Dillinger heavy plate for the
(W)rapper in Los Angeles

An otherworldly 16-story office building wrapped in steel ribbons has risen southwest of downtown Los Angeles (Jefferson Boulevard), towering over the surrounding low-rise homes and commercial spaces. Standing roughly 240 feet in height, (W)rapper features 180,000 square feet of commercial office space across 16 floors. The project also includes a subterranean parking garage and opens onto a multi-use trail which parallels the neighbouring E‑Line right-of-way. Its roof is capped with a two-level amenity deck, with views of the Downtown skyline and Westside to the Pacific Ocean.

The high rise is named for the system of curved, built-up steel ribbons that wrap the exterior of an otherwise rectangular-shaped structure. And while the steel frame inspired the building’s name, it is not merely for aesthetics, it is also the gravity load bearing and lateral seismic resisting structure. With one big benefit in respect to modern architecture and flexible usability: The strength of that exoskeleton permits an open interior on all floors, free of columns. The steel ribbons terminate atop a steel framed podium level that is supported on 20 triple-pendulum base isolators allowing 30” movement between the site and the building during a major seismic event. The (W)rapper is one of the safest and most resilient high-rise buildings ever constructed and the only base-isolated commercial high-rise building in the United States.

For this column-free building, Dillinger delivered about 225 t of very special A709-50-F1 in the thickness of 12” with high tolerance requirements on Z-properties. This steel was used for the spine elements where the curved ribbons turn at the corners.