Archinect - News

Specifying the future of steel construction could be your next job description

2022-10-05T13:37:00-04:00

Following last week’s look at an opening for a Senior Architect at CHECKSET, we are using this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series to explore roles for a Structural Steel Specialist at the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC).

The successful candidate will support the AISC in its mission to write the specifications to which all steel buildings in the U.S. are designed and built, and to produce design standards that advance the quality, economy, and safety of steel bridges. The position, which is available in six different U.S. cities, requires a minimum of three years’ experience in building design and construction, with a preference for technical experience in structural steel fabrication.

Why the role interests us

The importance of effective building codes has been ever-present in our editorial over the past 12 months, whether in relation to the Champlain Towers collapse in Surfside, ...

Steel-frame construction tops out for OMA's Albright-Knox museum expansion

2021-07-23T17:01:00-04:00

The Albright-Knox Art Gallery has reached a major milestone in its ongoing $160 million expansion project overseen by Shohei Shigematsu and OMA in cooperation with Cooper Robertson.

Construction has topped out on the new Jeffrey E. Gundlach Building on the soon-to-be renamed museum’s Buffalo, New York campus, clearing the way for a 2022 reopening that will significantly improve the gallery’s historic footprint.

Albright-Knox Art Gallery Expansion, plaza view. Image courtesy OMA.

“This is a remarkable moment,” director Dr. Janne Siren said at a ceremony observing the occasion Wednesday. “We are about one year from the completion of this project that will make Buffalo and our community so proud, will create jobs and prosperity for the people who live here and will be an attraction for people from all across the world who will want to come and visit us,”

With the steel frame now in place, contractors will soon begin the concrete pour for the building with a glass-wall curtain installa...

World’s first 3D-printed steel footbridge installed in Amsterdam

2021-07-15T14:21:00-04:00

The world’s fist 3D-printed steel footbridge has been installed in Amsterdam. Created by Dutch company MX3D, the bridge measures 40 feet (12 meters) in length and contains 4.5 tons of stainless steel forming a curved, flowing structure.

The bridge, formed of four main pieces, is intended to be more than a purely functional piece of infrastructure but will also serve as an artistic celebration of the potential for 3D printing technology. The structure will also become a “living laboratory,” fitted with dozens of sensors. Over the next four years, researchers from Imperial College London will study data generated by the bridge, which they will use to monitor and measure the bridge’s performance in the real world.

Image: MX3D

The data collected from the bridge will allow researchers to monitor performance in real-time, analyze how its performance changes over its lifespan, and understand how the public interacts with 3D-printed infrastructure. Data will be fed into a “digital twin” o...

Morphosis' Shenzhen skyscraper sets world record with detached core

2021-06-08T11:56:00-04:00

Construction has been completed on the Morphosis-designed Hanking Center, a mixed-use complex with a commercial office tower and retail center located in Shenzhen, China. The 65-story tower is defined by its pioneering steel structural system and a detached-core configuration which places the tower’s primary core on the building’s exterior. This arrangement promotes higher efficiency and adaptability of interior floor plates, as well as the creation of social and work spaces that seamlessly integrate public and private domains. At 359.8m (1180ft) tall, Hanking Center is the tallest detached-core building in the world.

Image: Zhang Chao

“As a typology, skyscrapers tend to emphasize shape as the primary differentiator,” said Pritzker Prize-winning architect and Morphosis Founding Partner Thom Mayne. “Instead, we focused on lived experience within the city. The delamination between the circulation core and the office spaces within the tower generates a threshold, an intensification of t...

Dramatic cantilevered bridge complete with elevated park wins AISC's 2020 Forge Prize

2020-05-26T14:42:00-04:00

Rosannah Harding and Matthew Ostrow of HardingOstrow have won a first prize of $10,000 for the American Institute of Steel Construction's (AISC) 2020 Forge Prize. Their winning concept is a cantilevered pedestrian bridge and elevated park intended for a site in Manhattan that connects to the existing High Line.

