American Institute of Steel Construction

With student and faculty housing atop spaces requiring long spans (think: regulation sporting and performing art facilities), New York University’s Paulson Center was designed with many column transfers--over 220, in fact!

A five-story podium stands at the center of these transfers, and most of its weight is, in turn, transferred on four floor-deep trusses. The fifth-floor transfer truss pictured here helps provide a column-free space for the performing arts venues and basketball courts below!

Head to aisc.org/puzzles to try your hand at assembling the fifth floor transfer truss! Curious about how the transfers in this IDEAS² Award-winning structure work? We’ll give you the scoop at aisc.org/nyu-paulson-center.

Did you catch AISC VP of Bridges Brandon Chavel, PE, PhD in today's NYT opinions section?

A September 4 article spread false information about the impact of climate change on America's steel bridges--including the absurd and irresponsible claim that extreme temperatures will cause one in four steel bridges to collapse by 2050.

That's flat-out wrong. Bridges will not be falling down en masse anytime soon simply because the bridges Americans drive on today are already designed to accommodate extreme temperatures. In fact, some engineers will check a bridge’s performance up to an ambient temperature of 140 degrees Fahrenheit.

For real facts, check out Modern Steel Construction: aisc.org/climate-change-bridges

AISC's architecture team had an amazing experience at the AIA Aspire Conference in Asheville, N.C. this week!

Our team hosted two events: the Dine by Design dinner at Cúrate and the Urban Sketching event in downtown Asheville. The sketching session was especially memorable, with participants learning new techniques and producing some incredible sketches by the end. The conference may be over, but the great conversations and inspiration will stick with us for a long time!

Visit aisc.org/architecture to learn more about the Architecture Center at AISC and browse the valuable resources we offer to architects designing with steel.

Next Thursday: Expand your problem-solving toolkit with a revised attitude on failure!

Join DWA Principals Carol Drucker and Carrie Warner on September 26 as they discuss reframing failure into successful solutions through creative problem-solving techniques. At the live webinar, “Fail Foward: Reframing Failure into Successful Solutions,” they'll dive into lessons learned and the importance of root cause analysis.

You'll walk away with thoughtful and efficient new strategies for addressing failure--and you can earn 1.5 PDHs, AIA LUs, or HSWs for participating.

Save your spot today at aisc.org/failforward!

Skilled professionals bring steel structures to life--but have you ever met them? Celebrate those people and their compelling stories at the opening reception for Visions in Steel Tampa Bay!

Join us at the Center for Architecture & Design Tampa Bay on Tuesday, October 15 at 5:30 p.m. for an evening of art and networking.

Register for this free event at aisc.org/visionsinsteeltampa.

The Visions in Steel exhibit runs from October 14 through November 22. If you’ll be in the Tampa area, stop in and learn about the people who bring designs to life with steel!

Hands-on learning helps students learn practical skills that stick--and Purdue Construction Management Technology is leveraging industry partnerships to make it happen!

Visit aisc.org/purdue-SCMT to read what two Purdue educators have learned about the real-world success students gain through practical industry exposure--and why theory and classroom learning don’t always cut it.

AISC has a collection of resources designed to help educators and students with hands-on learning opportunities. Find our growing collection at aisc.org/engage!

A striking new office building is going up in Denver’s River North neighborhood--and a 12-story, 150-ft exposed steel tower makes it stand out from the crowd!

The building, appropriately named Steel House, contains 2,510 tons of structural steel. Its signature tower pays homage to the neighborhood’s storied industrial history through the ample use of architecturally exposed structural steel (AESS).

Head to aisc.org/steelhousedenver for behind-the-scenes insight into the project, including the design of the exposed tower column splices!

How do you stack student and faculty housing atop four regulation NCAA basketball courts, multiple classrooms, and performing arts spaces in a single 735,000 sq. ft steel-framed tower?

Ask the team behind the John A. Paulson Center at New York University--which won an Excellence in Engineering award from the 2024 IDEAS² judges!

