Background
This master planned resort project includes over 1,600,000 square feet in the Hokulani and Konea 10-story resort towers and eight stand-alone four-plex Na Hale Luana townhome buildings. The towers contain 627 condominium apartments, and the stand-alone buildings contain a total of 32 townhomes, all beachfront property. The resort will feature three distinct pool experiences, a boutique spa and the Duke's Maui restaurant. The project includes 409 stalls of parking in basement space constructed under the residential towers and their courtyards.

Specialized Knowledge
Recent projects in the vicinity relied on expensive deep driven or drilled piles to provide support for their structures. The team worked together with the project's geotechnical engineer to evaluate a more cost-effective raft foundation. Careful planning for the construction of the foundation included preloading the site to minimize settlement of the finished structure. An additional challenge included the elevation of the basement parkade which was close to the existing groundwater depth. Detailed dewatering studies to facilitate excavation for raft foundation were conducted to ensure successful placement of the mass concrete pours.

Client Benefits
By investigating alternative foundation systems the project team found a solution that not only provided significant savings to the client but also reduced the overall project schedule. Other developments in the area closely observed this construction method and have started to adopt it for future projects, complimenting and justifying this solution. The structural engineering also included detailed three-dimentional finite-element analysis and design, and optimization of the structure's post-tensioned floor system. This effort assisted the team in evaluating an extremely complicated floor plan, including what appeared to be randomly placed columns and balconies, but were actually methodically located to maximize functionality rather than a consistent building grid.