LAKEWOOD —Martin/Martin, Inc. Consulting Engineers, a full-service civil and structural consulting engineering firm in Lakewood, has earned a National Recognition Award for exemplary engineering achievement in the American Council of Engineering Companies’ (ACEC) 52nd annual Engineering Excellence Awards (EEA) for their work on 1144 Fifteenth Street in downtown Denver.
At 40 stories, 1144 Fifteenth Street is Denver’s fourth tallest building and first office skyscraper in more than 30 years. The magnitude of the 640,000-square-foot structure required an innovative foundation system consisting of 10-foot-diameter drilled piers with bedrock socketed grade bearings—the largest ever in Colorado. The building’s top 16 floors slope into the signature bifurcated crown supported by custom steel framing. High-strength recycled materials and specialized glazing reduces the building’s overall energy use by 10 percent compared with similar structures.
The use of high-strength concrete and structural steel minimized the building’s overall weight, reducing energy consumed during construction, and helping the project team manage the limitations of a constrained urban site. The building’s steel incorporates recycled plates, while concrete containing high volumes of fly was manufactured using less energy than conventional materials.
The project is among 196 engineering achievements nation and world-wide being recognized by ACEC as the year’s finest examples of engineering excellence, and eligible for additional top national honors. Judging for the awards program—known industry-wide as the “Academy Awards of the engineering industry”– took place in February, conducted by a national 30-member panel of built environment leaders, along with experts from government, the media and academia. Award criteria focuses on uniqueness and originality, technical innovation, social and economic value, and generating excitement for the engineering profession.
Recognition of all award winners including top commendations will take place at the annual EEA Dinner and Gala, a black-tie event to be held Tuesday, May 7, 2019, at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, D.C.