If you’re already impressed, here’s a fact that will blow your mind: None of the residential tower columns and just a few interior podium columns extend continuously to the foundation of this structure. In fact, there are over 220 column transfers in the building, including the four long-span trusses and 80 plate girders at the podium roof.

Only steel can do that.

Visit aisc.org/nyu-paulson-center to read more about how structural steel made the Paulson Center’s vertical orientation possible.

You have just two weeks left to submit a project for the 2025 IDEAS² Awards--visit aisc.org/ideas2 to start your submission today!

Project team:

Owner: New York University, New York

General contractor: Turner Construction Company, New York

Architects: Davis Brody Bond, a Page Company, New York; KieranTimberlake, Philadelphia

Structural engineer: Severud Associates Consulting Engineers, PC, New York

Fabricator and erector: W&W | AFCO Steel, Oklahoma City *AISC full member; AISC-Certified fabricator and erector*

A stunning new pedestrian bridge strikes the right chord with Nashville International Airport passengers!

With hollow structural section (HSS) pipe diagonals laced between the lower bridge girder and the upper roof trusses, the bridge meets stringent vibration criteria while achieving a clean design with maximum views.

Assemble the pedestrian bridge--part of the 2024 IDEAS² Award-winning addition project--for yourself at aisc.org/puzzles! Read more about the innovation behind the bridge and the massive steel guitar-inspired canopy at aisc.org/nashville-airport.

Just five years into his career teaching structural engineering, Machel Morrison, PhD has become a respected voice in structural steel research, instructing and inspiring future designers at UC San Diego.

Morrison--recognized for his teaching excellence with an AISC Terry Peshia Early Career Faculty Award--helps manage the UCSD shake table, an earthquake simulator that tested a ten-story building in 2023. (In the attached photo, you can see Morrison, left, and AISC President Charlie Carter, right, observing the shake table!)

Tune into the Field Notes podcast (aisc.org/fieldnotes) to hear Morrison’s story, from his love for physics and math in his native Kingston, Jamaica, to his current research on the material- and microstructure-dependent properties of steel.

Prefer to read rather than listen? Find an excerpt from Morrison’s Field Notes interview at aisc.org/morrison.

A draft of the next edition of the AISC Prequalified Connections for Special and Intermediate Steel Moment Frames for Seismic Applications (AISC 358) is now available for public review and comment.

Currently slated for a 2027 release, this edition of AISC 358 will supersede ANSI/AISC 358-22.

Visit aisc.org/publicreview to download the draft for free and access the comments submittal form. The review period closes October 21!

Standards Under Public Review | American Institute of Steel Construction As AISC's committees develop standards, they may post drafts for public review and comment from time to time. Also, as part of AISC's ANSI-accredited standards development process, proposed standards are also posted for a formal public review and comment period. The Consensus Body Procedures for th...

With a booming local population and record-breaking passenger volumes, Nashville International Airport (BNA) received a major expansion--making steel the runway (er, make that “runaway”) star of the show!

A signature part of the $436 million terminal lobby expansion is a long-span, curvilinear, structural steel roof that clear-spans both the active roadway and terminal. Dubbed the “airwave,” the roof design reduced the number of interior columns by 80% compared to a short-span roof design, achieving the sweeping architectural vision while significantly reducing the construction cost and schedule.

Read more about this 2024 IDEAS² Award-winning project at aisc.org/nashville-airport.

Tell the world about an outstanding project you recently worked on! Visit aisc.org/ideas2 to submit your entries for the 2025 IDEAS² Awards--the deadline is in just THREE weeks!

Project team:

Owner: Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority, Nashville

General contractor: HENSEL PHELPS, Nashville

Architects: Fentress Architects, Denver; TMPartners, Brentwood, Tenn.; Corgan Inc., Dallas (BNA Vision Design Architect)

Prime structural engineer: Magnusson Klemencic Associates, Seattle

Foundation engineer: Logan Patri Engineering, Inc., Nashville

Steel team:

Fabricators:

Banker Steel Company, Lynchburg, Va. *AISC full member; AISC-Certified fabricator*

Irwin Steel LLC, Justin, Texas *AISC full member; AISC-Certified fabricator*

TrueNorth Steel, Lubbock, Texas *AISC full member; AISC-Certified fabricator*

Erector: Schuff Steel, Euless, Texas *AISC full member; AISC-Certified fabricator and erector*

Bender/roller: Chicago Metal Rolled Products Company, Chicago *AISC associate member*

The success of the structural steel industry lies in the strength of the people it employs.

