Humana says its Louisville tower has defects, sues firm of famed architect who designed it
Thirty-eight years after the completion of Louisville's Humana building, the company alleges there are structural defects in the 27-story tower, and it has sued three firms that designed and built it.
Those include Michael Graves and Associates, the company founded by world-renowned architect Michael Graves, who died in 2015.
Humana, in a lawsuit filed Thursday in Jefferson Circuit Court, says the building is safe for occupancy and will remain safe during the four to five years it will take to make repairs.
In a statement, the company said, “We continue to make significant capital improvements to our offices at Humana Tower and our Waterside location in order to provide a safe, welcoming and productive working environment for the thousands of Humana employees who work in downtown Louisville.
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“This includes updating structural components at Humana Tower to rectify some original design, engineering, and construction issues and ensure the building’s sustainability for many years to come,” the company said in a statement issued by corporate spokesman Mark Taylor.
“The building has been and continues to be safe for our associates and visitors,” the company said.
The Graves firm, which is based in Princeton, N.J., did not respond to requests for comment.
The lawsuit also names as defendants DeSimone Consulting Engineering of New York and Wehr Constructors of Louisville, neither of which responded to phone calls.
The building on Main Street houses Humana’s headquarters. The company selected Graves in the early 1980s after a worldwide design competition
Humana said it discovered the defects in 2019 as it was planning a renovation to include a green space on the eighth-story terrace that overlooks Main Street and the Kentucky Center.
After if found “latent design defects” in the terrace or “podium,” the company investigated the rest of the tower and found defects that had been obscured by drywall and other materials.
According to the suit, it found connections between columns were welded in a way that violated professional and industry construction standards. An inspection found that column connections did not have "web-to-web" welds as required, and that the "flange-to-flange" welds were found to be insufficient.
The company says it has incurred significant costs to investigate, monitor and remediate the defects, though the cost of the repairs — or how they will be done — were not specified in the lawsuit.
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The suit accuses each of the defendants of professional negligence, breach of contract and violations of state building codes.
The $60 million postmodern Humana Building opened in 1985 to rave reviews. New York Times architectural critic Paul Goldberger called it a "remarkable achievement" and "in every way Graves's finest building, a tower that proves his ability not only to work at large scale, but to create interior and exterior details as well wrought as those of any architect now practicing."
He said it was a “striking example of a large, prosperous corporation seeking to build a headquarters structure that would stand as a statement against conventional, modernist corporate architecture.”
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Humana sues firm of architect Michael Graves claiming building defects
