Conversion to Steel: ADTEK Wins SFIA Award for Wagner College Locker Rooms

Featured image: The locker rooms at Wagner College features about 56 tons of cold-formed steel (CFS) framing. Images courtesy of ADTEK Engineers, Inc.

Wagner College, a private liberal arts college in Staten Island, New York City, recently completed new locker rooms at its athletic training complex, benefitting the school’s NCAA Division 1 teams.

ADTEK Engineers, Inc., a member of the Steel Framing Industry Association (SFIA), designed the cold-formed steel (CFS) framing systems for the new locker rooms.

ADTEK Engineers, a member of the Steel Framing Industry Association (SFIA), designed the cold-formed steel (CFS) framing systems for new locker rooms at Wagner College.

ADTEK Engineers is the SFIA 2024 Industry Project Awards winner for the locker rooms at Wagner College in the “Conversion from Another Material” category. The SFIA Awards entry was submitted by Andrew Newland of ADTEK.

ADTEK’s win was announced at the 2024 SFIA Awards ceremony held live recently and posted online. The SFIA 2024 Industry Project Awards, an annual awards competition, focuses on CFS manufacturing and construction. This year, designers, manufacturers, distributors and contractors entered a variety of projects in the competition.

ADTEK DIAGRAMS

A continuous beam placed over cold-formed steel (CFS) posts supports the second floor of the locker rooms at Wagner College.

The exterior load-bearing sections for the locker rooms are shown in this ADTEK Engineers diagram.

Design Quality

Did this project make efficient use of metal framing products?

Steel framing provided by SFIA member Super Stud Building Products was used throughout the locker room project. Besides being used to frame first-floor walls, foundations and some structural steel framing, CFS was also used for the roof rafters, floor joists and load-bearing walls.

CFS X-braced walls were the primary lateral-resisting system. For all floor joists and roof rafters, 14-inch-deep, Super Stud proprietary joist framing, with large punch outs, were used. Such CFS members helped reduce the overall building weight.

The primary wall support system was 6-inch CFS wall framing at the first and second levels. The use of a proprietary joist system created labor savings due to the system’s light weight.

The 2024 SFIA Awards judges noted that the submission had “good details” and was an “interesting” project.

MEP runs through cold-formed steel (CFS) floor joists from Super Stud Building Products.

Here, MEP runs just below the punch outs in the cold-formed steel (CFS) floor joists.

Installation Complexity

What difficulties existed on the project?

Some conflicts arose during construction. In various areas, larger than anticipated loads had to be applied. This required the use of large CFS beams and heavy connections. SFIA member Simpson Strong-Tie Co. provided connector products for the project that met these requirements. Welding was avoided, and PAF’s were used to make connections to structural steel posts where standard CFS posts were not feasible to use.

The openings were tightly spaced at the east wall. This prevented the use of jack studs beneath the headers. Proprietary jamb clips were used to support the openings with such tight spacings and to support both gravity and the wind loads.

Openings at front and corner walls did not require the use of jack studs beneath the headers.

The Wagner College locker rooms feature cold-formed steel (CFS) X-braced walls and long, cantilevered rafters.

Manufacturing Complexity

Were special materials involved?

As noted, proprietary joist and rafter framing was used throughout the project. The proprietary joists were custom ordered to prevent punch outs from occurring at bearing points, which would have required additional web reinforcements.

The roof framing had large slopes. This prevented standard tracks from being used as rim tracks. Double angles were specified to act as rim track. However, the manufacturer was able to produce custom CFS members to properly fit as rim track.

ADTEK Engineers’ diagram shows a typical roof rafter section.

A tall cold-formed steel (CFS) wall supports long, cantilevered CFS rafters.

The finished Wagner College locker room roofs support solar panels.

Overall Job Quality

How did the completed system turn out?

The final quality of the project turned out very well. The feature of alternating mono-sloped roofs gives the building a unique look and the functional ability to have roof-mounted solar panels facing in multiple directions to optimize solar capture.

Conversion to Steel

How was conversion to metal framing achieved?

Prior to receiving the contract drawings, the project had been converted from load-bearing wood framing and bar joists to steel framing.

ADTEK’s choice to use proprietary roof and floor joists with large punch outs lowered the overall weight of the building. Due to the long spans, the use of the steel framing materials aided in their maneuverability and handling during construction.

Openings created with cold-formed steel (CFS) made use of proprietary clips.

ADTEK Engineers is the 2024 SFIA Awards winner in the “Conversion from Another Material” category of CFS for the locker rooms. The project also involved SFIA members, Super Stud Building Products and Simpson Strong-Tie Co.

Additional Resources

• SFIA Unveils 9 Winners of the 2024 Industry Project Awards
• SFIA Reveals 7 Winners of the 2023 Industry Project Awards in Online Ceremony
• Designers: Update to SFIA’s 2024 Tech Guide for the Latest CFS Load and Span Tables