012012 turning steel

8/13/2019 012012 Turning Steel

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How using BIM facilitated an

efficient design process and a highly sustainable project.

BY SCOTT WOLF, AIA, LEED AP, AND TOM HICKS, S.E., P.E., LEED AP

MODERN STEEL CONSTRUCTION JANUARY 2012

Turning Steel into

(LEED) Platinum


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JANUARY 2012 MODERN STEEL CONSTRUCTION

WHILE MOST WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTSaround thecountry are separated from their communities by chain-link fences,LOTT Clean Water Alliances new Regional Services Center in Olym-pia, Wash., actively engages the public. The project, which receivedLEED Platinum certification from the USGBC, includes a 200-seat

boardroom, renovated laboratories, an administration tower withoffices for LOTT staff and an extensive WET Center (Water Edu-cational and Technology Center), which features interactive interpre-tive exhibits focusing on water resource education and awareness, alongwith a 50-seat classroom.

The design challenge for the project included renovating the exist-ing 8,000-sq.-ft cast-in-place concrete frame and precast-clad admin-istrative and laboratory building and adding a new 24,000-sq.-ft con-nected four-story Regional Services Center to house administrativeoffices, an emergency operations center, boardroom, and an educationcenter with interpretive exhibits and a classroom. Designed with a con-temporary, industrial aesthetic, the building complements its surround-ings, while the structures height serves as an iconic civic symbol for the

neighborhood. The facility is coordinated with other projects plannedin the emerging East Bay Redevelopment area, including a new HandsOn Childrens Museum and the East Bay Civic Plazaboth currentlyunder construction and also designed by Miller Hull and AHBLonthe immediately adjacent parcels.

The Structural System

Structurally, the Administrative/Education Center was designed asa main four-story structure, with a single-story, low-roof area inter-facing with the second-floor level along the north and east sides. Thehigh and low roofs are framed with steel beam joists supporting a

The west facade of the four-story office tower features dynamic louversthat adjust throughout the day and control daylight in the offices.

{What is LOTT?

The LOTT Alliance that was formalizedin 1976 had its roots in the early 1950s. Itconsists of four government partnersLacey, Olympia, Tumwater, and ThurstonCounty (LOTT)and provides wastewatermanagement services for the urbanized areaof north Thurston County. LOTTs wastewaterfacilities include a central treatment plant,major interceptor sewer lines, pump stationsand reclaimed water plants.

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Lehoux,courtesyoftheMillerHullPartnership

Scott Wolf, AIA, LEED AP, is a partner at the Miller Hull Partnership, Seattle,

widely recognized as a leader in environmentally responsible design, and

recipient of the 2003 AIA National Firm Award. He served as Partner-in-

Charge on this project. Tom Hicks, P.E., S.E., LEED AP, is a principal for the

structural division of AHBL, Tacoma, Wash., with 20 years professional expe-

rience. He has a particular interest in projects involving sustainable design

techniques and has worked on more than a dozen LEED-certified projects,

including LOTT Clean Water Alliances Regional Services Center.


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welded steel roof deck. The joists are

spaced at a maximum of 8 ft on cen-ter. The elevated floors are also framedusing steel beam joists spaced at amaximum of 8 ft on center; howeverin this case, the beams are designedto act compositely with the concrete-topped steel floor deck through the useof field-welded headed studs. Columnsare primarily square HSS. Lateral loadsare resisted by special steel concentri-cally braced frames, which were alsodesigned as HSS. The primary frame

is supported on a pile-supported foun-dation system, which incorporates a

structural slab on grade, grade beams,

pile caps, and concrete-filled, drivengrout piles extending to 100 ft belowthe ground floor elevation.

Why Steel Was Chosen

Steel became the logical choice forthis project very early in the design.The soil characteristics at this site aresuch that seismically induced soil liq-uefaction extends to a significant depthbelow the building. Once that stratumis penetrated, the soils are generally not

suitable for bearing until fairly largedepths are achieved. As a result, each

Steel frame under construction show-ing the east end of the project with theone-story structure in the foreground andfour-story structure beyond.

pile has a large cost associated with it. Therelatively light weight of a steel-framedstructure ultimately meant that fewer pilesand pile caps were required, thus resultingin a lower foundation cost.

