Magnificent Metal Monday

Today’s architects’ have a wealth of building options to choose from, though metal has become a hot commodity for a broad spectrum of projects whether they are full-on metal or hybrid construction.  So, why are more designers choosing metal?  Because it is sustainable, versatile, durable, energy-efficient, eco-friendly, affordable, beautiful and presents a multitude of exciting solutions.

Because architects play such a critical role in the design and build process, METALCON is thrilled to announce a new program at this year’s show called, “The Architect’s Experience at METALCON.” We are currently working with two leading companies in education and training for architects to deliver a combined education and exhibit floor experience exclusively for architects. Help spread the word to the architect community – invite your architect colleagues to join us at METALCON 2020.

Last Chance to Nominate Hall of Fame and Top Metal Builders

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https://www.metalconstructionnews.com/mcn-contests

It’s that time of year when Metal Construction News wants to hear from you! Last chance to submit 2020 Hall of Fame Nominations (deadline is TOMORROW March 13!) AND entries for 2020 Top Metal Builders (deadline is March 20!).

Magnificent Metal Monday

Frank Gehry’s Luma Arles tower; Photo credit: Dezeen and photography is by Atelier Vincent Hecht.

Frank Gehry’s New Luma Arles Tower Shines in Use of Mixed Metals

Dezeen.com reports, “Scaly aluminium cladding and projecting glass boxes wrap around Frank Gehry’s Luma Arles tower, which is nearing completion in the south of France in the City of Arles. Pritzker Prize-winning Gehry is an American-Canadian architect best known for the titanium-clad Guggenheim Museum Bilbao that opened in Spain in 1997.

Magnificent Metal Monday

METALCON honors the magnificent women in our industry as this week marks Women in Construction Week (WIC) 2020! The focus is to highlight women as a viable component of the construction industry. WIC Week also provides an occasion for NAWIC’s thousands of members across the country to raise awareness of the opportunities available for women in the construction industry and to emphasize the growing role of women in the industry. It is also a time for local chapters to give back to their communities.

The National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) was founded in 1953 as Women in Construction of Fort Worth, Texas. Seeing that women represented only a fraction of the construction industry workforce, 16 women founded NAWIC to create a support network for others like themselves. Women in Construction of Fort Worth was so successful that it gained its national charter in 1955 and became the National Association of Women in Construction. Today, NAWIC provides its members with opportunities for professional development, education, networking, leadership training, public service and more.

NAWIC Chapters nationwide are hosting special activities all week. Check out the calendar of events on NAWIC’s Facebook page.

MCA Announces 2019 Chairman Award Winners

Winner of Overall Excellence and Commercial/Industrial

As reported by DesignandBuildwithMetal.com, the Metal Construction Association (MCA) has recognized North America’s most outstanding metal construction projects of 2019. Winners in six categories were announced at MCA’s Winter Meeting Awards Dinner held last month. This year’s judging panel of distinguished architects included James Theimer, Principal Architect, Trilogy Architecture; Mark Roddy, Lecturer in the Department of Design, California State University, Sacramento; and Erik Mehlman, Partner and Design Lead at BuildSense | Architecture + Construction.

The Chairman’s Awards go to the most exceptional buildings involving MCA member companies. The criteria include overall appearance, significance of metal in the project, innovative use of metal, and the role of metal in achieving project objectives. Here are the winners:

Magnificent Metal Monday

Photo Credit: Ronstan Tensile Architecture

Green is the new black in building facades. Builders are turning to steel and metal cables and grids to create vertical gardens and green facades. According to ArchDaily‘s recent article, “Using the vertical plane to maintain plants in an urban setting is a coherent and common-sense solution, especially when there is little possibility of bringing green to the level of the people on the streets.”

3D Printing Takes a Huge Leap Forward in Metal Construction

LASIMM went live in January 2019; Photo Credit: Lasimm

Redshift by Autodesk reports in their recent article, “Massive Hybrid Manufacturing Machine in Europe Pushes Boundaries of 3D Printing,” that a new machine is now designed to 3D-print metal parts and structures for construction as large as 2 meters in diameter (6.5 feet) and up to 6 meters long (over 19 feet long) and 2,000 kilograms (4,409 pounds) in weight. 

