What's Cool in Steel

What’s Cool What’s Cool Joe Fletcher Photography Modern STEEL CONSTRUCTION COOL CONVERSION Flipping for the Better BY ANNE FOUGERON, FOUGERON ARCHITECTURE Some buildings just don't jibe with their surroundings. The challenge was redesigning this disjointed home with a Like many San Francisco homes, the Potrero Hill home that new modern aesthetic, but doing so without completely tearing eventually became the Flip House poorly integrated its many down the existing envelope. Light was the driving motivation levels with each other and failed to do justice to its sloping for the project, which was designed by Fougeron Architecture. topography. The floor plan felt enclosed despite its size. Not In order for the interior’s potential to be maximized, its exposure only that, but a bedroom blocked the unbelievable city view and to the outside had to be completely reconsidered. This meant there was only one miniscule deck (hardly enough for even the recasting the solar orientation of the home and reconnecting it most modest of grills). to its striking landscape. The new primary façade has faceted, What’s Cool What’s in Cool Photos: Joe Fletcher Photography AUGUST 2014 custom-built glass walls divided into three vertical panels made floors interact with each other. The pivot point had to be the of HSS. These sections push in and out, creating a dynamic transition from the various floors, which meant creating one prism, exploiting and animating natural light as well as the rear staircase that smoothly linked all three levels and the gar- spectacular views. The HSS, measuring only 2 in. × 3 in., were den below. The staircase uses a central piece of round steel as custom-made for the project, cut and welded into one-story the stringer, giving the stairs an almost floating quality. The pieces in the shop, then assembled on-site. Glazing was applied treads and risers were made of perforated steel, which pro- over the HSS and custom steel stops to cover the joints and vides a great deal of transparency by allowing light from the provide complete waterproofing. back of the home to shine through. The interior of the home also needed functional circula- Above all, what steel offered in this home was flexibility— tion, not only for the homeowners but also for natural light. flexibility to design a façade that can harness available and abun- While creating an open floor plan was intrinsic to making a dant natural light, and flexibility to create a structured staircase more useable, more flowing space, design cannot forget how that does not dominate the space but instead blends in with it. Modern STEEL CONSTRUCTION Photos: Genie COOL RIDE Capital Idea The idea of an observation wheel as a tourist draw dates back a wrench in the schedule. But as soon as the weather broke, to 1893 when the first wheel, designed and built by George we were moving again and attacked the schedule aggressively.” Ferris, Jr., wowed attendees at the Chicago World’s Fair. Since With construction of the base completed, the structure’s that time, the scale and sophistication of observation wheels tower legs were erected, followed by installation of other ride have steadily grown, with landmark structures in London components such as the axle, spokes, ring beams and lights. (London Eye), China (Star of Nanchang), Singapore (Singa- That predetermined construction sequence—as well as being pore Flyer) and Las Vegas (High Roller). located at the end of a 600-ft pier—essentially dictated the And now Washington, D.C., has a wheel of its own. At manner in which the balance of the project could proceed. 175 ft, the Capital Wheel boasts some of the most iconic While the actual height of the tower legs and components to vantage points imaginable, offering views of the White be assembled could typically be reached using one of Cian- House, the U.S. Capitol, the National Mall and Arlington bro’s existing standard-sized booms, access at this site was National Cemetery. Its location, in National Harbor—a 300- another matter entirely, said Dreher. acre multi-use waterfront development in Prince George's “If we were putting this up on land under normal circum- County, Md., just south of Washington—was a large part stances, we’d have no issues accessing the axle and spoke con- of the reason AISC member fabricator Cianbro headed up nections with a standard 85-ft boom lift,” he explained. “But the project, according to Aric Dreher, the company’s project because we are on a pier and had to first install the base steel manager. structure, we were left with only two spots from which a boom Work on the Capital Wheel started with the installation of could operate in order to have access to both sides of the a 150-ton steel grid base structure. Fabricated by Cianbro at its wheel. And