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With a skylight above each truss, the exposed structural steel roof pulls in daylight for passengers and staff – which was a vital goal for the IFP design teams. Boulanger adds, "It's not often that architect, engineer and fabricator can agree on what beautiful steel means, but for this project, expectations aligned with the results." She adds that trusses are currently being erected for the concourse's double-vaulted departure hall. Walters Inc. has gotten a lot of attention over the years for coming up with ingenious solutions to on-site problems, and it's also known for creating buildings in which structural steel is an integral architectural com- ponent as well as functional. One example of this is The Bow, which is Calgary's first steel skyscraper and the tallest building in Western Canada. The project also won the 2012 Canadian Institute of Steel Construction ( CISC-ICCA) engineering award. Working in a joint venture, Walters and Supreme Steel (part of the Supreme Group), led the design- assist, connection/construction engineering, detail- ing, fabrication and erection of the structural steel for The Bow. The project was unique in terms of its shape, full-height atrium spaces and exposed structural framing for 58 floors; 45,000 tons of steel was used in total, with some components weighing up to 80 tons. Moreover, the project used the first Nor th American application of an exposed triangular steel diagrid system on a curved building, which significantly reduced the amount of steel required and increased office space. "Due to the size and complexity of the project, we had to be creative and draw on the talent of our teams across all of our divisions. We also had to work closely with all part- ners and trades involved to bring the architect's vision to life," says Walter Koppelaar, Walters Group president. Walters also recently advanced the archi- tectural impact structural steel can have with its work on the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg, whose f lamboyant forms from Antoine Predock resulted in significant structural complexity, including large column-free spaces, unconventional load paths, long cantilevers and highly-stressed con- nection points between steel forms and concrete walls – all necessitating the use of structural steel. The Supreme Group LP is yet another example of a steel specialist using advanced techniques to maxi- mize the effectiveness of structural steel. Its use of the Girder-Slab system is fairly revolutionary in Canada – only two projects to date have used the technology compared to the U.S. and other countries, where it's more commonplace. Conventional wisdom for using steel has been to maximize spans and provide universal products that fit nearly any building type. In contrast, the developers of Girder-Slab determined that long-span precast slabs in combination with short-span customized steel gird- ers along with a steel frame could offer speed, design flexibility and value in construction projects. Supreme was responsible for introducing Girder- Slab to Canada, via the Renaissance Edmonton Air- port Hotel project. "Girder-Slab construction has lots of positive attributes," says Peter Timler, corporate business development officer and VP of engineering at Supreme Group. "We've found that a better econ- omy is achieved with an entire steel frame structure: that's with elevator and stair cores framed in steel, so concrete poured at site is minimized." He adds that the system "should have wider acceptance. We expect to do more Girder-Slab projects in the next couple of years." Benson Steel has been an early adapter of new tech- nology, and the result has been its crucial participa- tion in award-winning projects. It all began in 2006, when Benson's $1.5-million investment in computer- operated equipment including a 1101 DZ CNC drilling line, a CNC oxy plate burning line and a new milling machine, decreased handling time and increased production. This enabled the company to operate at maximum efficiency in its role as the steel contractor for Transformation AGO, the Frank Gehry-designed expansion of the Art Gallery of Ontario. The project required fabrication of over 2,350 tons of steel for the gallery in three separate components: the erection of 1,500 tons for a 150-foot-high titanium clad south tower; 150 tons for a 10,000-square-foot skylight; and 700 tons of steel to support a 600-foot-long and 70-foot high curved glass facade. Moreover, investing in the latest technology makes economic sense. Eric Miszczuk, a partner at Cooksville Steel Ltd., points out that equipment such as robotic machines with plasma-cutting units not only produces true, uniform holes (unlike conventional drilling tech- nology) – it can replace as many as five other machines. As the sector becomes more accepted in architec- tural circles, so too does galvanization – but more so in Canada than the U.S. Melissa Lindsley, marketing director for the American Galvanizers Association ( AGA), says business north of the 49th parallel is "slow but steady, with lots of galvanization being performed on exposed elements. While galvanization will always be utilitarian, you just don't see the wide range of appli- cations in the U.S. that you see in Canada." n April 2014 /31 Structural Steel Picture : G. Kopelow Eighth Avenue Place East Tower, Calgary 2011 Finalist CISC-Alberta Design Awards International Calgary Airport Presently under construction Pembina Hall Residence, University of Manitoba 2013 Winner CISC-Alberta Design Awards Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media & Performing Arts Center, New York 2007 Finalist CISC-Quebec Design Awards Building the future together EDMONTON QUEBEC SHERBROOKE MONTREAL SOUTH CAROLINA MANILA WESTERN CANADA 780 980-4830 • EASTERN CANADA 418 834-1955 • UNITED STATES 803 366-1411 Project3 17/03/14 13:31 Page 1 June 2014 issue ANNUAL INDUSTRY FEATURE: Landscape Products Book your ad space now: Dan Chapman 604.473.0316 Alexander Sugden 604.473.0358 p28-31_StructuralSteel.indd 31 14-04-02 4:51 PM