction. This primarily included widening existing concrete beams by pumping concrete through port holes in the existing slab. The vertical expansion required not only the strengthening of every existing foundation but also developing a system of new concrete shear walls and steel braced-frames to resist wind loads on the taller structure.
A total of four columns in the middle of the building were demolished to add an angled, full height lightwell. The lightwell cut an angled slice out of the building following the path of reflected light from the skylight above. The remaining slab at each level was hung from the new steel framing over the existing roof level by means of three-inch diameter stainless steel hanger rods. The hung solution was used to conceal bulky structural transfer elements while exposing lighter, more architecturally sculpted elements within the occupied space.
The exposed structure played an integral part of paying homage to the past, while creating modern spaces. This is reflected in refurbishing the historical façade on the north side, addition of the sleek curtainwall on the south, introducing light by means of large window openings in the east and west concrete exterior walls, and preserving the beauty of the exposed interior concrete structure.
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