Oregon Architect has an Eye for Steel Arches

There is a house in Southeast Portland, OR with an architectural element that is sure to raise a few eyebrows because stylistically, it resembles one.

Dubbed the ‘Eyebrow House’ by its owner, architect Edgar Papazian of Doon Architecture LLC, the steel arches were added during renovation to expand the second floor, which initially was a small, tube-like shaped attic/storage space.

What was Papzian’s inspiration and thought process in designing his ‘Eyebrow House’? He explains:

After the renovation, what exists on the second level that wasn’t there before? There are two new bedrooms (one master – rear and one smaller one -front), as well as a new, second bathroom.

How did you come up with the concept to utilize steel arches to achieve your objective?The idea sprang from sketches I made of the house when we first saw it. The architectural problem is one of adding dormers to a small gable-roof house, and how to do so without making the house look top-heavy [which would occur with] traditional stick-built construction. The curvature is something I came up with to make the house appear more visually streamlined and yet have livable, architectural-character space on the second level. We also were attempting to make a better visual connection from the house interior to the rear of the property through large areas of glazing. The curves I wanted were a theme that carried through a lot of the millwork and choice of plumbing fixtures. I had never used these arches before, although I’d seen them used in instances other than typical Quonset hut buildings—once at the Whitney Museum of Art in New York for a sound installation and then in Architectural Record for [Hodgdon Powder’s] office building in the Midwest that’s on the SteelMaster Buildings’ website.

How did the use of the arches add to your vision for the ultimate renovation of the house?I had looked at other types of material that would give me the curvature such as glulam beams, but the [SteelMaster] arches were visually interesting and cost-effective. I was able to work with SteelMaster to get the curvatures I required both by code and visual proportion, within strict tolerances. By exposing them on the inside and building an insulatable shell around them (stuffed with spray foam insulation getting us our code-mandated R-value), we get a cool galvanized interior finish that required no further finishing and gives an industrial, bright feel. I specified triple-glazed arch-top metal extrusion windows to complement the aesthetic of the arches, on both the front and rear facades.

How would you classify the construction process of putting the arches into place? After the minor ordeal of getting the material off the truck and onto the second level of the house and a bit of head-scratching about how the pieces were marked (and some screw-ups in initial assembly that resulted in bizarre-looking curves), my contractor figured it out, and the arches were up essentially within a day or so. We became the local neighborhood fascination.

Are you happy with the renovation as a whole?We are very happy with the renovation and think that this could be duplicable for others. As an architect I have figured out a lot of the technical structural requirements that were needed in order for the dormer system to work properly as integrated into the existing structure of a house, so this is not something that a homeowner could do without the assistance of an architect and a structural engineer. The city was able to issue a permit for the project through my ministrations and several pages of structural details

Congregation of People Help Raise Steel Building

When many people think of the term ‘barn raising’, it is usually preceded by the word ‘Amish’. For generations, Amish men have upheld their community’s tradition of caring and helping a neighbor in need by gathering for a day of work and socializing to build the bulk of a structure. The result of their collaboration shows that when they work together, they accomplish what no one person could do alone.

“In the spirit of the Amish, I asked some of my friends at church to help me put up the arches of my new building, so it was kind of a Roman Catholic barn raising,” says Carl Scott, who lives on a farm near Carthage, NY.

The crew worked on constructing Scott’s new steel building, which he plans to use as storage for his farm equipment. “I chose to buy a building from SteelMaster Buildings because I had the opportunity to see one of their structures near an airport in Houston, TX,” says Scott. “I talked to the owner and discovered that the building was relatively easy to put up, and afterwards, it had weathered several hurricanes with no problems.”

Although New York does not see as many hurricanes as Texas, Scott says that a strong building is crucial in his neck of the woods because of the heavy snowfall the area receives. “The arch design was something I specifically wanted because I knew that it would be able to carry the loads for the snow easily, says Scott. “My building has had four or so feet of snow piled on top of it, and it shrugged it off.”

