San Francisco’s new Transbay Transit Center is emerging from the ground.
Wrapping the entire perimeter of the structure is an architecturally exposed structural steel (AESS) frame which comprises the building’s seismic force resisting system – an eccentrically braced frame arrangement – fitted with cast steel nodes at each critical junction point of the EBF.
AISC Member Cast Connex was engaged by the Transbay Joint Powers Authority to provide engineering, administrative and oversight services for the AESS cast steel nodes required for this world‐class public project. Steel is being manufactured in nine states around the country. Much of it is being fitted by AISC members and AISC certified facilities in Oregon, Washington and Vallejo, Calif., where it also gets assembled to ensure that it all fits perfectly before being taken apart again and shipped to San Francisco. View a map of the various facilities.
The Transbay Transit Center is a key component in California and Bay Area transportation plans and heralded by some as the future Grand Central Station of the West. The Transit Center is estimated to serve 20 million travelers per year when it is completed in 2017.
You can view more photos from the project site on the Cast Connex blog. To follow the construction progress, visit the Transbay Center project homepage and check out its construction cameras; scroll to the bottom of the homepage for links to follow conversations about the project on social media.
Architects and engineers can learn more about how to use cast steel to achieve new aesthetics, exceptional performance, and economical buildings - and earn AIA Continuing Education learning units - by reading Structural Steel Cast Connections, a continuing education article in Architectural Record.
-- This post was contributed by Carlos de Oliveira, M.A.Sc., P.Eng., and Brian Miller of Cast Connex.