May 2007 ISSUE
awards
Steel Shines at Awards Night
Engineers and Architects Recognized for Steel Design and Construction
Innovation
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COKER CONSTRUCTION - The cooling tower unit, under construction above, took home the Industrial Award at the Alberta Steel Design Awards of Excellence in March. |
STORIES BY DON BUCHANAN
Freelance Writer
A building, a bridge, a rail station and a coker – all of them feature in the Alberta Steel Design Awards of Excellence, announced March 21. The Canadian Institute of Steel Construction, Alberta Region, presented the 2007 awards before a crowd of about 300 at Edmonton’s Shaw Conference Centre.
“This year’s awards generated a lot of excitement within our membership and we had the most nominees ever,” said Steven Gunson, P.Eng., chair of the organizing committee. There were 29 nominees in total in the CISC competition, and each nominee could be entered in any or all of the competition’s four categories.
Membership of the CISC, Alberta Region, includes fabricators, detailers, suppliers, architectural firms, engineering professionals, owners and contractors.
The Steel Edge Award goes to the winner in the open category, and this year’s winner is the University of Lethbridge Centre for Sport and Wellness, completed in 2006. Hugh Krentz, P.Eng., one of four judges for the awards, called it a “worthy winner.”
“Our panel fully agreed that this project was special, partly
because of the unique lateral bracing solution used to support the structure’s
roof,” said
Mr. Krentz, a former national president of the institute who currently chairs
the Canadian Steel Construction Council. “We also noted that the finish
was exemplary, and the attractiveness and openness of the design allowed for
lots of natural light.”
Architects for the project were Gibbs Gage Architects of Calgary and Barry Johns
(Architecture) Ltd. of Edmonton. Engineering firm was Read Jones Christoffersen.
Dwain Babiak, P.Eng., of Read Jones Christoffersen’s Calgary office, was project engineer. He said the architect’s vision of a floating roof and high, clerestory-style windows strongly influenced the engineering.
“We had to make sure we didn’t encumber the natural light from entering through the windows. So we had to steer away from conventional bracing schemes and look at other options for stabilizing the upper, or main, roof,” he said. “What we did was take advantage of the structure’s geometry to stabilize the main roof columns at the lower roof, where we had ample shear walls available to provide stability.”
Mr. Babiak added: “Well before my involvement, Barry Johns and his team were intent on creating a unique piece of architecture. Barry had a very clear and well-articulated vision of what he wanted the building to accomplish.”
Winner of the Engineering Award is the Low Level Bridge’s northbound rehabilitation project, as submitted by its architect and engineer, Cohos Evamy. Project owner is the City of Edmonton.
Neil Robson, P.Eng., the project manager, noted that replacing the main structural steel truss members was particularly challenging. “Many of the 100-year-old truss members were severely corroded and had to be replaced,” said Mr. Robson, who works from the Edmonton Cohos Evamy office.
“The critical task was the installation of a support system that transferred load onto temporary members, allowing the main truss members to be removed and replaced.”
The winner of the Architectural Award is the refurbishment of the 7th Avenue Calgary LRT. Owner is the City of Calgary and the architect is Sturgess Architecture of Calgary.
The project features open, transparent canopies inspired by the brightness and light of the foothills sky. Lesley Beale, a partner at Sturgess and the project architect, said the Sturgess design team worked hard to “provide height openness and transparency, and to maximize sky views and sun penetration.”
Ms. Beale said the project provides “a renewal to the public realm that existing LRT stations lack.” The project was designed to cover as much of the street as possible, providing transit users with maximum enclosure and protection from the elements.
The 7th Avenue project, completed in late 2005, was the first step in the City of Calgary’s master plan for renewal of its downtown LRT stations.
The winner of the Industrial Award is the cooling tower unit at the Suncor Energy Millennium Coker Unit. The unit was designed by Bantrel, and fabricated and erected by Waiward Steel Fabricators Ltd.