News
A project completed by raSmith’s structural engineers was recently awarded a Design Excellence Award from the Cold-Formed Steel Engineers Institute (CFSEI).
The SOS Children’s Village Roosevelt Community Center (Chicago, IL) received first place in the residential awards category. SOS Children’s Village Roosevelt Community Center is an 11,000 square foot space that was completed in October 2020. This single-story building was constructed with a heavy timber post and beam frame, cross-laminated timber (CLT) panel roof and exterior cold-formed steel backup framing of metal panel veneer. It is expected to serve not only the Roosevelt Square community but more than 5,000 people from the surrounding neighborhoods. The new community center provides programs for academic, therapeutic, social and recreational support; multi-use spaces for community members to connect to public resources; and a culinary kitchen that provides a space for food and nutrition education and jobs-skills training for the hospitality industry.
raSmith designed the exterior cold-formed steel framing that supports the metal panel veneer. This included bypass framing attached to the CLT roof with deflection clips and hard clips, exterior openings and, most notably, support framing for the continuous sloping curtain walls. A small amount of interior framing for the main entry vestibule was also part of raSmith’s project scope.
About the Design Excellence Awards
CFSEI annually recognizes distinctive structural design projects utilizing cold-formed steel components. Projects are judged on their design creativity, technical innovation and overall excellence.