General Motors Renaissance Center, Entrance Pavilion, Detroit, Michigan

Architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, LLP
Type of works: supply and installation of structural and glazing systems for transparent building.

This football shaped structure is at the north entrance of the center. The architect’s design objective was to make the most transparent structure ever built in the USA. To solve this, Novum engineers utilized a welded, stainless-steel roof truss with a curved bottom chord set atop two very narrow, pretensioned columns at both ends of the span. The walls were framed out using vertical stainless-steel tension trussing with horizontal cables for lateral stability. The geometry of the tension trusses is set by a vertical outer chord cable, a parabolic inner chord cable and horizontal king posts that connect them.

AES, TC and TR structural systems were used. The roof consists of a painted, tubular steel framing system. Stainless-steel spiral strand cables are used to brace the vertical trusses. PSG stainless-steel glazing arms support laminated, tempered glass with a PVB interlayer.