2008 Excellence in Structural Engineering Awards

The Estate "Suncatch" is a 27,000 sq. ft. residence is built over a 20,000 sq. ft. subterranean garage, located in Rancho Santa Fe, California. One of Suncatch's main features is exposed structural steel beams painted oxide primer and infilled with Douglas Fir. The beam spans and cantilevers reach up to 80 feet. One of the challenges for the structural engineer involved calculating the camber required for the cantilevered beams so that the exposed wide-flange steel beams would end up straight and level. Complicating this was the variety of conditions involved in supporting the W24x229 beams with concrete structures, other cantilevered beams, bent columns, and column "trees". The lateral force-resisting system for the home was comprised of ordinary steel braced frames, moment frames, cantilevered steel columns, and concrete, masonry, and plywood shear walls. The home also features glass window panels up to 30 feet in height. All concrete building walls, basement walls, and site walls have the exposed concrete finish and were constructed using long wood I-joists as the form boards.

Kansas City Convention Center – Bartle Hall consisted of renovations and expansion of the Kansas City Convention Center. The new expansion consisted of a state-of-the-art ballroom, which was built over an active interstate system (I-670) in downtown Kansas City. This location, along with structural performance requirements inherent to convention centers, created numerous challenges such as: design and construction of a long-span floor the size of a city block capable of transferring loads, resisting vibrations induced from rhythmic activities, and supporting the 60 ton crawler cranes required to erect the roof structure. Additional project requirements included a three-hour fire protection for the floor system, an erection sequence coordinated with traffic control and construction operations, concurrent replacement of two adjacent city street bridges, and operable partitions suspended form the long-span roof. The structural design team used prestressed concrete panels attached to the bottom of the steel trusses as a soffit, which gave increased fire and force protection for the steel structure. Two structural systems were selected for the floor: a composite precast/prestressed I-girder assembly and 16' deep continuous-span custom steel trusses for the ballroom and public space floors. This building enhances the Center's role as an anchor for downtown revitalization, including the new downtown entertainment district and arena.

Denver Art Museum – Frederic C. Hamilton Building doubled the size of the Denver Art Museum. The new building is constructed with 2740 ton steel superstructure, which is an interwoven cluster of leaning braced frames and trusses clad in titanium shingles. Over 3100 pieces of steel are contained by 20 sloping planes, including a 194-foot prow, which extends 167 feet over the street and looms 100 feet above the ground. None of the planes are parallel or perpendicular to one another – adding to the design and construction challenges. The massive structural steel frames and trusses shared the task of supporting the weight of the cantilevered overhangs while resisting the lateral loads for wind, earthquake, and gravity loads generated by the unusual geometry. The steel columns were manufactured with special alignment control holes that held a surveyor's prism and reflective tape "targets" were placed on the column faces. Station surveying instruments were programmed with this information. Up to 26 surveyors' prisms were in use on the structure at one time to ensure accurate placement and alignment. For the first time in Denver's history, the city allowed subcontractors to participate in the design process, and the project team spent over two years planning every detail of the structure.

Penobscot Narrows Bridge and Observatory is Maine's first cable-stayed bridge features the world's tallest public bridge observatory on top of the western pylon. The tall pylons were designed with a four-story room at the top. By partnering with the state Department of Conservation, this was turned to an advantage by providing necessary transportation to Fort Knox, Maine's most visited historic site, while attracting visitors to the observatory. The pylons were cast-in-place with 15 foot lifts and formed with articulations at construction lift lines that replicate the size of the large blocks. Given the remote location, steep banks and severe weather of the river, the bridge is cast-in-place concrete segmental technology, with the bridge constructed in balanced cantilever using form travelers. This minimized the impact on the environment, allowed construction to continue year round and delivered a durable bridge with a service life that will exceed 125 years.

The Quigg Newton Auditorium & Ellie Caulkins Opera House is the eleventh performing arts stage and the crown jewel of Denver's Performing Arts Complex, the second largest in the country. The "Ellie" was built completely within the massive volume of the original Auditorium Theater which was constructed in 1908 and opened to great national fanfare by hosting the 1908 Democratic Convention. The Auditorium building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the exterior shell was restored to much of its original splendor as part of the remodel. The project involved completely demolishing the building interior, preserving only the historic masonry and riveted steel frame shell. Extensive bracing of the historic walls and shoring some of the riveted steel roof trusses was required to stabilize the shell during the demolition of the original structure contained within. The quarried stone foundation walls were underpinned to allow the sub-basement level to be excavated an additional twelve feet. The entire project was completed from within the building shell to allow the shows to continue in the other ten performing spaces in the Performing Arts Complex. The reconstructed state-of-the-art theater is home to local opera and ballet and features 2100-seats in a unique double-warped seating bowl in the form of the famed La Scala Opera House. Much of the existing historic riveted steel structure was cleaned and coated with fire-protecting intumescent paint and left exposed to patron view in the Lobbies. Martin/Martin worked closely with the Architect and researchers from the Denver Public Library to restore many other original details, giving patrons a glimpse of its structural history. The construction process was often referred to as "building a ship in a bottle" but those close to the project joke it was more like "trying to stuff a salmon into a sardine can."