Weathered steel creates a grid frame that holds the span of the elevated park. From beneath the cantilever, one can see impressions of shining concrete that each act as planters to hold trees and other vegetation in the park above.

Harding and Ostrow worked with fabricator STS Steel, Inc. to refine their design and to streamline the imagined construction process of the structural frame.

The judges who participated in the competition this year are Matt Dumich, FAIA, of SmithGroup; Rebekah Gandy, AIA, LEED AP, of Gensler; David Sadinsky of Turner Exhibits; Cast Connex Vice President Jennifer Anna Pazdon, PE; SteelFab, Inc. Texas Division Vice President Darren J. Cook; and STS S...

Construction equipment manufacturers 'extremely disappointed' with Trump's tariffs

2018-06-18T14:33:00-04:00

The American Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) has criticised the Trump Administration over the introduction of 25% tariffs on $50bn of Chinese imports. Chinese goods affected include types of construction and agricultural equipment. [...] Since Trump’s trade announcement on Friday, China has said it will impose a similar 25% tariff, also worth $50bn.

"We’re extremely disappointed with the Trump administration’s decision to move forward with these harmful tariffs," said Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) President Dennis Slater in a statement last Friday. "This move jeopardizes many of the 1.3 million good-paying manufacturing jobs our industry supports. The expected retaliatory actions by China also raise costs for equipment manufacturers that rely on a vast supply chain around the world, further eroding the benefits of the recent tax reform. We will continue to fight to end these tariffs immediately."

The latest round of tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on a variety of goods imported from China comes on the heels of steel and aluminum tariffs that went into effect on March 23, 2018.

Need an explainer on how the 25% steel tariff could affect the construction cost of your architectural project? Nick Butcher, Cost/Risk Group Managing Director at MGAC, put it into context for us.

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The Steel Tariff and Construction Cost: Putting It Into Context

2018-04-06T19:28:00-04:00

On March 8, 2018, President Trump signed an order to place a 25% and 10% tariff on steel and aluminum imports, respectively, effective March 23, 2018. The new tariff granted a temporary exemption to certain countries including Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, South Korea, and the European Union until May 1, 2018, as discussions continue.

Now that the steel tariffs are in place, the question everyone is asking is “What does this mean to the cost of my construction project?” While this is a straightforward question, the answer may not be as simple.

US Steel Import Volume

The United States is the world’s largest importer of steel, importing approximately 35 million metric tons in 2017, which accounted for 33% of the total steel used in the country.

Nearly 60% of steel imported into the US originates from only 5 countries

Nearly 60% of this total imported volume originates from five countries, including Canada and Mexico which alone accounted for 25% of the total imported v...

Four World Trade Center, NMAAHC, Samsung Americas HQ among 2017 IDEAS² winners for steel construction

2017-03-22T20:59:00-04:00

It's already that time of year when the American Institute of Steel Construction reveals the latest winning projects of their Innovative Design in Engineering and Architecture with Structural Steel awards...Out of nearly 100 submissions from firms across the country, 13 winners received National and Merit Awards. The judging panel evaluated each submission's use of structural steel through multiple architectural and structural engineering elements.

Some of this year's winning projects are:

Presidential Award of Excellence in Engineering: Four World Trade Center, New York.
Submitted by: Leslie E. Robertson Associates, New York

Photo credit: Fadi Asmar.

National Award: Samsung Americas Headquarters (Device Solutions), San Jose, Calif.
Submitted by: Arup, Los Angeles

Photo credit: Tim Griffith

National Award: National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, D.C.
Submitted by: Clark/Smoot/Russell A Joint Venture, Bethesda, Md.

Photo credit: Smithsonian Institution - Michael Barnes.

Merit Award: Fulton Center, New York.
Submitted by: Arup, New York

Photo credit: James Ewing Photography.

Merit Award: Nippert Stadium West Pavilion, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Submitted by: THP Limited, Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio

Photo credit: Bittermann Photography.

Check out the rest of the winners on Bustler.