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Chicago's 150 North Riverside Drive tower wins a 2018 IDEAS2 National Steel Award

150 North Riverside Drive in Chicago. Structural Engineer: Magnusson Klemencic Associates, Inc., Seattle. Architect: Goettsch Partners, Chicago. Photo: Michael Dickter.

As one of 12 winners of the AISC's 2018 IDEAS2 National Steel Design Awards, the 150 N. Riverside office tower in Chicago is quite an engineering feat. Placed on an elevated perch along the edge of the Chicago River, the 54-story tower spans seven active Amtrak lines and has one of the largest steel sections in the world.

Chicago-based Goettsch Partners was the architect, while Magnusson Klemencic Associates served as the structural engineer. Members of the design team will be presented with their award during a ceremony at the building on Monday, July 9.

150 North Riverside Drive in Chicago. Structural Engineer: Magnusson Klemencic Associates, Inc., Seattle. Architect: Goettsch Partners, Chicago. Photo: Michael Dickter.

The 1.25 million square-foot building's unique shape features a very narrow structure at its base and a compact footprint that gradually extends diagonally to highly efficient, column-free floors above.

150 North Riverside Drive in Chicago. Structural Engineer: Magnusson Klemencic Associates, Inc., Seattle. Architect: Goettsch Partners, Chicago. Photo: Michael Dickter.

The building uses 65- and 70-ksi high-strength steel that was strategically placed to provide the most economical steel frame. The 65-ksi steel eliminates standard pre-heat requirements for columns with shop welded moment connections, and the project boasts the first use of 70-ksi rolled steel sections in the U.S.

150 North Riverside Drive in Chicago. Structural Engineer: Magnusson Klemencic Associates, Inc., Seattle. Architect: Goettsch Partners, Chicago. Photo: Zalk Josephs.

150 North Riverside Drive in Chicago. Structural Engineer: Magnusson Klemencic Associates, Inc., Seattle. Architect: Goettsch Partners, Chicago. Photo: Michael Dickter.

“You are not going to see a tour de force like this project often,” commented Brian Falconer, a principal with Severud Associates Consulting Engineers, P.C. in New York, and the engineer juror in the competition.

“This building is a monument to the skills and savvy of the engineers and steel fabricator who used the capabilities of steel to make an impossible site possible,” says AISC President Charlie Carter.

Goettsch Partners

Magnusson Klemencic Associates