Hilton Columbus High Street Downtown Bridge Wins National Steel Building Award
Chicago, IL – August 25, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — The pedestrian bridge that links Columbus, Ohio’s new Hilton Columbus Downtown hotel to the adjacent Greater Columbus Convention Center across High Street, the main thoroughfare through downtown, has earned national recognition in the 2015 Innovative Design in Engineering and Architecture with Structural Steel awards program (IDEAS2). In honor of this achievement, members of the project team will be presented with awards from the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) at the bridge on Wednesday, August 26 at 3:30 p.m. The awards presentation will be held in conjunction with a special dedication ceremony of the bridge by local dignitaries. Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman is slated to attend as the event’s special guest of honor.
Conducted annually by AISC, the IDEAS2 awards recognize outstanding achievement in engineering and architecture on structural steel projects across the country. The IDEAS2 award is the highest, most prestigious honor bestowed on building projects by the structural steel industry in the U.S. and recognizes the importance of teamwork, coordination and collaboration in fostering successful construction projects.
The bridge’s project team members include:
Owner: Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority, Columbus, Ohio
Owner’s Representative: Strategic Advisory Group, Duluth, Ga.
Architect: HOK, Chicago
Structural Engineer: Halvorson and Partners, Chicago
General Contractor: Turner/Smoot joint venture, Columbus
The Hilton Columbus Downtown High Street Bridge is a Merit award winner in the category of projects Less than $15 Million, making it one of only seven projects around the country to receive the Merit honor. Each year, the IDEAS2 awards honor National and Merit award winners in three categories, based on constructed value: projects less than $15 million; projects $15 million to $75 million; and projects greater than $75 million. Each project is judged on its use of structural steel from both an architectural and structural engineering perspective, with an emphasis on: creative solutions to project’s program requirements; applications of innovative design approaches in areas such as connections, gravity systems, lateral load resisting systems, fire protection and blast; aesthetic and visual impact of the project; innovative use of architecturally exposed structural steel (AESS); technical or architectural advances in the use of the steel; and the use of innovative design and construction methods.
“This creative skeletal steel structure fully integrates environmental systems within its spine – just one of many creative solutions to the project’s challenges,” commented IDEAS2 awards judge, Peter G. Lynde, P.E. vice president and corporate director of Albert Kahn Associates, Detroit.
The 105-ft-long enclosed glass walkway is entirely supported by a single overhead steel tube and suspended ribs, and the all-glass design emphasizes physical and material lightness and visual transparency, intentionally avoiding the external, heavy-truss pedestrian bridge aesthetic found throughout the city. In fact, glass is employed as the primary material for the floors, walls, and entire enclosure of the bridge. The unitized module of the 138-ton bridge was fabricated and shipped as small components that were then assembled and glazed on site prior to lifting the entire structure into place. All building services, including air, water and lighting, are delivered through the overhead 48-in. steel tube or discretely within the glass walkway, which maximized the height of the interior space.
The IDEAS2 award dates back more than 50 years with AISC. And about this year’s winning pedestrian bridge, Roger E. Ferch, P.E., president of AISC, said, “The entire Hilton Columbus Downtown High Street Bridge project team has shown how structural steel can be used to create structures that combine beauty and practicality. The result is a pedestrian bridge that serves the city extremely well, while providing an example of what can be achieved when designing and constructing projects with steel.”
High-resolution images of the Hilton Columbus Downtown High Street Bridge project are available upon request by contacting AISC’s Tasha Weiss at 312.670.5439 or 
Hilton Columbus Bridge
Photo by Macbeth Photo
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For more information contact:
Tasha Weiss
Communications Department
(312) 670-5439
American Institute of Steel Construction
The American Institute of Steel Construction, headquartered in Chicago, is a not-for-profit technical institute and trade association established in 1921 to serve the structural steel design community and construction industry. AISC’s mission is to make structural steel the material of choice by being the leader in structural steel-related technical and market-building activities, including: specification and code development, research, education, technical assistance, quality certification, standardization, and market development. AISC has a long tradition of service to the steel construction industry of providing timely and reliable information.
One East Wacker Dr. Suite 700
Chicago IL 60601
Phone: (312) 670-2400
Fax: (312) 896-9022
www.aisc.org
