Architecturally Exposed Structural Steel (AESS)

This teaching aid addresses a specific type of steel construction that highlights some unique
attributes of steel as a structural material to demonstrate the flexibility steel provides to the
architect. The objective of the presentation is to insure that the project team understands the
impact of the choice of AESS on the construction of the project. While the focus of the
presentation is the management of projects using AESS, it also addresses many issues that are
relevant in general steel construction and management.

It is important to note that much exposed steel is not defined as Architecturally Exposed
Structural Steel. When the AESS designation is used in the plans and specifications the
provisions of Chapter 10 of the AISC Code of Standard Practice for Steel Buildings and Bridges
are required. These may be modified by the designer to impose more or less strict requirements
for fabrication and erection. An issue of critical importance to the project team is that the
expected quality is clear to all parties when the steel contractors are preparing their bid. A team
of designers and constructors in Colorado [1] developed guidelines for describing, estimating
and specifying desired AESS results to help improve this communication with the goal of
reducing disputes.

Summary of Slide Notes:

Slide 2: Note the instructions for enabling Macros which are used in several slides. Clicking the
Reset Macros button will automatically set the parameters on slides with macros back to their
default values when the slide is opened.

Slide 3: Orient railway station, Lisbon, Portugal

Architect: Santiago Calatrava

Slide 4: Airport terminal, Lyon, France

Architect: Santiago Calatrava

Slide 5: Roof of the Santa Fe Opera Theatre, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Architects: Polshek Partnership, LLP

Slide 6: Note that much exposed steel is not designated as AESS. Some of the exposed steel
examples shown in this presentation, while being good examples of architectural uses of exposed
steel, were not designated as AESS.
The Code of Standard Practice is included with the presentation materials.

Slide 8: Introductory slide for Slides 9 – 17

Slide 9: Portland International Airport (PDX) Roadway Canopy and Pedestrian Bridges,
Portland, Oregon
Architects: Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership
Slide 10: Gaylord Opryland Hotel Texas, Lake Grapevine near Dallas, TX
Architects: Hnedak Bobo Group, Memphis, TN
Photo by Glen Patterson

Slide 11: Upper-Left

Lindhout Associates Headquarters, Brighton, MI
Architects: Lindhout Associates

Lower-Right
Herman Miller Marketplace, Zeeland, MI
Architects: Integrated Architecture, Grand Rapids, MI
Photo by Hedrick Blessing

Slide 12: The United Airlines Terminal, Chicago, IL

Architects: Murphy/Jahn and A. Epstein & Sons Int’l

Slide 14: Mashantucket Pequot Museum, Ledyard, CT

Architect: Polshek & Partners, New York, NY.
Fabricator: Cives Steel Company
Erector: The Berlin Steel Company

Slide 15: The joint in the right photo has been welded. The joint will be finished by grinding
and application of Devon Plastic Steel 10240 Adhesive.

Slide 16: Hawaii Convention Center

Architects: LMN Architects with Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo

Northwest Community Hospital Wellness Center, Arlington Heights, Illinois

Architects: OWP&P Architects

Slide 18: Introductory slide for Slides 19 – 36

SEAC – Structural Engineers Association of Colorado
RMSCA – Rocky Mountain Steel Construction Association

Slide 20: A pdf file of the Article was included with the presentation materials. Much of the
information in this presentation is taken directly from that reference. The instructor may wish to
make copies available to students for reference.

Slide 22: This is a photograph of a sample board. Enlarged, clearer pictures are presented in
later slides.

Slide 24: A more readable version of this matrix can also be found in the Article [1]. This slide
is intended to highlight the major sections.

Slide 26: This flowchart was adapted from Ref [2]

Slide 28: Introductory slide for Slides 29 – 32

Slide 36: Instructions for interactive “Cost Impact Illustrator.”

AESS is being considered for a nominal $10 million project. Entering the percent of AESS on
the project, percentage of cost applied to steel operations, and the expected cost premiums in the
blue-gray boxes will show the impact on the overall project cost.

The baseline, default project has no AESS. The total cost of the structural steel is $1,000,000 –
10% of the total project cost. All Other project costs make up the other $9,000,000. The steel
cost is divided into 40% for Fabrication, 40% for Erection and 20% for other operations. To
consider the cost impact if 20% of the steel members were to be designated as AESS, enter 20
for Percent AESS Members. Modify the AESS Fabrication Premium and AESS Erection
Premium, as desired. With 75% as the default premiums, the AESS members are expected to cost
75% more to fabricate and 75% more to erect than standard, non-AESS members. Click the
Calculate button to find the total project cost with 20% AESS to be $10,120,000 or an additional
1.2%. The Reset button changes all values back to the baseline case. The user can modify any
values in the blue-gray boxes.

Slides 39 - 41 present detailed discussion of requirements taken from the Code of Standard
Practice and SEAC/RMSCA documents. Click on the button on the left side of the form to
display an illustration then select the information source desired under the picture.

Slide 42: Introductory slide for Slides 43 – 54

Slide 48: Click buttons for complete specification language. Click again to hide text.
See also the CSI 2004 MasterFormat Section 05 12 13 Architecturally Exposed Structural Steel
Framing

Slide 49: Click buttons for complete specification language. Click again to hide text.

Slide 53: The temporary connections are used to support the members during erection. The
parts protruding beyond the HSS member are removed and replaced with a suitable piece of an
HSS section and finished. The cost to finish these temporary connections is substantial so
construction planning should permit as much assembly to be completed in the shop as possible
given restrictions on the member sizes that can be shipped. Designers should also be aware of
shipping restrictions. A good rule of thumb is that the part must fit in a 10 foot by 10 foot by 100
foot box. Clicking the slide changes the picture on the left to demonstrate how the finished
connection should look.