A group’s communications

Engineering News Record (ENR) magazine recently announced the winners of its first annual Best of the Best Awards, which recognizes construction and design excellence in projects across the U.S. The Newseum, an interactive museum dedicated to the newsgathering trade, took first place in the Cultural Buildings category.

Structal-Heavy Steel Construction obtained the contract, worth close to CA$16 million, from general contractor Turner Construction for the fabrication and erection of the 548,957 sq. ft. (51,000 m²) building. The Newseum is located between the White House and the United States Capitol in downtown Washington, D.C.

One of the most spectacular features of this building is the towering, freestanding stairway that is formed from a 69-ft. (21.3 m) folded steel column. Other components fabricated for this project include 56-ft. (17 m) vertical trusses composed of plate assemblies, twin trusses designed with web members sitting outside the plane of the upper and lower chords as well as vertical Vierendeel trusses, which were installed along the entire height of the seven story building. All of the components are architecturally exposed.

The shop drawings were entirely drafted by Technyx, a business unit of Canam Group. “The Newseum was the first project to be undertaken by the St. Georges (Quebec) and Brasov (Romania) offices using Tekla Structures,” specified Sébastien Grondin, chief drafter, heavy structural steel. “The main challenge rested in the numerous architectural details and the size of the components. A total of 3,770 shop drawings were prepared by 22 drafters in the scope of this project.

Congratulations to everyone who took part in the Newseum project!


The components of the cantilevered stairway, which can be seen from the outside, were fabricated at the St. Gédéon de Beauce plant in Quebec.