Michelle Wickum is the director of marketing for SteelMaster Buildings and says that the arch is fundamental to all of the company’s buildings. “From the Romans to modern civilization, the arch has been an engineering and architectural marvel,” says Wickum. “SteelMaster has boldly redefined the technology for the 21st century. Both structurally sound and aesthetically pleasing, the SteelMaster arch offers a rare blend of strength, style, and simplicity, giving you endless application possibilities. As a result of arch technology, the need for bulky beams, trusses, and supports are a thing of the past.”

Scott says that he didn’t hesitate in buying his building from SteelMaster Buildings, which is located in Virginia Beach, VA. “Many other companies sell similar buildings, but I knew that a SteelMaster would do the job right,” says Scott. “I had heard others talk about the quality of the buildings as well as the company in general, so I knew they have a good reputation.”

When it came to constructing the building, he had the help of his church congregation, and he says there are three things he would like to share with people who are in the beginning stages of construction with their SteelMaster. “I suggest that the first thing they do is go to YouTube and watch all the SteelMaster videos that they can,” says Scott. “Secondly, I would get in contact with the company’s tech support before you start building, not once you are going. And lastly, I would caution them from trying to put up their building during a snowstorm—big mistake.”

According to Wickum, SteelMaster buildings are engineered for life and come with a 30-year mill-backed warranty by ArcelorMittal (NYSE MT). “Our steel buildings are also built to meet the wind loads of their destination, which is especially important to our customers who live in an area where powerful hurricanes are common,” says Wickum. “They remain maintenance free for a lifetime thanks to the company’s use of Galvalume Plus Coating which offers strength, superior corrosion resistance, and an attractive bright appearance that provides excellent heat reflectivity.”

In addition to storage buildings, SteelMaster’s steel and metal pre-engineered buildings are designed for a broad range of residential and commercial applications including Garages, Workshops, Carports, Quonsets, Airplane Hangars, RV Storage, Military Buildings, Commercial Warehousing, and Industrial Storageas well as a wide variety of Custom Building applications including Athletic Facilities, Retail Stores, Churches, Bus Stops, Smoke Shacks, Doggie Dorms, and Correctional Facilities.

When a Building Steels the Scene

It was show time.

After pouring much of their creative energy into making it all as captivating as possible, which included choosing colors and textures and placement that spoke to their vision, Montie and Jayna Powell were ready for people to start arriving.

They were proud of the results and believed that the days and nights that they and others devoted to this venture were well worth it, and it was their hope that the people living in their hometown of Dumas, TX agreed.

They did, but there was one thing that captivated the audience above all else.

“It was by far the star of the show,” says Montie. “Several folks wanted to know all about it. We must have explained how it came to be 30 times.”

The Powell’s project was not a film (although they do that as well) or a play or anything that is usually associated with star power—it was their back yard, which includes a recently constructed steel Quonset hut that they have dubbed their ‘barn’.

So how did the Powell’s end up with a yard full of people ogling their flora and foliage and foray into construction?

It began with a neighbor, a woman whom the Powell’s hired to make the couple’s landscaping vision a reality by infusing a natural ‘wild’ motif into the settings of both the front and backyards.

During one of her trips to the local greenhouse and plant nursery, the Powell’s neighbor became aware of an annual event benefiting Dumas, designed to encourage those living in the community to become more engaged and proud of their yards. Excited by her latest landscaping efforts, she submitted the Powell’s for entry in the 2011 Back Yards in Bloom Tour.

They were up for the challenge.

“We hustled to complete a few tasks that had been lingering on the barn,” says Montie. “We cleaned up the back yard, chalked up the grill, filled the ice chest with refreshments, and made ready for a herd of strangers traipsing thru our yard. It went great. Lots of ‘OOOOooos and AAAahhhhs’ over the yard, but, mostly ‘WOWWWwwws’ when they saw the barn. Turns out, the Back Yards Tour was not a competition per say, but just a fun way to meet other people from our community who shared a love of interesting back yards. Though the people at the newspaper did not pick a winner, they chose only one picture to post, and it was our yard. Still, I feel as if, yes, we are the winners. And we are very happy we choose SteelMaster [for our barn].”