Viva Las Vegas for METALCON’S 30th

Vegas’ Cirque du Soleil new first live action thriller R.U.N at Luxor Hotel and Casino

It’s been three years since METALCON’s last show in Las Vegas, and we can’t think of a better place to celebrate the show’s milestone 30th anniversary! METALCON 2020 will take place October 21-23, 2020, in the Las Vegas Convention Center. The headquarter hotel will once again be the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino, conveniently located adjacent to the convention center. If you are a frequent visitor to Vegas, you know the destination is always reinventing itself and creating new experiences for visitors. Here is a list of “what’s new” according to VisitLasVegas.com:

Magnificent Metal Monday

Architect Renzo Piano’s orb-shaped, glass-domed theater building, which with a transformed May Co. building will form the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

“And the Oscar goes to” … if you tuned into last night’s award’s ceremony, you may have seen Tom Hanks giving a preview of the $388-million dollar Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, scheduled to open in December 2020. Designed by Pritzker-Prize winning architect Renzo Piano with Renzo Piano Building Workshop and Gensler, the new museum will be situated on the famed “Miracle Mile,” and will preserve and breathe new life into the former 1939 May Company department store, now re-named the Saban Building.

2020 State of the Industry

Metal Construction News has released their “2020 State of the Industry.” This year’s report highlights views from five industry professionals who examine how the industry will move forward into the next decade. They look at the uncertainty that is creeping into the market, and not just on the economics side, increasing sophistication of projects, improved technologies and more demanding clients which are forcing everyone in the industry to rethink and reevaluate their processes.

Magnificent Metal Monday

Credit: Rainier Square/NBBJ

Construction of the 850-foot-tall, $570 million-to-$600 million Rainier Square Tower in Seattle is turning out to be a proving ground for innovation.

According to Construction Dive, “Aluminum components are being 3D printed with the resulting v-shaped nodes and connected squares of curtain wall forming a dramatic slope from the fourth to 40th floors. Aside from the impressive aesthetic, this method of production can also more easily accommodate last-minute changes.”

The article goes on to explain, “Structural engineer Magnusson Klemencic Associates (MKA) started out planning to use a reinforced concrete core for the building, said firm CEO Ron Klemencic, and about halfway into the project, it was clear that the tower would be too expensive and was going to take too long to build, making it economically unfeasible for the building’s owner, developer Wright Runstad & Co.” So after tabling the project for over a year, they needed an idea that would “jumpstart the project without busting the budget.”

Metal Roofing Home Improvement Trends for 2020

Example of bold metal roof color; photo credit: MRA

According to the Metal Roofing Alliance (MRA), coping with climate extremes, getting creative and achieving better, longer-lasting performance that adds more ROI for the home improvement dollar are all top of mind for U.S. and Canadian homeowners this year. MRA reports that the top five key style and performance trends in the U.S. and Canada include:

• Trend #1: Show of Strength
• Trend #2: Mix & Match
• Trend #3: Save by Zero
• Trend #4: Hi-Fi Contrast
• Trend #5: Sky’s the Limit

Magnificent Metal Monday

While others may be skiing on snow-capped mountains this winter, residents of Copenhagen may be skiing on the roof of a building! Making the “top ten list of innovative buildings of 2019” by New Atlas, CopenHill (aka Amager Bakke), by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), is a waste-to-energy power plant AND a ski slope that opened last year in Copenhagen, Denmark. Eleven years in the making, the building showcases the architectural firm’s trademark ingenuity and out-of-the-box thinking.

Make your Voice Heard in Contractor Survey

Each year, Metal Construction News (MCN) publishes a survey of the industry, looking at the results of the previous year and speculating on the upcoming year. Your views will impact how metal building product manufacturers think about metal building products and your purchasing. Take the survey today! (PS – enter your e-mail address at the end of the survey to be entered into a drawing for a $100 American Express Gift Card!)

Metal Construction News is a partner publication of METALCON and the sponsor of METALCON’s official show guide at the annual tradeshow.

Looking Back at the Best of 2019

Opus; Photo Credit: Zaha Hadid Architects

Before we move too far into the New Year, let’s take one more look back at 2019. Last month, <a href="https://www.archdaily.com/tag/adtopic-2019-year-review?ad_name=flyout&ad_medium=categories?utm_medium=email&utm_source=ArchDaily%20List&utm_campaign=monthly&utm_term=<ArchDaily published their “<a href="https://www.archdaily.com/tag/adtopic-2019-year-review?ad_name=flyout&ad_medium=categories?utm_medium=email&utm_source=ArchDaily%20List&utm_campaign=monthly&utm_term=<2019 in Review” article, which included 15 various “best of” comprehensive features. Everything from The Best Architecture Projects of 2019 According to Time Magazine, to What 2019 Meant for 3D Printing in Architecture, the Best Articles of 2019 to The Most Inspiring Architecture Photographs of 2019 (my personal favorite). Other notables included Best Houses of 2019, a compilation of the most visited residential projects published on their website, and 2019’s Biggest Developments in Landscape Architecture, which showcases how landscape architecture is shaping public life in the built environment. 

