Airplane Assembly Plant

2012 Design Award Winner

Location
North Charleston, SC

Structural Engineer
CMC Cary Engineering

Architect
BRPH

Steel Joist Manufacturer
CMC Joist & Deck

Steel Fabricator
CMC South Carolina Steel and FabArc

Boeing’s new factory in North Charleston, SC is 697,000sf with a 1,037′ x 640′ column free factory floor. The 640′ clear span roof supports four 40 ton under-hung crane carriers with twelve different crane bridges. The factory area has a clear height of 87′. The assembly floor is book-ended by 75’x1,000′ x 5 story towers that house office and factory support services. The column free area can support (11) football fields.

The roof structure is comprised of open web joists spanning between sway trusses. The sway trusses span 100′ and are supported by the main trusses. The building is comprised of 18,000 tons of structural steel. It was designed, fabricated and erected in 10 months.

Using a steel joist system enabled the erector to panelize much of the roof structure. This allowed most of the work to be down near the ground level and expedited the erection schedule.

JetBlue Airways Airport Terminal

Transportation

This project provided a complete unit airline terminal with 28 gates and 465,000 total square feet of area. Joist framing for the roof structures allowed the designers to design a maximum performance framing system with absolute minimum weight and cost. Open web joists and joist girders were used throughout with moment connections allowing these elements to be used in some locations as a part of the lateral load resisting system. Large (up to 80,000 pound) air handling units are supported on roof structures using paired open web joists. In the main ticketing hall the repetitive use of a single profile open web joist allowed the architect to express the structural system as an architectural element.

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Car Wash

Transportation

In an effort to create a more organic feel, open-web bowstring joists were utilized to keep an open feeling beneath canopies, while creating architectural interest. Bowstring trusses were also used on the interior roof structure, in order minimize construction costs while matching the profile of the more costly tube steel trusses, on the exterior of the structure.

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Airport Ballroom Expansion

Transportation

This project included the addition of a ballroom and improved food service preparation areas to be completed for the 2014 Super Bowl. 60DLH joists up to 70 ft long created the roof for the structure and also supported a complex system of loads below.

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