The genesis of their backyard building originated in 2006 when Montie and Jayna bought their home. They say they knew then that they wanted a building like the one they now have, but it wasn’t until 2009 when they set to task looking for one.

“We searched and shopped online for various types of buildings, but originally we wanted a wood frame structure,” says Montie. “We called several building companies and general contractors to request quotes for turn-key construction. The cost was way more than we expected. Then we found SteelMaster, and we liked what we read on the website. In late summer of 2009, after we called to speak to a SteelMaster representative, we were convinced that SteelMaster was the best choice. Initially it was the price, but we became more pleased as we were made aware of the benefits of the using steel, such as the strength and ease of installation and assembly.”

For more than 29 years, SteelMaster Buildings, which is located in Virginia Beach, VA has manufactured, designed, and supplied pre-fabricated arched steel structures to 40,000 customers located in every state of the United States, in 40 countries, and on seven continents around the world.

According to Michelle Wickum, who is SteelMaster Buildings’ director of marketing, strength and ease of installation and assembly work along with affordability, sustainability, and versatility to make the company’s buildings wildly popular with homeowners, entrepreneurs, architects, farmers, the U.S. military and government, NASA, and corporations.

“Whether it is a unique application for our standard metal buildings or a design that requires additional support from our design team, SteelMaster has decades of steel building experience in solving building and design challenges,” says Wickum. “Our strong yet versatile clear span building design allows us to meet the needs for a wide range of custom steel building applications. This uniquely qualifies SteelMaster to competently address all questions and concerns, and then create a custom steel building solution that will work structurally, functionally, and aesthetically.”

Although the outside of the Powell’s SteelMaster building is largely complete with tongue and groove timbers, Clinker bricks, and a broad array of items that they had collected, including various rocks brought to them by friends, the inside is a work in progress. The upstairs will ultimately contain an office area, guest bedroom, and storage space. The downstairs will be a garage, storage for their camper, truck, and motorcycles, and a small bathroom. Additionally, the barn will serve as a photo/video/music studio for the couple’s side business, PunkinMusher Productions, LLC.

Along with the help of friends, the Powell’s hired a carpenter and master brick layer to tackle building portions of their barn—but they both have spent many hours working on it as well, just the two of them.

“It was a lot of work for the two of us, but doing this together was super duper awesome,” says Jayna. “We looked forward to the late evenings of arch building. I was on the rope ladder (which we purchased online and is a definite must) on the top of our SteelMaster during construction, and Montie was underneath on the scissor lift that we rented as we needed it. There was many a night when I would be laying on top of our barn holding my wrench in place waiting on Montie to get in position. The ‘beep, beep, beep’ of the scissor lift could be heard as Montie aimlessly swirled around beneath me. I would tap on the roof and ask what he was doing. It was an awesome time. Our SteelMaster is definitely a work of art. Special thanks goes out to all of our friends that did come out to lend us a hand and to our neighbors that didn’t report us for the loud ‘beep, beep, beep’ nights.”

In addition to steel buildings like the Powell’s, SteelMaster’s steel and metal pre-engineered buildings are designed for a broad range of residential and commercial applications including homes, farm buildings, garages, workshops, agricultural storage, Quonsets, airplane hangars, RV storage, roofing systems, carports, military buildings, commercial warehousing, and industrial storage as well as a wide variety of custom building applications including athletic facilities, retail stores, churches, bus stops, smoke shacks, doggie dorms, and correctional facilities.

SteelMaster Supports ForKids Art Auction

SteelMaster Buildings recently attended the 2012 Children’s Art Auction and Casino Night to support ForKids, a local charitable organization. SteelMaster sponsors ForKids throughout the year and supports their mission to provide shelter to those in need across Hampton Roads. Watch a video from the event here.