Whether recruiting for fab shops, offices, or jobsites, focusing on the “whys” helps you find--and retain--a dedicated, high quality workforce. Visit aisc.org/forgingloyalty for advice on recruiting, onboarding, and retaining talent from Schuff Steel Senior Vice President Christian Crosby, PE.

Interested in more workforce development resources? Head to aisc.org/workforce for steps you can take to start improving your hiring process today.

The warehouses and smokestacks of yesterday have made way for today’s stadiums and restaurants in a Columbus, Ohio neighborhood--and a new steel bridge maximizes the area’s accessibility for walkers and bikers!

The Olentangy Trail-Arena District Connector--designed by structural engineer Burgess & Niple, Inc. and fabricated by AISC member Ohio Structures, Inc.--features an inclined Vierendeel truss constructed with round tube members. The Columbus Recreation and Parks Department chose the custom truss design to honor the neighborhood’s industrial past.

Assemble the bridge for yourself with our puzzle of the week! aisc.org/puzzles

Good news! The National Steel Bridge Alliance (NSBA) and the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) have a new collaboration--and there’s already a vital resource available to streamline the way you design steel railroad bridges.

The document, “Guidelines for the Design of Steel Railroad Bridges for Constructability and Fabrication,” describes special considerations for railroad bridges in the areas of design, girders, boxes, trusses, floor systems, decks and walkways, bolting, corrosion protection systems, and construction.

It complements the recommendations given in the AREMA Manual for Railway Engineering, Chapter 15--Steel Structures, providing guidance and best practices that can lead to rail bridges that are more economical to fabricate, construct, and maintain.

Find out more about these collaborative efforts at aisc.org/nsba-arema. Ready to dive in? Download the guide at aisc.org/rrbridges.

Are you attending in Portland, Oreg. this week? Stop by booth 23, say hi to AISC’s own Yasmin Chaudhry and Hannah Valentine, and find out how AISC is fostering the latest innovations in sustainability and resilience with structural steel!

We’ll show you how you can become part of our vibrant, forward-looking steel community of designers, educators, researchers, and more.

Need one more reason to visit our booth? One lucky person will win a 16th Edition AISC Steel Construction Manual!

Have you worked on one of the best projects in America recently? You have less than ONE MONTH left to enter that project for the 2025 IDEAS² Awards!

Just a handful of projects in the country will receive the structural steel industry's top design honor next year. The IDEAS² Awards recognize outstanding projects that illustrate the exciting possibilities of structural steel in the areas of:

🏆 Engineering excellence

🏆 Architectural excellence

🏆 Adaptive reuse

🏆 Sustainability; and

🏆 Constructability.

Winners will be invited to present their project to the industry at NASCC: The Steel Conference, April 2 to 4, 2025, in Louisville, Ky. They’ll also be featured in the May 2025 issue of Modern Steel Construction magazine and in other AISC media throughout the year.

What are you waiting for? Visit aisc.org/ideas2 to start your submission today! The (rapidly approaching!) deadline is September 30.

Fabricators: Connect with your future workforce during SteelDays this October!

People can't be what they can't see--and that's crucial for teenagers figuring out their careers. SteelDays is the perfect opportunity to foster local collaboration and future recruitment opportunities.

By opening your doors for tours, demos, and educational presentations, you'll expose students to structural steel fabrication and give them a glimpse of the steady, lucrative professional options available to them outside of four-year colleges.

AISC provides resources to help you plan and execute an engaging event! Find out more about hosting--and access resources that will make your event stand out--at aisc.org/wfd-steeldays.

Curved steel and architecturally exposed structural steel (AESS) take center stage in the newest issue of Modern Steel Construction!

