Project context
Project profile for The Grand, preserving current site content about shored excavation adjacent to Downtown Los Angeles entertainment landmarks.
The Grand replaced a long-planned redevelopment site adjacent to Walt Disney Concert Hall with a mixed-use development spanning a full Downtown Los Angeles block.
Cefali & Associates was hired to design the shored excavation. The design accommodated dipping bedrock, pedestrian and vehicular tunnels below streets, a counterfort wall transition from Lower to Upper Grand, and the 2nd Street Tunnel.
In coordination with geotechnical engineers, the shoring system along 2nd Street used very short anchors to stay clear of the active 1920s tunnel.
A prominent feature of the design is a multi-row waler system along the west side at the existing retaining wall near Lower Grand. The walers transfer earth forces at piles where tiebacks could not be drilled to locations where they could be installed, including the deepest point of the excavation at 60 feet.