SteelMaster is Now on Pinterest

SteelMaster Buildings is now on Pinterest. Follow Elizabeth to see quonsets (both old and new), unique homes, new uses for shipping containers and other various projects that we think are interesting. Click the button below to start following us today!

Steel Barn had Horses Chomping at their Bits

SteelMaster customers, Mr. and Mrs. Welford can tell you a thing or two about Tennessee Walkers and Painter horses. They are quick to tell you how lovable and intelligent their horses are, and how they have uncanny personality traits that liken them to people.

They also know an attractive and practical building application when they see one. Residing just 80 miles from the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, they feel fortunate their lives and the lives of their horses were spared during Hurricane Katrina. Although their property suffered the wrath of this horrific storm, and they lost tons of poplar trees, they have no intent of letting any lousy hurricane force them from the sanctuary of their land.

Patricia Welford was delightfully accommodating about discussing their SteelMaster buildings experience. She also believes if horses could talk, they would say they could hardly wait to get situated into their new barn, or "horsey condos." Patricia said, "Our horses were lingering around as close as they could get without being in harm's way during construction. It was as if somehow they knew they were getting new stalls. They were chomping at their bits, and I could tell they wanted to kick the workers out even before the building was finished."

The Welfords hired a local contractor to build their SteelMaster 40' x 100' multi-purpose barn for their horses. Camp Shelby, the state owned/operated installation for active and reserve Army National Guardsmen is located nearby.

"Since the barn has the arched Quonset roof, our contractor was familiar with the style because he had experience with similar buildings at the military compound. After speaking with SteelMaster's construction specialist in the Virginia Beach, Virginia home office, not only was he impressed, but ready and able to assemble the barn," Patricia said.

Several factors led the Welfords to choose SteelMaster. They envisioned their barn and had ideas of their own to incorporate. Their building had to have lots of open space. They had been there and done that, and learned from experience. After they ran the gamut on-line and were aware of what they and other horse-owners were working with, SteelMaster proved to be the surprisingly affordable way to go for such a grand-scale building, investment, and labor of love.
They incorporated several ingenious ideas into their new barn and they absolutely love it (as do their horses!). They are the all the rage with their friends who also raise and breed horses (word gets around when you own a SteelMaster buildings.) The Welfords are kind folk and encouraged us to share their ideas with other SteelMaster customers who may benefit from their design.

First of all, they had heavy-duty roll up doors installed on each end. They have six horse stalls, 14'x16' instead of the stereotypical 12'x12' stall. Their barn includes a hay room, tack room (to store their saddles, bridles, etc.), AND an inside wash rack area with an in-ground drain. They are also in the process of hanging up lights in the clear span down the middle of the ceiling.

Patricia was glad to be able to make good use of the wood from the poplar trees they lost during Katrina. They had the trees cut into corral panels for use as partitions for each of the six stables.

"The best part is the corral panels each have gates that can be opened and moved when necessary. Due to the fact the Quonset ceiling is so high, and the panels work so well, we had no need for heavy posts which are awkward to navigate around and once installed, posts are in for good. We can just drive our tractor inside the barn to scoop out and clean each stall and replace the hay so much easier than before," Patricia said.

"Not many horse owners have the luxury of everything they need being under one roof", Patricia added. When the weather is inclement, our horses do not even need to leave the barn to be fed and groomed."

"SteelMaster buildings are engineered for life," says Michelle Wickum, SteelMaster's Director of Marketing. "Our Steel Arched Buildings are designed to meet the wind loads of their destination whether located in Florida, Mississippi or the Bahamas. Our buildings are made with consideration given to climatological elements in order to provide protection from hurricane-force winds, water, freezing temperatures, and even fire."
SteelMaster's steel and metal pre-engineered buildings are designed for a broad range of residential and commercial applications including homes, farm buildings, garages, workshops, agricultural storage, Quonsets, airplane hangars, RV storage, roofing systems, carports, military buildings, commercial warehousing, and industrial storage as well as a wide variety of custom building applications including athletic facilities, retail stores, churches, bus stops, smoke shacks, doggie dorms, and correctional facilities.