In addition to the choice of steel result-ing in a more economical foundation sys-tem, steel allowed AHBL the flexibility tomeet the architectural design intent, whilekeeping the structural systems themselvesunimposing in the overall design. Wherestructural framing was exposed in the finaldesign, the architectural and structuraldesigners coordinated all aspects of thelayout and appearance. Where items could

be concealed within walls and not exposedto view, more economical detailing of ele-ments, such as braced frames and theirassociated gusset plates, was utilized.

Design Collaboration Using BIM

BIM is revolutionizing how projectsare designed, executed and delivered. BothAHBL and Miller Hull are at the forefrontof that revolution and are recognized asnational leaders in BIM technology. Therelatively simple decision to implementthe project using BIM had a profound, and

in some ways unexpected, impact on thedesign process.

Without the use of BIM, most projectsare modeled using SketchUp in the earlydesign phases. Under this paradigm, theSketchUp model needs to be updated intandem with AutoCAD drawings as thedesign progresses. Using this bifurcatedmethodology it is inevitable that at anygiven point the SketchUp model mightconflict with the AutoCAD drawings. Theinefficiencies inherent in this approachare removed when Revit is used from the

beginning of schematic design. Implement-ing BIM from the outset ensured that themodel was always synchronized with thedesign process. This synchronization madethe model an integral part of the designprocess rather than merely a schematic rep-resentation of the result.

AHBL used Bentleys RAM StructuralSteel software to model and analyze thegravity load-resisting members of the steelframe in addition to generating traditional2D AutoCAD drawings. The 3D model was

shared with the architectural team by usingthe RAM-Revit link within Revit Structure,

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JANUARY 2012 MODERN STEEL CONSTRUCTION

and the final drawings were produced using Revit. This createda compatible structural model that the team was able to importinto the architectural model. The team was then able to com-pare the two models to ensure that any exposed steel memberswere appropriately sized and placed. By sharing the Revit modelbetween the structural engineer and the architect, our team wasable to coordinate the location of each exposed structural mem-ber to satisfy the desired design intent. Utilizing Ram Structural

System in conjunction with Revit ensured that the design satis-fied all the structural constraints.

Throughout the design process, our team periodically overlaidBIM models of each building system in order to run clash detec-tions and address physical conflicts virtually before constructionbegan. Add-on programs such as Ecotect, Green Building Studio,Grasshopper and other sustainable design software tools provideearly feedback and direction for various sustainable strategies. Inessence, utilizing these tools facilitated a highly sustainable coor-dinated design effort and enabled conflicts that would often beidentified in the field during construction, to be discovered in theoffice well before the contractor had mobilized.

In order to fully engage this opportunity for collaborationwe retrofitted one of the office conference rooms into a DigitalDesign Lab. In this space we were able to hold weekly meet-ings where the design team could view the Revit model anddiscuss pertinent design elements, making necessary changesto the model in real-time. Consultants who were unable tobe physically present were able to participate remotely usingWebEx technology, a web-based platform that allows them tosee the same images that we were seeing on their desktop moni-tor. This weekly engagement with the model enhanced com-munication and collaboration between team members. Design

ideas were explored and discussed with immediate 3D visualfeedback. This degree of collaboration would not have beenpossible without the use of Revit.

Although the cost and time savings associated with this pro-cess change is difficult to quantify, there are unequivocal quali-tative benefits. The BIM process enabled our design team togenerate a higher quality building that had fewer coordinationissues during the construction process.

The Construction Phase

The construction phase of the projectdelivered under a tradi-tional design/bid/build methodalso benefitted greatly from theuse of BIM. The fabricator developed steel shop drawings usingStruCAD. By taking the fabricators BIM model and overlayingit on the design teams BIM model using Navisworks (a programthat facilitates the compatibility of different 3D modeling softwarepackages), we were able to run clash detection during shop draw-ing review and determine areas of conflict that needed resolutionbefore fabrication and erection. Using a graphic model to ana-lyze these conflicts was infinitely quicker than reviewing 2D shopdrawings as conflicts or differences became immediately apparentwhen the models didnt align.

