Masonry Magazine January 1979 Page.30
SOCIAL SECURITY HEADQUARTERS
continued from page 29
Smoot's previous masonry contracts in the area include the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, the District of Columbia Court House, both in Washington, D.C., and the General Electric Appliance Park East of Columbia, Md.
Executive vice president Lewis R. Smoot praised the many companies involved in the mammoth SSA project for their "efficiency and overall cooperation in meeting construction schedules while maintaining quality standards."
Companies working alongside Smoot and Wheeling Corrugating included the Gilbane Building Co. of Providence, R.I., and Parametric, Inc. of Washington, D.C., in a joint venture with Gilbane for construction management, and R. E. Linder Steel Erection Co. of Baltimore, Md., which erected the steel panels fabricated by Alumisteel Corp. of Troy, N.Y.
The project was conceived five years ago by the U.S. General Services Administration, which commissioned a team of planners, masonry specialists, and steel manufacturers to develop a totally new inexpensive yet flexible-brick wall/steel systems approach to meet the Social Security Administration's space and manpower needs.
Following construction of an "in-system" steel superstructure in 1974, planners began the search for exterior wall materials compatible with large, loadbearing wall systems in accordance GSA specificatins. Marble, concrete and granite were among the materials considered, but economics forced planners to look elsewhere.
Moving from drawing board to actual implementation opened a number of problems not previously answered. Smoot reports: "One of those concerns was to ensure that there were allowances made for the dead load factor produced by filing cabinets, books and people once the structure is in operation. We called in our staff team and were able to solve the deflection problem."
After delivery to the construction site, the brick panels were fitted with handling brackets, lifted from the trailers in preplanned sequence, and hoisted into position with the erector's 150-ton mobile "DEMAG crane.
Completed panels, each weighing an average of 15,000 pounds, were prefabricated in a Baltimore warehouse under controlled conditions. They were then hauled outside, stored, and sequenced while braced in steel carriages before transporting to the job site.
30 MASONRY/NOVEMBER/DECEMBER, 1979
Also working on the original design was project architect Robert Henry of New York City-based Welton Beckett Associates, in a joint venture with three other New York firms: the Eggars Group, the Grad Partnership, and Jaros. Baum and Booles.
Working with Smoot and representatives of Wheeling Corrugating and Alumisteel, Henry designed a loadbearing, self-supporting shell composed of brick and light gauge steel panels that stand independent of the steel superstructure. Weight loads were to be transmitted to the foundation for greater stability. Plans called for brick and steel panels to be hoisted into position along the in-system boundary, a steel crossbeam which is part of the steel superstructure.
Said Henry: "We selected light gauge steel because of the light weight, availability, ease of handling and erection, and low cost, which included total construction, prefabrication, labor and maintenance." He added that light weight steel, used in this special highrise application, is "durable enough to withstand the stress of the loadbearing system."
Exhaustive efforts, resulting in reams of shop drawings by the Camber Group of Troy, N.Y., a subsidiary of Alumisteel, reached fruition in August 1977, when Wheeling-Pittsburgh began delivering steel studs to Alumisteel's shop in Troy. There, certified welders followed extremely tight tolerances in prefabricating the 1,082 panels used in the exterior wall system.