Cancer Center

Project Team

Structural Engineer: Jay Kleven, PE (EAPC)
Owner: Dan Beauchamp, (Altru Health Systems)
Architect: Wayne, Dietrich, AIA (EAPC)
General Contractor: Construction Engineers
Steel Joist Manufacturer: Vulcraft
Steel Detailer: Ben's Tool & Iron
Steel Fabricator: Ben's Tool & Iron
Steel Erector: Anderson Steel

Project Type: Non-Industrial

Project Description

The project is located in Grand Forks, ND on Columbia Road, which is one of two primary north/south arterial highways that run entirely through the primary commercial district of the city. The client, a community-based health care center and hospital, needed to expand their existing cancer therapy center. As part of their marketing plan, they also wanted to develop a more visible and monumental presence for the center. The primary public entrance faces east onto Columbia Road, which gave the client a perfect location for the visibility they were seeking. The project consisted of three separate additions to the existing cancer center, one of which is the public entrance canopy that faces Columbia Road, where steel joists were used, and a large interior renovation. The Cancer Center is the only radiation and chemotherapy cancer treatment center in Grand Forks and it serves a wide regional patient base. The patients need an entry area that is easy to locate and use. The goal of high visibility and convenient use required a large canopy area with limited use of columns. The owner had a very specific financial plan that required a specific amount of new treatment area, and a specific and non-negotiable capital budget. The canopy could be built with only the funds that remain after the treatment areas were designed. The resulting funds available for the canopy necessitated a simple economical structure without sacrificing the original design concept (size, elevation, and basic barrel roof form) of the canopy.

What Makes This Project Interesting

The project was interesting in that it required careful planning, cost control, design, and construction in order to meet the unwavering aesthetic requirements with the uncertain budget allocation for the canopy. This required optimization of the framing so the exterior finishes could be kept to their high quality standards. Also, the canopy had a long back-span to carry the back side of the canopy over the entry by approximately 10-0". It was also the first local use of a circular top chord steel joist in the Grand Forks community. Lastly, it did not have any large above-grade piers, masonry, concrete, or walls from which lateral support could be provided. A Moment Frame was used to provide lateral stability in each orthogonal axis.
 

Advantages Of The Chosen Structural System

Three framing options were investigated: 1) Two fabricated primary steel trusses placed on the east and west ends of the canopy parallel to and forming the roof slope to support K-series joists spaced perpendicular to the curve of the roof 2) Hot-rolled beams at the north and south sides of the canopy that support the curved top chord joists. 3) Plant precast hollow core plank supporting a "retrofit" metal roof system. Option 2 utilizing the curved top chord trusses was clearly the preferred system that offered several advantages. The use of steel joists and hot-rolled steel shapes provided the optimal balance of low-cost, ease and speed of construction, ability for efficient long spans, potential for uniquely dimensioned structures. In particular, the high depth span ratio of the circular top chord joists dictated by the architectural requirements allowed for very light joists that could effectively resist gravity loads and wind uplift loading. Also, the structural engineers were very confident that joists would be easier and more economical and quicker to fabricate and ship than primary roof trusses fabricated from hot-rolled shapes in option 1. Lastly, the experience of the steel joist manufacturers and suppliers who provide joists into the Grand Forks market was a resource the structural engineer could trust to provide accurate design-phase budget costs and to help make the canopy construction move without delay.

Project Scope

The owner had a very specific financial plan that required a specific amount of new treatment area, and a specific and non-negotiable capital budget. The canopy could be built with only the funds that remain after the treatment areas were designed. • steel beam-column moment frames • curved top chors roof joists • standing seam metal roof laid on top of the structural steel decking • EPDM roof membrane, exterior insulated finish system (EIFS), brick and stone clad veneers around the moment frame columns, metal soffit panbels suspended off of cold-formed steel (CFS) framings which in turn were supported by the roof joists.

Project Details

Project Construction Cost: 3,093,500
Joist cost, including fabrication and erection: 100,000
Size (square ft.): 19,712
Joist area (square ft.): 2,091
Joist engineering to delivery (# days): 8-10 weeks
Joist erection (# days): 1 month

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