Visit aisc.org/msc-sept24 to browse the latest news in the structural steel industry. The September issue will give you an insider look at:

🏥 the transformation of an existing steel podium into an expanded children's hospital in Philadelphia,

🏗️ a Denver office building’s striking 12-ft AESS tower,

🌳 and a tree-like column cluster at the center of a new elementary school in Indiana.

Plus, you’ll learn 10 reasons why you should incorporate HSS into your next design and learn how to find and cultivate workforce development relationships.

Thomas M. Murray, PhD, the nation’s leading expert on the vibration design of buildings, died August 29 at the age of 84.

In addition to vibration design, he was known for his expertise on steel connections, floor system serviceability, and pre-engineered building design. He won AISC’s T.R. Higgins Lectureship Award in 1991 for his paper, “Building Floor Vibrations,” and co-authored AISC Design Guide 11: Vibrations of Steel-Framed Structural Systems Due to Human Activity.

Read more about Tom’s career and impact at aisc.org/tom-murray.

👷 When is the last time you built something this big--by hand? 🔧

In partnership with Bridges to Prosperity, NSBA-led volunteers and local crews built an 85-m footbridge near Muhanga, Rwanda this spring. The new bridge--which spans a river that becomes extremely dangerous during the rainy season--makes it safer and faster for more than 2,400 people to attend school, access health care, and buy and sell at nearby markets year-round.

See the build in action! Visit aisc.org/b2p-rwanda24 to watch a video about how this bridge is already changing lives, just months after completion.

For an extra dose of inspiration, assemble our puzzle of the week--teamwork optional!--at aisc.org/puzzles.

Do you have a visionary idea that pushes the boundary of what’s possible? Something that uses structural steel to imagine new ways people will live, work, and play in the future?

Submit it for the 2025 Forge Prize--and get in the running to win $15,000!

The Forge Prize, the AISC Architecture Center’s flagship design competition, challenges architects, educators, and students to create design concepts that embrace innovations in steel as the primary structural material.

Three finalists will each win $5,000 and work with a steel fabricator before presenting their ideas to the judges and the world, live on YouTube. The winner will receive the $10,000 grand prize and an invitation to present before an audience of the industry's best minds at the 2025 Architecture in Steel conference, April 2-4 in Louisville, Ky.

Get all the details about this year’s competition at forgeprize.com.

55 students across the U.S. are able to make their higher education dreams a reality this school year, thanks to generous donations to the AISC Education Foundation!

For the 2024-2025 academic year, the Education Foundation awarded more than $200,000 in scholarships supporting juniors, seniors, and master’s-level students in civil engineering, architectural engineering, construction engineering, materials/metallurgical engineering, construction management, and architecture programs in the U.S.

Visit aisc.org/aisc-scholarships to see the full list of recipients. Thank you to all who applied, and congratulations to the recipients!

AISC’s Need for Speed initiative met its goal--achieving a 50% reduction in the steel construction schedule!--way ahead of 2025, but we’re still only getting started.

SpeedCore, FastFloor, and SpeedConnection--three of many AISC-supported research projects--have streamlined job site installations by moving more complex work to the controlled environment of the fab shop floor. A faster construction schedule allows the industry to continue to innovate while addressing pricing pressures.

Want to know how our Need for Speed initiative continues to grow and evolve as we double down on research? Visit https://ow.ly/sByw50T7ArZ to read about the program in The Fabricator, featuring AISC’s own Vice President of Engineering and Research Chris Raebel, PhD.

Structural steel is on full display for soccer fans as they enter Nashville’s GEODIS Park.

From the 65-ft-wide concourse with fully exposed steel connections to the 360° steel canopy cantilever extending 85 ft over the upper seating bowl, the exposed steel structure honors the industrial heritage of the stadium’s neighborhood--and repeated design elements give it a constructability boost, too!

Celebrate the strength and grace of this 2024 IDEAS² Award-winning soccer stadium by assembling our puzzle of the week at aisc.org/puzzles.

Have you worked on a project in the past couple of years that deserves national attention? You have just over a month to submit it for the 2025 IDEAS² Awards! Visit aisc.org/ideas2 to start your submission today.

