School field house floor. S.G. Krauss Co. was
recognized recently for the framing design
that allowed the mezzanine to extend over
part of the field house without resorting to
columns. (HF Chronicle file photo, October 2014)
The work of S.G. Krauss Co. on the Homewood-Flossmoor High School sports complex has won the company a 2015 NuHeights Design Award.
The new Homewood-Flossmoor field house includes a 100,000-square-foot auxiliary gym and a 9,000-square-foot mezzanine fitness facility. S.G. Krauss Co. erected the building’s steel frame. The company engineers, fabricates and erects structural steel, steel bar joists, metal deck and ornamental iron for commercial, industrial and institutional projects. It’s headquartered in Elk Grove Village
Krauss used Vulcraft SLH joists to span 194 feet at the field house roof and 160 feet at the auxiliary gym roof. In order to hang the fitness mezzanine, it was cantilevered over part of the track and playing field, and then to avoid placing columns in the field, a joist system of three 120 SLH joists was provided for the extended end of the mezzanine to be hung from. The three joists support the 180,000 pounds of the mezzanine from two posts attached to the joist bottom chords.
The field house at the H-F North Building, opened in May 2014, is an active building featuring four full-sized basketball/volleyball courts and an indoor track. The building has separate spaces for wrestling, dance, cheerleading, fitness and athletic-training programs.
It also includes an indoor turf field used year-round by several of the school’s athletic teams, its marching band and community sports groups, including Homewood and Flossmoor Baseball & Softball and the H-F Soccer Club.
The architect was DLA Architects, LTD. The general contractor was Nicholas and Associates.
The NuHeights Design Awards, hosted by Vulcraft/Verco Group, recognize outstanding design, architecture and the diverse applications of building with steel. Competitors included fabricators, erectors, engineers, architects and general contractors of nonresidential buildings in the U.S. and Canada who completed projects between Jan. 1 and Oct. 31, 2014, using Vulcraft Joists or Steel Decking, Verco Decking or Ecospan Composite Floor System products.
In another competition, the field house earned a LEED gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
