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ROSE
PARADE
A customer wanted awnings with an
impossibly shallow rise.
Rose City Awning quickly conquered the engineering problem.
They said it couldn't be done. But Rose City Awning in
Portland, Ore., believed different. Because of that, Rose City made an
architect happy and delighted even more so the property owner.
The story begins in the Pearl
district of Portland, located in the city's northwest quarter
along the banks of the Willamette River. In 2003, Rose City Awning
won a contract from a local construction firm to create and
install a pair of arched awnings along with 11 flat awnings on a
newly erected, 12-story retail and residential structure in the
heart of Pearl. It should have been a straightforward assignment,
except it wasn't because of an unusual design characteristic of
those flat awnings. As specified by the architect, they were to
extend out from the wall 4 feet, 6 inches. However, each was also
to have a height of a mere 6 inches.
"The structural engineers told us
no way," says Rose City
Awning marketing director Debbie Plance. "These awnings like
any awnings needed structural strength sufficient to meet wind-
and snow-load requirements. The engineers initially were convinced
this would prove impossible in light of the small height, long
projection ratio. At least they said it would be impossible
without some kind of special tie-back. And, unfortunately, the
kind of tie-back they had in mind would have spoiled the
aesthetics of the awnings. "But impossible is not in our
vocabulary, so we worked hard at coming up with a solution."
Eventually, Rose City found one.
The company devised a system to unobtrusively reinforce the
framework on the interior-facing sides of each awning. But then it
was realized that the frames made of aluminum would be secured to
the building by means of welding onto steel mounts. The problem:
the two metals would adversely react to one another and produce
corrosion. "It wouldn't take long for the mounts to fail as a
result," Plance explains.
The remedy called for developing
special z-shaped brackets of an alternative metal that could serve
as a safe buffer between the aluminum frames and the steel mounts.
"The z-bracket base was welded to the mount, then the awning frame
was attached to the outward face of the bracket and welded in
place," says Plance. The project entailed plenty of welding,
which, incidentally, demanded special precautions be taken. For,
just below the mounts were glass windows. These were seen as
vulnerable to melting or being otherwise marred from the heat and
sparks of the welding process.
"We prevented any such damage by
draping the windows with a fire-resistant fabric, "says Plance.
The fabric chosen was a product called "Avenue" and obtained from
the John Astrup Co., a member
of the WCPA. "We liked 'Avenue' not only for its fire-resistant
properties but also because of it's ability to hold up against
rain," says Plance. "This was an especially strong consideration
due to the flatness of the awnings."
DELIVERED
SATISFACTION
Aesthetically speaking, the awnings
are not very noticeable, thanks in large part to their low rise.
"The architect wanted them to blend in with the design of the
building," says Plance. "The awnings are really more for
functional purposes, such as rain protection, rather than visual
enhancement of the building." Prior to installation, Rose City thoroughly
tested the awning system to make sure it would perform as
promised.
"We put up a prototype at our
factory and had the architect inspect it," says Plance. "He was
very pleased with the solutions we came up with to meet the
challenges, and with how we were able to do so while preserving
the aesthetics. "Normally, a job such as this one requires the
talents of one or two installers. However, because of the
complexities of the installation, Rose City assigned a
team consisting of up to four men at a time and that's not
counting the squad of subcontracted welders needed.
"We're proud of this project
because of the high level of customer satisfaction we were able to
deliver despite the extreme challenges involved," says Plance.
"And the customer was very precise about what was wanted and what
was expected much more so than in most projects we take on."
(Visit Rose City Awning on the
Internet at:
www.rosecityawning.com.) |