Magnificent Metal Monday

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  Before; photo credit: DesignandBuildwithMetal

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  After; photo credit: DesignandBuildwithMetal

Who doesn’t love a good potato chip? MMM travels to Barnstable, MA, this week to highlight the fresh look that the Cape Cod Potato Chip facility recently did to their nearly 40-year-old facility. With its growing popularity, Cape Cod Potato Chips has seen its annual number of visitors expand to more than 250,000 and wanted a look as unique as the taste of its kettle cooked chips. To do so, they turned to McElroy Metal to do an exterior renovation with ribbed metal wall panels.

MMM – Most Anticipated Architectural Projects for 2020

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  Credit: Studiogang.com

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  Credit: Studiogang.com

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  Credit: 111W57.com

For Magnificent Metal Monday, let’s look ahead into the New Year with ArchDaily’s Top 20 Most Anticipated Projects for 2020. Designed across a wide range of scales, they represent a mix of interconnected landscapes, museums, and the world’s newest skyscrapers located across five continents, with many under construction for multiple years. Three of these projects are new skyscrapers joining the skylines of three major US cities including Chicago, San Francisco and New York.

Perforated Panels, Bright Colors, Cantilevers oh my! More Metal Design Trends for the New Year

Central Library in Austin, Texas used perforated anodized aluminum as a central façade design element; Credit: Metal Architecture.

Paul Deffenbaugh, Editorial Director of Metal Construction News, shares his views on the the latest in metal design trends. Mr. Deffenbaugh sits on the judging panels of several design awards and listens as they discuss the merits and qualities of some of the most exciting architectural designs in the world. He says, “Over the last couple of years, we have identified a handful of design trends in the metal construction industry.” They include: use of perforated materials inside and out, use of bright colors, use of cantilevered planes, increase in customization, and how fabricators and installers are becoming linchpins in the construction team.

MRA Predicts Top Trends in Metal Roofing for 2020

Photo courtesy of McElroy Metal; Metal Construction News

Featured in the November 22 issue of Metal Construction News, “MRA (Metal Roofing Alliance) Predicts Metal Roofing Trends for 2020.” According to the MRA, “metal roofing is an idea whose time has finally come.” They focused on the top five style and performance trends in the U.S. and Canada:

Show of Strength – Toughening up the home’s exterior to be better prepared for extreme climate changes. “Delicate detailing is out, while the use of heartier exterior features that offer an almost fortress-like feel and are meant to show off a home’s rugged resiliency are more popular than ever.” Metal roofs designed to mimic slate are especially on trend, helping homes achieve a substantial, natural look while delivering serious, low-maintenance and reliable performance.

Industry News Round-Up

Here’s a round up of some top industry stories from this week:

CONSTRUCTION DIVE MODULAR BUILDER OF THE YEAR: SKENDER.

Chicago-based Skender, a traditional construction firm for 64 years that’s now primarily known as a modular builder, says it’s on the cusp of a proposition that is as efficient a business model as the industry can imagine. From Construction Dive’s point of view, Skender offers the most promising

MCN Announces Winners of the 2019 Building and Roofing Awards

The Grand Award winner in the 2019 Metal Construction News Building & Roofing Awards is the Clear Lake Recreation & Wellness Center at The University of Houston, Clear Lake, Texas.

After several months of submissions and judging, Metal Construction News has announced the winners of their 2019 Metal Construction News Building & Roofing Awards.

• Grand Award: Clear Lake Recreation & Wellness Center, The University of Houston, Clear Lake, Texas
• Metal Buildings: Drivers Club, Redmond, Wash.
• Judges Award: Calgary Central Library, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
• New Metal Roofs: Viking Lakes Canopy, Eagan, Minn.
• Retrofit Metal Roofs: Steeple Square, Dubuque, Iowa
• Judges Award: Facebook MPK21 Building, Menlo Park, Calif.
• New Metal Walls: 108 Chambers, New York City
• Retrofit Metal Walls: Pier 17, New York City

Metal Forming Market is Booming

Earlier this year, FluidForming Americas  predicted that, “Despite new tariffs and labor shortfalls, the strong 2018 metal forming market will likely continue well into 2019. In fact, the global metal stamping market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.9% from 2018 to reach 289.2 billion (USD) by 2023 (Research and Markets).”

