The owners of the new Star Wash car wash in South Jordan, Utah, had two major requests of its Building Team:
1. Design an economical facility that fits its setting at the base of the Wasatch Range, a 160-mile-long stretch of mountains slicing through central Utah.
2. Make the car wash eco-friendly.
Nichols-Naylor Architects, Salt Lake City, gave the 11,600-sf facility (with an additional 3,400 sf of covered canopies) an organic shape with two distinctive arched roofs and open-web bowstring trusses and steel joists that mimic the mountain’s peaks and valleys—and grab the attention of passing motorists on one of the area’s busiest thoroughfares.
Open-web bowstring trusses and steel joists were also used on the interior roof to match the arched profile of the exterior canopies. “Anytime you have different arched chords or use bowstring trusses, the coordination of the job is more difficult,” says Brad Hardy, operations manager with Steel Encounters, the project’s steel detailer.
Of course, it would have been easier for Hardy’s team had the architects and BHB Consulting Engineers, South Salt Lake, designed and engineered one large arched roof spanning the entire structure, but their design instead incorporated two roof structures coming off the building at different angles and at different elevations—one roof is eight feet higher than the other. The Steel Encounters team wound up designing 9,700 sf of arched chord trusses and joists to match the exact profiles the architect wanted. “It was definitely more of a challenge doing it this way,” says Hardy. “Each joist is different, each has to be specifically designed and engineered. You can’t pull one off a shelf and put up the building.”
Fortunately, these design complications didn’t add to construction or erection costs. The open-web steel trusses, in addition to serving an aesthetic purpose, were actually an economical alternative to more costly steel tube trusses. They also helped contribute to the owner’s request for an eco-friendly facility because they incorporated more than 99% recycled material and were fabricated by Legacy Steel, Salt Lake City, and manufactured by Vulcraft, Brigham City, Utah, two firms located within 100 miles of the job site. Steel erection was performed by C&C Steel Erectors, Springville, Utah.
The recycled steel was just one of several green elements used in the $1.2 million project. Eighty-five percent of the wash water used in the two interior wash bays is recycled, 60 photovoltaic panels supply 15% of the building’s electricity, and the facility’s heating comes from burning waste oil from an oil-change facility on the property.
The Star Wash car wash was recently named a 2010 Design Award Winner by the Steel Joist Institute (http://steeljoist.org), which ranked the project tops in its “Unique Application” category.
Related Stories
| Sep 7, 2014
Behind the scenes of integrated project delivery — successful tools and applications
The underlying variables and tools used to manage collaboration between teams is ultimately the driving for success with IPD, writes CBRE Healthcare's Megan Donham.
| Sep 7, 2014
Ranked: Top military sector AEC firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Balfour Beatty, Fluor, and HDR top BD+C's rankings of the nation's largest military sector design and construction firms, as reported in the 2014 Giants 300 Report.
| Sep 5, 2014
First Look: Zaha Hadid's Grace on Coronation towers in Australia
Zaha Hadid's latest project in Australia is a complex of three, tapered residential high-rises that have expansive grounds to provide the surrounding community unobstructed views and access to the town's waterfront.
| Sep 4, 2014
Ranked: Top courthouse sector AEC firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Fentress Architects, Tutor Perini, and AECOM top BD+C's rankings of design and construction firms with the most revenue from courthouse facilities, as reported in the 2014 Giants 300 Report.
| Sep 4, 2014
Hospital CEOs, architects sound off on state of healthcare design
Healthcare construction will continue to feel the effects of radical changes in the delivery of care, according to healthcare leaders attending the annual Summer Leadership Summit of the American College of Healthcare Architects and the AIA Academy of Architecture for Health.
| Sep 4, 2014
Best of education design: 11 projects win AIA CAE architecture awards [slideshow]
The CAE Design Excellence Award honors educational facilities that the jury believes should serve as an example of a superb place in which to learn. Projects range from a design school in Maryland to an elementary school in Washington.
Sponsored | | Sep 4, 2014
Learning by design: Steel curtain wall system blends two school campuses
In this the new facility, middle school and high school classroom wings flank either side of the auditorium and media center. A sleek, glass-and-steel curtain wall joins them together, creating an efficient, shared space. SPONSORED CONTENT
| Sep 4, 2014
Strong industry growth could be slowed by skilled labor shortage, says Gilbane report
While construction spending for 2014 will finish the year 5.5% higher than 2013 and the unemployment rate in construction is down to 7.5%, the industry has been losing workers for more than five years, according to a new Gilbane report.
| Sep 3, 2014
Ranked: Top local government sector AEC firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
STV, HOK, and Turner top BD+C's rankings of the nation's largest local government design and construction firms, as reported in the 2014 Giants 300 Report.
| Sep 3, 2014
WSP to acquire Parsons Brinckerhoff in $1.35 billion deal
The deal, which has been approved by the boards of WSP and Balfour Beatty, has an enterprise value of $1.243 billion, plus another $110 million in cash retained by PB.