Dynamic Exchange

Mark H. Stemmer, P.E. n the fall of 2003, Nebraska Furni- of HSS members, were added in the re- ture Mart will open the largest vol- tail area. Curved glass with HSS sup- ume, single-location home ports was used to create extra appeal at furnishings store in the world. The the primary and secondary customer $100-million project is located on entrances. Data transfer, Ithe west side of Kansas City, KS. teamwork and the FACING THE CHALLENGES BUILDING HIGHLIGHTS Nebraska Furniture Mart presented use of structural steel The new building features 500,000 significant challenges to the building were swift solutions sq. ft of retail space on two levels that team. It required an open floor layout showcases furniture, appliances, floor- and unique building components—all for the Nebraska ing and electronics. The building also on an accelerated schedule. includes a 225,000-sq.-ft cross-dock, The facility required larger-than- Furniture Mart In and high-bay racking area for ware- normal floor-column spacing in order Kansas City, KS. house space. Almost half of that space to minimize obstructions to merchan- requires state-of-the-art super-flat dising and warehouse operations on floors. An additional 70,000 sq. ft of the first floor, and to facilitate move- storage and office space is located ment around the store. A structural above the cross-dock and general steel system was chosen because Ne- warehouse section, with provisions for braska Furniture Mart’s high-bay rack- adding 34,000 sq. ft of floor space. ing system dictated atypical column Nebraska Furniture Mart is de- spacing. Using steel accommodated signed so that its showroom will be these requirements and enabled the user friendly. Two escalators, five ele- finished building shell to be completed vators and 14 stairwells help customers in only four and a half months. and employees maneuver through the The building owners specified a store. To provide more pleasant natural concrete hard-wall exterior for added light, three 50’-square skylights and durability and increased security, be- two 25’-square skylights, constructed cause the facility houses expensive fur-

Modern Steel Construction • January 2003 Opposite: When complete, the new $100-million Nebraska Furniture Mart retail showroom will be the largest volume, single-location home furnishings store in the world. The 800,000-sq.-ft facility is expected to attract visitors from up to 350 miles away.

Below: These HSS supports will hold curved glass to create extra ar- chitectural appeal at the primary and secondary customer entrances.

Above: By pre-assembling joists in bays, the structural steel erec- tion process progressed more efficiently and reduced chances of worker injuries during construction. The erected steel shell for the facility was in place in only 41/2 months.

niture and electronics. The lateral sys- which is 20 percent greater than typical the project with the effective applica- tem for the structure combines precast light storage requirements. tion of steel detailing software. Before concrete shear walls and braced the detailing portion of the project frames. Precast concrete shear walls PUSHING THE SCHEDULE began, LJB’s chief detailer visited Brat- were used where possible, but due to In the retail industry, owners are in- ton to assess the company’s prefer- the building’s unique layout, braced creasingly schedule sensitive. The ences, abilities and operations. Simply frames were required to stabilize some sooner a building is completed and installing software does not mean a de- portions of the structure. Beam-to-col- open for business, the sooner products tailer can deliver quality drawings umn connections were established can penetrate the marketplace. Fulfill- with no errors. By recognizing the pref- using shear tabs. Braced frames con- ing the schedule requirements took a erences of the fabricator, and under- sisted of HSS braces with gusset plates, coordinated effort from the entire standing steel detailing and multiple connected to wide-flange beams and building team. software programs, the team was able HSS columns. The project’s steel fabricator/erec- to take advantage of timesaving soft- Other innovative solutions include tor, The Bratton Corporation, of Kansas ware applications. The process shaved a 105’-long, 27’-deep structural steel City, MO, recognized that by pre-as- an estimated two months off the steel truss that supports the second floor, the sembling joists in bays, the erection construction schedule. roof and precast cladding over a re- process would progress more effi- cessed customer loading dock. In addi- ciently and reduce chances of worker EXPERIENCE MAXIMIZES tion, floor and roof joists spanning 110’ injuries during construction. Structural TECHNOLOGY form a “bridge” over a separate cus- steel frames for the skylights also were The integration of electronic data in- tomer pick-up area. Employing a struc- assembled on the ground and lifted as terchange (EDI) was vital to the success tural steel system provided flexibility single units. of the Nebraska Furniture Mart project. to adapt to special requirements. The project architect, Design Forum, LJB’s ability to implement the steel de- Special design provisions were also of Dayton, OH, included a structural tailing process concurrent with the de- required in the storage portion of the team at LJB Inc. of Dayton, OH as a de- velopment of structural design building. In order to support the load sign consultant and engineer of record drawings was key to the compressed of merchandise, the owner specified because of the firm’s experience and delivery time. Designers did this by 150 psf storage load requirements, expertise with design-build construc- translating the RAM Structural System tion. LJB offered increased efficiency to 3-D design model into the SDS/2 steel

January 2003 • Modern Steel Construction Three 50’-square skylights and two 25’- square skylights were used to provide natu- ral light to the Nebraska Furniture Mart’s re- tail showroom. The skylights were constructed of HSS members, assembled on the ground and lifted as single units. detailing software, using the CIS/2 curacy and coordination between the STRUCTURAL ENGINEER standard. drawings. Since they were already ap- LJB Inc., Dayton, OH SDS/2 then assisted in the produc- proved when released, there was no tion of a set of fabrication drawings time-consuming review process. Fab- ARCHITECT showing individual structural steel rication then coincided with erection, Design Forum, Dayton, OH pieces. The program draws all mem- and the project completion date was bers piece by piece, then shows how to accelerated. CONTRACTOR put them together, like an erector set. By capitalizing on the advantages of Turner Construction Co., Dallas, TX SDS/2 also automatically produces a advanced technology and the flexibil- bill of materials. For the Nebraska Fur- ity of steel, the building team for the STEEL DETAILER niture Mart project, an advanced bill of Nebraska Furniture Mart was able to LJB Inc., Dayton, OH (AISC member) materials was produced prior to deliv- deliver the project successfully with ery of the construction documents, few errors in a compressed time frame. STEEL FABRICATOR/ERECTOR which allowed the fabricator to pur- The benefits realized by condensing The Bratton Corporation, chase materials from the steel mill, the steel detailing process not only Kansas City, MO (AISC member) rather than from a warehouse. Provid- saved the owner time and money, but it ing this information earlier in the also saved the entire building team ENGINEERING SOFTWARE process significantly reduced cost and stress brought on by errors. On a proj- RAM Structural System, RAM saved time. ect of this magnitude, any savings in Advanse, MicroStation, Enercalc Translating engineering models di- cost, schedule and tension are a wel- rectly into steel detailing models short- come addition.★ STEEL DETAILING SOFTWARE ens the steel detailing process and SDS/2 minimizes errors by eliminating the Mark H. Stemmer, P.E., is the director need to input the data a second time. of the Industrial Facilities Business Team Zero detailing errors were recorded for at LJB Inc., located in Dayton, OH. Read more about panelized con- the Nebraska Furniture Mart project. struction in the story “Panel OWNER/DEVELOPER Power” that follows on p. 32 of SUCCESSFUL COORDINATION Nebraska Furniture Mart, Omaha, NE this issue. The first set of approved shop draw- ings was released to the fabricator two weeks after design drawings were is- sued for construction. One company completed both construction drawings and shop drawings, enhancing the ac-

The building shell for the Nebraska Furni- ture Mart project contains 1,300 tons of structural steel, not including joists, joist girders and deck. Using a structural steel system provided more flexibility to accom- modate the building’s special requirements, and increased erection speed and cost-effi- ciency.

Modern Steel Construction • January 2003