A design flaw and the use of the wrong type of steel in Rafael Viñoly’s David L. Lawrence Convention Center, in Pittsburgh, caused a partial collapse there last year, according to a report released this week, as detailed by the Associated Press in an article appearing February 5 on enr.com. A 30-by-60-foot slab of concrete in the loading dock collapsed and fell onto a walkway below in February 2007, as RECORD reported; no one was injured in the incident. “An engineering firm hired to investigate the collapse, Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, said a slotted bolt connection used to attach a support beam to an expansion joint was inappropriate given the friction that would develop with temperature changes,” the Associated Press reported this week. “The connection was suitable for light loads, but not the force generated by the expansion and contraction of a large building, said Andrew Osborn, senior principal with the firm. The center’s original design called for steel seats rather than slotted bolt connections, but that was changed.” Steel seats have since been installed on all 50 beams. For its part, Viñoly’s office issued a statement contending that the report vindicates its own role in the project: “Rafael Viñoly Architects was the firm that created the Convention Center’s architectural design; however, it did not engineer the building’s structural steel beams and, more importantly, it was not responsible for the design of the connections between them. The Wiss Janney Elstner report confirms that the cause of the failure was an improperly designed structural connection that was incorrectly installed. The report also makes it clear that the design and detailing of this connection was the responsibility of ADF International Inc., the project’s steel fabricator, and that the connection was built and installed by Dick Corporation, another member of the construction team.” Even so, the city and county’s Sports & Exhibition Authority continues to seek nearly $2 million in damages from Viñoly as well as ADF and its subcontractors, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported on February 6.
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