Comments on the steel shop drawings were marked up inthe model and conveyed to the detailer to make the necessaryrevisions before fabrication began. This process saved a signifi-cant amount of time for both Miller Hull and AHBLs reviewprocess and resulted in fewer field issues during erection thanone would encounter on a typical project. As a result of thiscoordination, conflicts were significantly reduced and the steelerector was able to erect the frame without having to stop andrefab pieces or pause for resolution of in-field conflicts.

RAM Steel analytical model of the four-story structure takenfrom the south.

An example of a Navisworks collision on thesouth side of the building between steel gussetsand the curtain wall head at the fourth floor.

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Results/Outcomes

The project has been widely recognized in the design andconstruction industry, garnering many awards since its August2010 completion. In addition to receiving LEED Platinum cer-tification and a number of education, infrastructure-related andcivic design awards, the project received the prestigious 2011National Top Ten Award from the American Institute of Archi-tectsa recognition given to the 10 best projects in the country

for both sustainable design performance and design excellence.The project also received one of eight Grand Awards presentedfor Engineering Excellence in the American Council of Engi-neering Companies annual design competition in recognitionof its outstanding engineering achievements.

As a result of using BIM to design and document the steelframing and other key systems on the project, the design teamand contractor were able to better coordinate and detect con-flicts and issues before they became issues in the field. Our teamscommitment to integrated design processes using BIM technol-ogy and the resulting level of coordination resulted in a projectthat enjoyed excellent bid results 18% under estimate, a smallnumber of RFIs at only 32 per $1 million of construction, and a

change order rate due to design team errors and omissions of only1.07%. These figures are well below industry averages and savedthe owner a significant amount of money, which could be real-located to highly impactful exhibits and programs in the WETCenter. Although LOTT was the primary beneficiary of our uti-lization of BIM on this project, both Miller Hull and AHBL arefinding similar results on subsequent projects using BIM and arecommitted to making this method of design and documentation

a mainstay of our companies in the future.Owner

LOTT Clean Water Alliance, Olympia, Wash.

Architect

The Miller Hull Partnership, LLP, Seattle

Structural Engineer

AHBL, Inc., Tacoma, Wash.

Steel Erector

Coastal Steel, Inc., Graham, Wash. (IMPACT Member)

General Contractor

Korsmo Construction, Tacoma, Wash.

{ }The Sustainability Story

Furthering LOTTs mission to preserve and protect public healthand the environment by cleaning and restoring water resources forour communities, the project design includes multiple sustainabilitystories and those stories were made visible within the building. Due tothe regional importance of water and proximity to the Puget Sound, thedesign process focused on celebrating water as a precious resource.Class A reclaimed water, which this facility produces, is wastewater thathas been treated to higher standards of cleanliness and can thereforebe used for irrigation, toilet flushing, and industrial and manufacturing

uses. LOTT uses reclaimed water for plumbing within the building, asirrigation for the immediate grounds and the buildings green roof, andin a highly visible pond surrounding the building. This high-visibilitydisplay of reused water highlights LOTTs reclaimed water system,which has been fully operational and in use since 2006.

The building also actively mines the adjacent sewage treatmentplant, creating an amenity out of what is usually considered waste.Methane gas, a natural byproduct of the wastewater treatment pro-cess and 21 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO2, iscaptured and used in a new cogeneration facility to produce bothpower and heat, rather than being flared off as a waste product. Theenergy supplements an existing power loop and completely elimi-nates power consumption from the grid for the new project. The heat

provides additional capacity to an existing low-temperature waterloop that provides a heat sink for the new Regional Services Center,eliminating the need for a separate boiler and chiller.

Many recycled or sustainably harvested materials were used in theproject, including recycled steel. The project specifications called for thecontractor to provide steel products with an average recycled contentof not less than 50% (measured by postconsumer recycled content plusone-half of pre-consumer recycled content) and construction waste wasrecycled at a rate exceeding 95%. Partly as a result of these sustain-ability measures, the project received a Leadership in Energy and Envi-ronmental Design (LEED) Platinum Certification from the United StatesGreen Building Council, earning a total of 59 credits (out of a possible69) under LEED version 2.2.

The 12 foot high stainlesssteel "cup" outside thewest facade, spills Class AReclaimed Water into thepond surrounding thefront of the building.

012012 turning steel

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