Fabricators--looking to inspire the next generation of skilled professionals? Make a lasting impact on high school students in your community by hosting a SteelDays event this October!

By opening your doors for tours, demos, and educational presentations, you'll expose students to structural steel fabrication and give them a glimpse of the steady, lucrative options available to them outside of four-year colleges.

Not only is this an opportunity to boost your local educational collaboration, but it's also a great way to engage your future workforce.

Find out more about hosting--and access resources that will make your event stand out--at aisc.org/wfd-steeldays.

AISC’s Innovation Scholars had a busy and productive two weeks of research and industry engagement at our Chicago headquarters!

During her residency at AISC, Ashley Thrall, PhD (second from the left) examined the intersection of modularity, redundancy, and sustainability. At the University of Notre Dame, she is the director of the Kinetic Structures Laboratory, which is dedicated to investigating the design and behavior of modular, rapidly erectable, and deployable structures, which are often, coincidentally, heavy on material use. At AISC, Thrall’s research focused on how we can harness the advantages of modularity and structural redundancy while also using less material.

Joshua Schultz, PE, PhD, LEED AP (third from the left) focused on developing simplified design tools for complex steel applications, with the goal of adapting relatively complicated design processes that require software and distilling accurate closed form equations or charts to assist engineers in early design decisions. He met with AISC engineers to discuss several papers on simplifying the design of complex steel geometry and shapes. Schultz also took the next steps to get his work in front of a wider audience, which includes adapting research for a future print and web content.

AISC is proud to have hosted Thrall and Schultz, and we can’t wait to see where their research leads next!

Visit aisc.org/innovationscholar to find out more about the Innovation Scholar program.

Now available for public review and comment--a draft of the next edition of the AISC Specification for Structural Stainless Steel Buildings (AISC 370)!

In this draft, the scope of flexural design has been extended to cover singly-symmetric I-shaped members and single angles, and updates have been made to the requirements for determining the shear strength of stainless steel bolts. Requirements have also been added for what to include in design documents and specifications in coordination with the development of another standard, AISC Code of Standard Practice for Structural Stainless Steel Buildings (AISC 313).

Visit aisc.org/publicreview by September 16 to access the draft.

Standards Under Public Review | American Institute of Steel Construction As AISC's committees develop standards, they may post drafts for public review and comment from time to time. Also, as part of AISC's ANSI-accredited standards development process, proposed standards are also posted for a formal public review and comment period. The Consensus Body Procedures for th...

At first glance, GEODIS Park stands out as an enormous structure--after all, it is the largest purpose-built soccer stadium in the U.S.

Look closer, and you’ll see one of the reasons the Nashville stadium won a 2024 IDEAS² Award for constructability: repeating minimalist steel frames that, together, tell the story of innovative and client-responsive structural engineering.

Aided by ConnecTID™ modeling, GEODIS Park’s steel delivery process combined several industry-leading activities to create a modern and streamlined construction process. It stands out as a model for the future of structural steel delivery compared to other stadiums with construction delays and cost overruns.

With such an efficient structural system and steel delivery process, the project team cut seven weeks of the overall construction schedule! This time savings allowed the Nashville Soccer Club to play the entire 2022 season at GEODIS Park, generating revenue nearly two months earlier than anticipated.

Read more about how this stadium project raises the bar for constructability and efficiency at aisc.org/geodis-park.

Project team:

Owner: Nashville Sports Authority, Nashville
Owner’s representative: CAA ICON, Denver
General contractor: Mortenson | Messer Construction Co., Nashville
Architects: Populous, Kansas City, Mo.; Hastings Architecture, Nashville
Structural engineer: Walter P Moore and Associates, Inc., Kansas City, Mo.
Steel team:
Fabricator: LeJeune Steel Co., Minneapolis *AISC full member; AISC-Certified fabricator*
Erector: LPR Construction Co., Loveland, Colo. *AISC associate member; AISC-Certified erector*
Detailer: DBM Vircon, Tempe, Ariz. *AISC associate member*