Magnificent Metal Monday

Camp Adventures Forest Tower in Denmark. EFFEKT Architects / Camp Adventure

Earlier this year, a 150-foot spiral observation deck opened in Denmark and is being touted as an “architectural masterpiece.” Made of a naturally weathered corten steel and locally sourced oak, the structure was designed to blend in with its natural surroundings, but its giant, twisting frame is certainly a sight to behold for those who happen upon it. Time Magazine has named it to its 2019 list of top 100 places to visit in the world!

Located less than one hour’s drive south of Copenhagen, Camp Adventures Forest Tower is a hulking, nearly 150-foot tall spiral tower nestled in the Gisselfeld Klosters Forest. It offers visitors a 360-degree view over the trees, hills, lakes and meadows that make up the natural landscape. The tower and boardwalk opened to the public at the end of March and welcomed more than 2,500 visitors on its first day.

For more on the tower’s architecture and how it was constructed, click HERE.

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  Photos courtesy of Dezeen

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METALCON 2019 – UPDATE ALERT

With only three (business) days to go until we officially open METALCON 2019, here are some exciting show updates regarding the CONTECH technology hub, conference schedule and the METALCON APP. METALCON 2019 is taking place in the “Steel City” of Pittsburgh next week, October 16-19, 2019!

CONTECH

We are excited to announce that technology companies, Dronegenuity and Felux, have been added to further enhance this new feature at METALCON.

Did someone say Crystal Ball? IMPACT 2030 will be featured at METALCON 2019

As a leading industry voice, PSMJ Founder and CEO Frank A. Stasiowski examines the state of our industry today and reveals the disrupters that will radically alter it by 2030. Just as a far-off earthquake can cause a Tsunami, forces and trends building now will shake the traditional design industry. In his best-selling book, IMPACT 2030, Frank outlines how demographics, globalization, government expansion, and technology advances can benefit firms that plan ahead — and be devastating for those that don’t prepare.

“Postcard Pittsburgh: An Urban Renewal of an Underrated American City”

As the expression goes, “timing is everything!” Published this week by ArchDaily.com in partnership with Metropolis, they provide us with an in-depth look at Pittsburgh … home of METALCON 2019! In two weeks, thousands of exhibitors and attendees in the metal construction industry will gather in the “Steel City” for the first time in its 29 year show history. Chosen for its illustrious history in the steel and metal making industry, Pittsburgh was also selected as this year’s show location based on many of the items cited in this article. In their latest volume of Imagining the Modern: Architecture and Urbanism of Pittsburgh Renaissance, editors Chris Grimley, Michael Kubo, and Rami el Samahy explore the reasons behind the Pittsburgh’s revival earning a status of “renaissance“.

METALCON 2019 – NEWS UPDATE

The following news was released to the national media this week. A special panel discussion featuring women in metal and roofing will be held on Wednesday, October 16 at 1:00 pm at METALCON 2019, taking place at Pittsburgh’s David L. Lawrence Convention Center. For the full news release, see below or click HERE.

Metal Construction Association Announces Formation of MCM Alliance

Photo credit: Metal Construction Association

As reported by DesignandBuildWithMetal.com this week, “The Metal Construction Association (MCA) has created a new group focused on increasing awareness of Metal Composite Material (MCM) for the architectural building envelope. The MCM Alliance supports product performance testing, initiates research, and promotes education and actions to influence public policies for the utilization and growth of MCM in the marketplace.”

MMM – Scotland’s Falkirk Wheel – an Engineering Marvel

The Falkirk Wheel; photo credit: Wikipedia

Magnificent Metal Monday travels “across the pond” today to highlight Scotland’s Falkirk Wheel, the only fully rotating boat lift in the world. According to UK based Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), the wheel was built as part of the £85.4m Millennium link project to reunite the Forth and Clyde and Union Canals in Scotland. The canals had previously been linked by a staircase of 11 locks which took nearly a day to pass through. The locks were dismantled in 1933. Before the Falkirk Wheel was constructed, it wasn’t possible to get from the Union Canal to the Forth and Clyde by boat. It now takes about 10 minutes for a boat to be lifted from the Forth and Clyde to the aqueduct 24m above that leads to the Union Canal. The Wheel opened in 2002.

Deadline to Submit Entry for MCN Building and Roofing Awards Next Week

SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY HERE

Metal Construction News is a partner publication of METALCON 2019 and the sponsor of the Official Show Guide. With less than five weeks to go, REGISTER TODAY to join us in Pittsburgh and participate in the largest event in North America dedicated to metal in design and construction!