From Hyatt to Rubble: an Architect's Perspective
Running Head: HYATT REGENCY COLLAPSE
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From Hyatt to Rubble: An Architect’s Perspective Daniel Demland Kaplan University PR499-01 Bachelor’s Capstone in Professional Studies Instructor: Debra Elliot March 5, 2012
Running Head: HYATT REGENCY COLLAPSE Introduction of Author
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At the age of seventeen, in January 1978, I walked into an Architect’s office at the opening of my apprenticeship, staring at still six more months before my high school graduation, but there I was exactly where I had wanted to be since the seventh grade, my course charted and laid in. Little did I know that in three and a half short years, an event would occur that would shape me as the professional that I was eventually to become. Unbeknownst to me, that event started to unfold, at that very same time, a thousand miles away in Kansas City, Missouri. The design was wrapping up on the Hyatt Regency, with construction to begin in just a couple months, May of that year (Texas A & M, 2012). The Hyatt was to be Kansas City’s tallest building at the time, rising forty stories into the heavens. At its center was an atrium that was open, 117 feet by 146 feet, and 50 feet tall (over 4 stories) (Texas A & M, 2012, NBS, p. 1, #1.1) with three hovering skywalks as if they were floating above the atrium’s floor, suspended from the atrium’s roof. The second floor skywalk suspended under the fourth floor skywalk, and the third floor skywalk offset from the pair. This was to be an architectural wonder in the revitalized Kansas City downtown, rebounding from the ravages of recession. Overview Background / History Design of the Hyatt commenced in 1976 by Crown Center Redevelopment Corp., using PBNDML Architects, with the structural engineering firm of G.C.E. International, Inc., formerly known as Jack D. Gillum & Associates, Ltd., with owner Jack Gillum, and Project Engineer, Daniel Duncan. The project had a cost of $50 million, with an architectural fee of $1,650,000 (Administration Hearing, p.
1
From Hyatt to Rubble: An Architect’s Perspective Daniel Demland Kaplan University PR499-01 Bachelor’s Capstone in Professional Studies Instructor: Debra Elliot March 5, 2012
Running Head: HYATT REGENCY COLLAPSE Introduction of Author
2
At the age of seventeen, in January 1978, I walked into an Architect’s office at the opening of my apprenticeship, staring at still six more months before my high school graduation, but there I was exactly where I had wanted to be since the seventh grade, my course charted and laid in. Little did I know that in three and a half short years, an event would occur that would shape me as the professional that I was eventually to become. Unbeknownst to me, that event started to unfold, at that very same time, a thousand miles away in Kansas City, Missouri. The design was wrapping up on the Hyatt Regency, with construction to begin in just a couple months, May of that year (Texas A & M, 2012). The Hyatt was to be Kansas City’s tallest building at the time, rising forty stories into the heavens. At its center was an atrium that was open, 117 feet by 146 feet, and 50 feet tall (over 4 stories) (Texas A & M, 2012, NBS, p. 1, #1.1) with three hovering skywalks as if they were floating above the atrium’s floor, suspended from the atrium’s roof. The second floor skywalk suspended under the fourth floor skywalk, and the third floor skywalk offset from the pair. This was to be an architectural wonder in the revitalized Kansas City downtown, rebounding from the ravages of recession. Overview Background / History Design of the Hyatt commenced in 1976 by Crown Center Redevelopment Corp., using PBNDML Architects, with the structural engineering firm of G.C.E. International, Inc., formerly known as Jack D. Gillum & Associates, Ltd., with owner Jack Gillum, and Project Engineer, Daniel Duncan. The project had a cost of $50 million, with an architectural fee of $1,650,000 (Administration Hearing, p.