on one of those sides, we were set back more than Baltimore yard, the individual components for the base were 85 ft and needed to reach 90 ft into the air over the top and in sent by barge to the Potomac River site. While that ultimately between the tower legs.” proved to be the best method for transporting the assemblies, “What we call the ‘Monster Lift’ [a Genie lift with a 180-ft there was a point when the decision to do so looked sketchy at boom] has nicely filled that gap between what our 135-ft lift best, said Dreher. can and can’t reach,” Dreher said. “It was instrumental in the “Shortly after kicking off the project in January, we had assembly of the tower legs themselves, but one of the most everything for the base loaded onto the barges and ready to crucial areas of the construction involves setting the wheel’s go,” he recalled. “We were only waiting for a few beams to ‘spokes’ into the hub or axle. The lift allowed us to get up and arrive from the galvanizer. But right after we loaded them, the over the tower legs and then reach in to the axle area to do temperatures plummeted, Chesapeake Bay froze over and the each connection.” Coast Guard put shipping restrictions in place. It was three The Capital Wheel opened in time for Memorial Day weeks before we were allowed to transport again, which threw weekend of this year. AUGUST 2014 What’s Cool What’s COOL PAVILION in Made in the Shade Cool BY MELL LAWRENCE, FAIA, MELL LAWRENCE ARCHITECTS, AND CHUCK NAEVE, P.E., ARCHITECTURAL ENGINEERS COLLABORATIVE Cotillion Park in Dallas now has a clear-cut focal point. Steel was the natural choice as a building material for a Commissioned by the Dallas Parks and Recreation Depart- structure that was aesthetically driven, crisp in delineation and ment, the new Cotillion Pavilion shade structure appears to minimal in form. Hollow structural sections (HSS), structural float in the middle of the park, bridging the gap between two tees and angles comprise the vocabulary of shapes used in the groups of trees at a natural gathering place. The composition of pavilion. Small HSS5×5 columns and beams are welded at all steel components abstracts and mimics the surrounding trees intersections to form the moment frame of the primary struc- to produce similar dappled shade. The sun’s movement ani- ture. The integrity of the frame, fixed to the foundation, enables mates the structure, catching direct light, casting shadows and columns that seem impossibly small to delicately support the creating dynamic figure-ground shapes against the sky. Long rectangular form of the canopy above. concrete benches not only define the outdoor room under The canopy is composed of horizontally spaced 1¼-in.-by- the translucent roof, but also stretch out beyond to extend the 1¼-in. angles supported on a framework of HSS3×1½ members. usable area into and under the surrounding shade trees. The rectangular form elegantly drapes the primary frame. A The program called for a 650-sq.-ft pavilion that would be roof structure made of structural tees supports the translucent maintenance-free, immune to vandals and protected from sun roof. The tees frame to a central spine, a built-up shape with and rain. The design and construction team was able to deliver an a suspended L6×6 angle. Rainwater is channeled to the spine even larger area of usable space, and within the budget (the total beam and into the trough of the angle below. The angle leaves project cost was $277,785). Designed by architect Mell Lawrence the spine to cantilever beyond the structure, allowing rainwater Architects, structural engineer Architectural Engineers Collab- to freefall to a basin in the pavement. orative and artisan Lars Stanley Metalworks, the steel and poly- The structure is left unpainted and allowed to rust to a natural carbonate roof structure covers 1,200 sq. ft of tables, benches and patina in the Texas environment. Originally, weathering steel was open space, and the concrete benches that extend into the land- specified to limit deterioration of the structure from rust. How- scape provide an additional 2,600 sq.-ft of seating area. ever, a minimal budget and multiple steel shapes led to the practi- When viewed from a distance, the pavilion has a light- cal decision to use standard steel materials, increasing each mem- weight, ephemeral quality. At times it appears to merge with ber’s thickness sufficiently to allow for reasonable deterioration. the surrounding tree canopy, but a closer inspection of the The suspended mobile is also an exceptional piece of steelwork. structure reveals a delicate screen wall of horizontal steel angles Architect and artisan Lars Stanley constructed the elliptical mobile suspended outside of a steel frame.

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