Solutions From Concept To Completion
Structural Engineering
Site Solutions From Concept To Completion
Civil Engineering
Solutions Where Land Meets Water
Marine + Coastal
Solutions From Procurement To Completion
Construction Engineering
Structural + Mechanical Specialists
Entertainment Engineering
Consultation, Design + Inspection
Facade + Building Envelope
Soil + Foundation
Geotechnical Engineering
Investigation + Litigation Support
Forensic Engineering
Arts + Entertainment
Live Performances
Museums + Art Displays
Pop-Ups
Signage
Studios + Sound Stages
TV + Film Production
Theaters
Theme Parks + Playplaces
discover
Education
Colleges + Universities
Private + Specialty Schools
Public K-12
discover
Energy
Solar Energy
Transmission Infrastructure
Wind Energy
Oil + Gas
discover
Government
Municipal
State
Federal
discover
Healthcare
Senior Care
Hospitals
Outpatient Facilities
discover
Industrial
Heavy Industrial
Warehouse + Distribution Centers
Industrial Ports + Terminals
discover
Ports + Coastal
Berths, Piers + Wharves
Bulkheads
Esplanades
Ferry Landings, Ship Terminals
Floating Structures
Ports + Terminals
Marinas + Breakwaters
Transfer Stations
discover
Public Infrastructure
Bikeways + Trails
Garage + Parking Facilities
Park + Recreational Spaces
Streetscapes
Utility Infrastructure
Water + Wastewater
discover
Real Estate Development
Commercial
Community Facilities
Mixed-Use
Multifamily Residential
discover
Transportation
Airports
Bridges
Ports + Terminals
Rail Transportation
Roads + Highways
Ropeway + Linear Infrastructure
discover
Floating Harbor Wetland
Multimodal Processing Plant
416 + 420 Kent Dynamic Highrise
Wittpenn Bridge
Tiffany Crane
LaGuardia Airport Terminal B
NYC Ferry
Orlando Airport LED Displays
A leading full-service engineering firm renowned for our trusted, high quality, and innovative approach to solving complex challenges.

Live! Casino & Hotel Philadelphia Development

Live! Casino & Hotel Philadelphia is a 2 million square foot, world-class entertainment concept like no other located in the middle of the city’s Stadium District. Surrounded by the Phillies’ Citizens Bank Ballpark, the Eagles’ Lincoln Financial Field, the Flyers’ and 76ers’ Wells Fargo Center, and in close proximity to Xfinity Live!, the casino hotel weaves an authentically Philly sports and gaming experience for fans across the board.

McLaren Engineering Group provided full site, civil and structural engineering services for the project that involved razing the site’s former hotel complex and building a brand-new facility in its place. Today, the development features luxury hotel rooms in a 12-story all-glass tower, 130,000 square foot state-of-the-art gaming floor, a collection of bars, lounges, and restaurants adorned with huge LED screens, and a flexible space Event Center. All are connected to a convenient 500,000 square feet structured parking garage.

Structural Engineering

Live! Casino & Hotel Philadelphia was designed using a combination of structural systems. To allow for an open gaming floor with limited obstructions, the casino section utilized structural steel and the event space utilized long-span joists. The use of long span joists allowed for 32,000 square feet of ballroom event space with 120 foot clear spans. The joists were designed to strict deflection criteria to allow for the use of operable partitions in order to maximize flexibility between convention and performance venue uses.

Architectural “Ribbon” at Live! Casino & Hotel Philadelphia

McLaren engineered structural steel support of the iconic architectural “ribbon”.  Unifying the parking, casino, and hotel tower, the undulating and curving ribbon often did not align to floor levels or slab edges. This required the team to design a complex system of support, including roof screen, girts and braces, and a 160’ long curved steel truss at the 10th Street entrance.

Porte-Cochere + Parapet

At the casino’s grand entrance, 8-foot-deep plate girders with up to 27’ cantilevered breams were utilized to enable the “floating” porte-cochere to be supported on a single column. The configuration created clear spans of up to 155 feet column to column. For the 20-foot-tall sloping parapet topping the hotel tower, McLaren engineered a steel frame and catwalk system for its support.

Civil Engineering Development

McLaren’s provided a full range of civil engineering services for the construction of the hotel casino complex. The team developed a ground improvement plan that enabled the casino to be supported on shallow foundations. This resulting in $1.5 million in savings for the client.

Traffic + Utility

The team provided coordination of utility relocation, new utility connections phased to keep traffic moving, and public design improvements. This included revised pavement markings, roadway widening, curb-realignment, additional access road, street lighting, street tree design, new public sidewalks and bike lane paths, roadway signage, and coordination of new traffic signal upgrades.

Stormwater Management

McLaren overcame many site challenges to provide stormwater management onsite to keep proposed post-development flows from stressing the existing storm drain network. The site soils were 100% historical fill with potentially contaminated material.  To address the possible contaminated soils, McLaren produced a soil restoration plan that required any spoil material to be removed from the site and taken to a PADEP approved location. The evidence of contaminated soil required the Civil team to design stormwater management facilities so no contaminated material could leach into the stormwater system. Stormwater management water quality volume requirements were met via four bio-retention facilities, over three acres of green roof,  two underground extended detention pipes (60), and a variety of Low Impact Development techniques such as widespread use of porous pavement (asphalt, concrete, and pavers) and impervious area disconnection.

The site under existing conditions was 61.8% impervious (5.56 acres). In order to avoid the installation of large and costly downstream flood control systems to the combined storm-sewer system, the design team reduced the site imperviousness by 20% (1.11 acres). The building occupies roughly 80% of the site area. The team provided a site design that included at least 3.83 acres of impervious area disconnect in order to avoid triggering the flood control requirement. Impervious area disconnect was achieved via a 3-acre green roof, 0.51 acres of pervious paving, 0.21 acres of sidewalk sheet flow to landscape areas, and 0.07 acres of rooftop disconnect.

Green Roof

Additional stormwater management measures include a potential rooftop green space atop the parking garage. McLaren provided structural support which would allow for a nearly 3-acre green roof plantings. A green rooftop spanning a large part of the Philadelphia Live! Casino and Hotel would help create a unique urban experience while satisfying stormwater requirements. Rooftop plantings would slow the overflow of heavy rain, helping reduce pollution of waterways while also reducing air pollution and energy costs.

Location
Philadelphia, PA
Year Completed
2020
Client
BLT Architects; Owner: The Cordish Companies

Image Credit for Images 12, 13, 15 and 18: The Cordish Companies; Images 3 and 7: BLT Architects