SteelMaster is happy to have the Welfords (and their beautiful horses!) as satisfied customers and our "Partners in Steel." Sounds like their horses are a little bit spoiled. But if they could talk, they would probably say, "Neighhhhh! We are not that spoiled."

A Birthday Wish Comes True

A ‘typical' woman may dream about receiving jewelry, a gift certificate to a spa, or a weekend getaway as a birthday gift from her husband.

Cheri Scanlon is anything but typical.

Two years ago on her birthday, Scanlon was overjoyed with the present she received from her husband—one that was custom-made to go with another present he gave to her in 1996.

"I got my mini horse, Raven, from [my husband] Eric as a wedding present in 1996," says Scanlon, who lives in Carver, MA. "In 2009, he gave me a SteelMaster building as a birthday present, and we built it together and use it as a barn."

Raven shares the barn with Scanlon's other mini horse named Giddy Up and her mini cow named Jenna. But wait, there's more.

"I have 10 chickens, one rooster, a giant rabbit, a wallaby, a fat cat, and a dog whose older sister belongs to Eric," says Scanlon, who found a new home for her goat, seven sheep, and two alpacas a few years ago after she opened a home daycare. "They are all pets, except for the chickens—I have them for fresh eggs. As long as I can remember, I wanted a farm." In fact, Scanlon used to have a full-sized milking cow. "I would make butter, ice cream, pudding, and cheese. It was so good. I use to shave the sheep and alpacas and spin the wool into yarn. I would knit, crochet, and weave hats, scarves, and things like that. It's pretty cool, and I enjoy crafty stuff like that."

But why did she decide upon a steel building instead of a typical wooden one?

In 1996, the couple built a 12×16 barn out of plywood (CDX) and used rolled roofing for the top. A few years after that, they doubled the size to a 24×16. According to Scanlon, about five years ago, the roof started leaking, the walls were rotting, the cheap screw-on windows blew out, and it was literally falling apart.

"My husband wanted a metal buildings, but I didn't," says Scanlon. "I started drawing up plans for a wooden barn. This time I was going to do it right and make it out of Tx1-11, and I was going to get the metal roofing that you see on houses in New Hampshire. I started pricing up everything and did some research. In the end, I figured that the steel building would be cheaper and probably quicker to put together and last forever, and that's how I ended up getting a SteelMaster building for my birthday."

For more than 29 years, SteelMaster Buildings, which is located in Virginia Beach, VA, has manufactured, designed, and supplied pre-fabricated arched steel structures to 40,000 customers located in every state of the United States, in 40 countries, and on seven continents around the world.

"Farm buildings are one of the most common and popular uses for our structures, as well as the top substitute for traditional pole barn applications," says Michelle Wickum, the director of marketing for SteelMaster. "Our build-it-yourself buildings are affordable and offer 100 percent usable space with a clear span design that eliminates beams and trusses. They are easy to construct and provide maintenance-free use for a lifetime."

Along with quality, these factors contributed greatly to Scanlon's decision to buy from SteelMaster.

"I started looking online for some barn kits and SteelMaster Buildings came up," says Scanlon. "I looked at several different kinds from other companies, but mostly they were too big and too expensive. They were also made from a cheaper and thinner metal than SteelMaster uses. I also liked the shape. I liked how high the walls were before the roof curved. After we finished building it, my first thought was that it's HUGE. I couldn't believe how tall it was. It didn't feel like a barn at first, but once everything was up and painted, it really came together, and I love it."

As for the animals, they seem to agree.

"I wanted something really nice for the new barn so I made miniature stalls that looked just like the stalls you would see in a stable," says Scanlon. "They have hay racks and stall mats now. Eric put a pellet stove in there. It is way more comfortable for them, and they love it, too!"