Two Light Luxury Apartments

Structural Engineering

McLaren Engineering Group provided full-service structural engineering design services for The Cordish Companies’ $120 million Two Light Luxury Apartments in downtown Kansas City, MO. Formerly a surface parking lot, the new 24-story glass tower has almost 500,000 square feet of space. The urban development at the intersection of the Power & Light District and the Crossroads Art District is uniquely position to offer prime access to the best that the downtown has to offer. With stunning glass and steel, Two Light has become a visual symbol of Kansas City’s renaissance. Designed with a meticulous attention-to-detail, this Midwest icon is elevating the residential experience. The mixed-use building’s highlights include 296 residential units with floor-to-ceiling windows, 20,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space, a 436-space above-grade parking structure, and 20,000 square feet of amenities including an outdoor landscaped terrace, pools, and indoor co-working space.

Cost Savings + Increased Value

McLaren’s team investigated multiple systems and design layouts for the luxury apartments which resulted in cost savings and increased value. For example, the McLaren team created large openings in shear walls at the 8th floor amenity space to afford residents unobstructed views of the Kansas City skyline, while maintaining effective building stiffness through the use of finite element analysis during design. This was a large selling point for residents in this building. McLaren’s innovative engineers worked actively with the architect and construction manager to create an efficient column layout that allowed for use of “flying framework” and uniform slab soffit. The final column arrangement resulted in lower formwork costs, reduced construction schedule, and an efficient parking layout.

Additional Luxury Apartments Services

Pools: For the two 4’ deep swimming pools on the 8th floor, McLaren designed the structure to accommodate both the indoor pool and the outdoor infinity edge pool.

Signage: McLaren worked with the signage contractor to attach static and LED signage to the facade of the building.

Engineering Nearby

McLaren’s team of engineers also provided full service structural design services for TWO LIGHT’s neighboring sibling building THREE LIGHT. The new mixed-use development similarly boasts a concrete post-tensioned flat plate structure with concrete shear walls.