In the context of the renovations that took place at the well-known Hilton Hotel, in the center of Athens, in order to accommodate the increased visitors during the Olympic Games of 2004, some interventions in the “load-bearing” structure had to be made.
One of these interventions was to increase the “load-bearing” capacity of the ground floor slabs near the main entrance, due to a requirement for a multiple “live-load” assumption than that they were originally dimensioned and built for.
For this reason, columns were added to the basement.
The columns mounted to support the existing “waffle” reinforced-concrete slab were made of steel profiles because their construction had to be done in the shortest time and in the safest manner.