Steel Manufacturing Operations
Additional Info
Award Winner : McDonald Modular Solutions, Inc.
Architectural Excellence : A Midwestern steel manufacturer needed to update critical plant infrastructure, in addition, office space at the plant was at a premium. Plant monitoring operations were spread out over several buildings on the property and plant rebuild crews were in need of a place to shower and change at the end of a shift. A multi use building was designed to house the multiple functions of several different organizations. In addition, the modular building needed to be able to withstand the harsh environment of a steel producing facility and stand up to the riggers of round the clock use by plant rebuild and monitoring teams.
Once the five year infrastructure project is complete the building will continue to see multi shift duty as it will be converted to a permanent plant operation monitoring center and shift change building.
Cost Energy Effectiveness : The building HVAC system was designed and zoned to support the various functions of the building. A 5 ton Liebert environmental control system managed the environment in the gas tight computer control room. While the shower / locker portion of the structure had 100% fresh air intakes with economizers to condition the air prior to entering the roof mount HVAC unit.
The entire structure is engineered with motion switched lighting to minimize electrical usage. The DIG windows are fixed picture windows and tinted to minimize sun glare yet take advantage of it’s due east and west orientation maximizing ambient sunlight.
The steel plant operations control room / project management / shift change building is designed and engineered with R-19 floors. In addition the R-11 walls are further enhanced utilizing Tyvek house wrap with insulated windows and doors. The building is capped with an insulation package achieving an R-30 value.
Occupied Date : 11/14/2006
Production Start Date : 8/2/2006
Project Location City : Dearborn
Project Location State Name : MI
Technical Innovation : The new building site was over a basement from a building that had been demolished. An 18” thick reinforced concrete pad was designed for the new modular building to sit on.
The building design criteria required 9’ ceilings and had a substantial amount of mechanicals due the 5 zoned roof mount HVAC systems. To reduce transportation costs we were able to engineer the modules to ship on axles at 14’ 2” high.
In order for the structure to withstand the harsh environment of a steel manufacturing facility the building was cladded with 29 ga rib steel siding.
A temporary roof was applied at the plant, and a permanent steel truss system was erected on site. The trusses were set at 8’ on center and a purlin system supported the 22ga steel roofing.
Floors in the project management area of the building were engineered to 100 lb. live loads to support document file systems. The floors in the locker area were finished with rolled vinyl with welded seams to seal the floor surface.
Total Square Feet : 9576