A webinar featuring a new documentary on one of America’s greatest bridge designers drew more than 5,000 online viewers in celebration of the structural steel industry’s eighth annual SteelDay on September 30. In addition, thousands of AEC professionals, students and others gained firsthand insight into the work, experience and accomplishments of the U.S. structural steel industry at dozens of networking and educational events at steel facilities and jobsites around the country--all hosted by AISC and its members and partners. This year’s national event also incorporated various online voting competitions.
“This year’s SteelDay celebration continued the tradition of allowing design and construction professionals to gain insight into the structural steel supply chain and grow in appreciation of the expertise that the steel fabricator contributes to the successful completion of a project,” said John Cross, AISC vice president.
The highlight of this year’s SteelDay was a free on-demand screening of the new documentary film, Bridging Urban America: The Story of Ralph Modjeski, produced by sOlar eye communications. The movie illustrates the life story of Ralph Modjeski, the designer of some of the 20th century’s most significant bridges, and his influence as an engineer, entrepreneur, artist and innovator. If you weren’t able to watch it on SteelDay, purchasing information for the DVD is available on the film’s website at http://bridginguamericafilm.com.
In the sixth annual SteelDay Sculpture Competition, AISC members crafted their own steel sculptures for a chance to be one of five finalists on display at the 2017 NASCC: The Steel Conference, March 22-24 in San Antonio, Texas. Nine sculptures were entered into the competition and photos were posted to www.steelday.org/sculpturecompvoting, where fans voted for their favorites. The top five sculptures headed to The Steel Conference are: Man of Steel by Universal Steel of North Carolina (USNC); Riverfront Park by Metals Fabrication; Steel...The Best Option by Universal Steel (Buford, Ga.); The Galveston Bridge by Hirschfeld Industries; and Cube-X by SteelFab TX Inc.
A new People’s Choice competition offered the public the power to vote for their favorite steel building projects entered in AISC’s 2017 IDEAS2 (Innovative Design in Engineering and Architecture with Structural Steel) Awards program. Public voting took place during the week of SteelDay at www.steelday.org/vote. The People’s Choice selections are: Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, San Francisco; Southwest University Park, El Paso, Texas; North Transfer Station and Rebuild, Tipping and Transfer Building, Seattle; Swirl, Des Moines, Iowa; The Chrysalis, Columbia, Md.; and Wild Walk, Tupper Lake, N.Y. The official 2017 IDEAS2 Award winners will be announced on March 22 at The Steel Conference in San Antonio.
This year’s SteelDay also celebrated 30 years of the AISC Steel Sculpture, a teaching sculpture made up of various steel members and connections that can be found on more than 170 college and university campuses across the U.S. Students entered photos of their campus’ sculpture to be featured on AISC’s Facebook page and voted on by fans during the week of SteelDay. The winners are: Christie Moore from Christian Brothers University; CJ Powell from Rochester Institute of Technology; Reggie Raney from Christian Brothers University; Lauren Santullo from The College of New Jersey; and Eric Bellville from the University of Central Florida.
Photos from this year’s SteelDay can be found on AISC’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/AISCdotORG) in the SteelDay 2016 photo album. If you’d like your SteelDay photos featured in the album, please email socialmedia@aisc.org. Next year’s SteelDay is scheduled for September 15, 2017. For more information, please visit www.steelday.org.