The American Institute of Steel Construction has announced the winners of the 2018 Innovative Design in Engineering and Architecture with Structural Steel (IDEAS2) awards. Two SOM projects were honored this year: the Center for Character and Leadership Development at the U.S. Air Force Academy, and 111 Main, an office tower in downtown Salt Lake City.
The IDEAS2 program recognizes projects in which structural steel has been utilized in an innovative manner to do any of the following: accomplish the structure’s program; express the architectural intent; apply unique design approaches to the structural system; utilize construction methods that enhance productivity.
The Center for Character and Leadership Development (CCLD) features a 105-foot-tall steel skylight composed of structural steel and glass. Shaped like an aircraft tailfin, the skylight precisely aligns with the North Star, the symbol of the Academy’s core values. The CCLD is the most recent building on the Air Force Academy campus, which SOM originally designed in the 1950s.
111 Main, a Class A office tower in a highly seismic region of Salt Lake City, uses an innovative structural engineering solution to a complex site challenge. Its construction followed the same timeline as an adjacent theater, some of which sits underneath the tower. An innovative steel hat truss system suspends the structure and supports its perimeter columns and long-span steel floor framing, allowing 111 Main to essentially hang above the theater without compromising its functionality.