Featured image: Storefront elevation featuring cold-formed steel (CFS) headers and jambs at Hotel Indigo in New York City. Project profile courtesy of CFSEI. All photos courtesy of Excel Engineering.
Excel Engineering, Inc., was contacted by SFIA member Super Stud Building Products, Inc., to design all the exterior cold-formed steel (CFS) framing for the Hotel Indigo at 120 Water Street, New York, New York. The hotel is 28 stories.
The hotel’s superstructure is concrete floors supported by concrete columns/stair towers with the exterior walls being non-load bearing CFS spanning from slab to slab. Hotel Indigo has a nontraditional first-floor feature window, designed by the architect, that required special detailing in order to resist the loads.
Dana Hennis (left), P.E., S.E. and CFSEI vice chair presents the award to Erik Johnson of Excel Engineering.
Excel Engineering won the 2023 CFSEI Design Excellence Award for the project, taking first place in the creative detail category in the Cold-Formed Steel Engineers Institute’s award competition.
The CFSEI Award entry was submitted by Joe Wilkum of Excel Engineering. Erik Johnson of Excel Engineering accepted the award for the Indigo Hotel project at the 2023 CFSEI Expo held recently in New Orleans.
“Y” CFS Framing Detail
The nontraditional first-floor feature window at Hotel Indigo required special detailing in order to resist the loads.
The architect asked Excel Engineering, “Do you have any ideas on how you would detail this window?” The feature window has a “Y” CFS framing detail with lateral support only on the second floor and the foundation. The geometry of the “Y” CFS framing does not allow for full-height CFS members.
The Hotel Indigo feature window has “Y” CFS framing with lateral support only on the second floor and the foundation.
Before accepting the challenge, Excel Engineering considered these questions:
- Can a creative detail solve this?
- Can this be designed for a reasonable budget?
- Can the contractor build it?
Inspiration from the ‘Bartender’s Challenge’
Inspiration came from an old bartender’s challenge. The challenge for the guest at a bar involves suspending a bottle between three other bottles and using nothing more than three knives. The guest receives a free beverage from the establishment if they can solve the challenge.
The solution involves the correct placement of the three base bottles and interlocking of the cutlery to create a stable platform on which to balance the fourth bottle. Could CFS create self-supporting cantilevers in a similar way? Yes.
The solution to the bartender’s challenge at left. The solution similar to the Hotel Indigo window framing is shown at right.
The window framing was modeled in RISA and, as expected, was stable. All the lateral connections were in shear, so clip angle connections were utilized. Careful detailing of the window framing utilizing a colored drawing was provided to aid the installers in constructing the interlocking CFS members.
Excel Engineering’s aesthetically pleasing “Y” framing at Hotel Indigo is the 2023 CFSEI Design Excellence Award winner — first place, creative detail category.
Hotel Indigo
120 Water Street
New York, NY 10005Completion Date
December 2020Construction Cost
$41 millionPEOPLE
Owner:
Atlas HospitalityArchitect of Record:
Gene Kaufman Architect PCEngineer of Record for Structural Work:
Gene Kaufman Architect PCCold-Formed Steel Specialty Engineer:
Joe Wilkum, Excel EngineeringCold-Formed Steel Specialty Contractor:
Super Stud Building Products, Inc.
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