In the case of the Ford Building, chevron braces are located at the end of the building starting above the second floor. At the second floor, horizontal bracing placed under the floor framing transfers the lateral loads from the chevron braced frames in the end walls to concrete core shear walls at the center and at each end of the building. The ground floor perimeter walls are free of vertical bracing, in order to suit the owner’s requirements.
To erect the Ford Building, the building plan was divided into four quadrants. The erection proceeded in a vertical spiral pattern from quadrant to quadrant. The composite steel floor deck followed after the erection of the primary steel with the other sub-trades following the decking by two weeks or less. According to Brian Thompson, Project Manager for M&G Steel; “This method of erection allowed for completion of the erection phase in the short spacer of two months (August and September 2001)”. A 33 m tall feature wall and large canopy of galvanized steel was installed at Ford in January of 2002. A total of 1236 tons of structural steel and 40 tons of open web steel joists were erected.For more information, see Advantage Steel, Issue No. 16, Fall 2002. |