Engineered for Impact ®
From initial consultation through construction and closeout, we offer an array of cold-formed steel (CFS) engineering design services. Our decades of experience provide increased integration and reduced project complexity and risk.
“Our cold-formed steel design expertise is second to none, and our supportive, responsive team always puts your needs first.”
Russ Leffler, PE, SE, MLSE Structural Principal, Salas O’Brien
What we offer
\ Interior CFS Design
• Walls & ceilings
• Suspended ceilings
• Shaft walls
• Mezzanines
• Medical equipment & OR lighting sub-framing
• Acoustic clouds
\ Exterior CFS Design
• Structural framing
• Multi-story bearing walls
• Building lateral systems
• Seismic anchorage
• Soffits and architectural features
• Utility supports
\ Advanced Technology Solutions
• BIM/VDC
1. Construction drawings
2. Integrated shop drawings
3. LOD 400+ fabrication models
4. Panel prefabrication & kitting
5. Finish tickets
6. VDC/Multi-trade coordination models
• Panelization
• Prefabrication
1. Backing
2. Bathroom & office pods
3. Corridor racks
4. Metal structures
5. Patient room headwalls
6. Skids & ancillary structures
BIM/VDC
Colorado Convention Center
Vertical Expansion Denver, CO
185,000
Square feet of CFS panels for two concourse expansions at the Denver International Airport
Put Our Experience to Work on Your Next Project
Cold-formed steel (CFS) framing engineering is a complex discipline that requires the expertise of consulting engineers specializing in both structural framing and nonstructural component systems. Salas O’Brien, with over 20 years of experience in consulting engineering for CFS framing, is among the few firms that excel in this field. Our designs couple structural integrity with tailored detailing to meet the needs of your project from frame to finish.
Fully Integrated Services
We provide fully integrated services, ranging from crane foundations and curtain wall to mechanical systems, seismic restraint, and CFS framing, actively coordinating with other disciplines to avoid problems in the field. For prefabrication and modular construction, we have a fully integrated Building Information Modeling (BIM) process developed over the last 15 years for creating fabrication-level documentation for builders. This includes individual panel or module sheets with a comprehensive bill of materials, complete with labeled and dimensioned members used for assembly.
Added Value, Reduced Risk
Our impressive track record includes a diverse range of project types, such as airports, hospitals, stadiums, convention centers, industrial buildings, dormitories, and apartment buildings. We take means and methods seriously and assist the team in implementing stakeholder input, detailing, and VE items. During construction, we provide site visits to ensure that the design intent is carried through to the end of the project. Our goal is to continually add value and reduce risk while developing effective, long-term relationships with our clients.
NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS
The right expertise to deliver optimum results
800+ CFS projects completed
20+
Years of CFS design experience
14 CFS industry design awards
How can we help with your next CFS project?
Scan the QR code to contact us today!
Hybrid steel pedestrian bridge features unique cold-formed steel design
Park Union Bridge CFS Engineering
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO, USA
Called “the bridge of the future”, the Park Union Bridge is a 250-foot-long $20M pedestrian bridge that connects the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum with America the Beautiful Park. The Salas O’Brien team was tasked with designing the cold-formed steel (CFS) framing that supports the canted wall panels wrapping the inside of the twisting oculus. The CFS framing gradually curves and varies in height on each end, above and below the oculus.
The primary challenge presented by the CFS design was the threedimensional and rotational movement of the steel structure as it induced thermal, wind, seismic, and live loads. Each element required an allowable tolerance of movement so that the panels could achieve their smooth, flawless appearance. It took careful coordination with the structural engineer of record, the CFS contractor, and the panel manufacturer to secure the final design.
SERVICES
Structural Engineering, Cold-Formed Steel Engineering
COMPLETION YEAR 2021
PROJECT PARTNERS
Spacecon Specialty Contractors, Arup North America, MG McGrath Inc.
CONSTRUCTION COST
$20 million
RECOGNITION
2023 First Place Design Excellence Award, NonBuilding Applications, CFSEI
CONTACT
Russ Leffler, russ.leffler@ salasobrien.com
“The hybrid steel structure system functions as an arch and a truss, elegantly preserving views from Downtown to the majestic mountain ranges of Pikes Peak.”
Benjamin Gilmartin, Partner-in-Charge Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Architect of Record
© Jason O’Rear Photography
4 Salas O’Brien
CFS panelization meets schedule and site constraints
Colorado Convention Center Expansion CFS Engineering DENVER, CO, USA
Already one of the largest buildings in Denver, the rooftop expansion of the Colorado Convention Center added 135,000 square feet to this premier venue. Salas O’Brien provided exterior structural cold-formed steel (CFS) framing engineering and panelized exterior walls for the 20,000-squarefoot outdoor rooftop terrace. They are up to 50 feet tall, including an eight-foot-tall parapet over a 40-foot-long clear span hanging from a new structure above the existing roof. They were also carefully designed to meet the tight construction schedule and logistical constraints of the downtown site location.
We also provided interior CFS wall and ceiling framing engineering for the 80,000-square-foot column-free Bluebird Ballroom and 35,000-squarefoot wrap-around pre-function concourse. These areas included challenging elements requiring extensive engineering, including large, sloped ceiling elements in the pre-function concourse area to match the blade roof and soffits that supported 30-foot span ceiling joists.
SERVICES
Structural, Panelized Exterior Walls, Exterior CFS Framing Engineering, Interior Wall & Ceiling CFS Engineering
COMPLETION YEAR 2023
Winner
CONSTRUCTION COST
$233 million
SIZE
135,000 square feet
PROJECT PARTNERS Select Prefab and Four Star Drywall
2024 Cold-Formed Steel Engineers Institute Design Excellence Awards Honorable Mention
© Dressel-Martin MediaWorks, Inc.
Panelization optimizes material usage and achieves significant savings for Denver high rise
The Penrose CFS Panelization DENVER, CO, USA
Located in the River North Art District of Denver, the Penrose fills a critical need for more affordable housing in this busy, diverse, creative neighborhood. This 16-story mixed use high-rise features six levels of parking garage and 182 units.
Salas O’Brien provided cold-formed steel (CFS) engineering and panelization design for the exterior envelope system utilizing advanced prefabrication techniques. Our team designed lighter 20-30-foot wide, single-story panels to optimize material usage through lighter stud weight and less supplementary steel. Custom-engineered solutions, such as CFS lifting clips and mid-slab joints, eliminated welding and heavy steel components, enhancing installation speed. Additionally, special connection details for post-tensioned concrete streamlined the workflow, allowing concurrent interior and exterior construction.
SERVICES
Structural, CFS PreFabricated Finish Panel Engineering Design
COMPLETION YEAR 2024
PROJECT PARTNERS
Select Prefab, I-Kota Construction
SIZE
130,000 square feet, 16 stories
Winner
2024 Steel Framing Industry Association (SFIA) Industry Project Award, Efficient Use of CFS Framing
© Elevate Snaps
6 Salas O’Brien Cold-Formed Steel Engineering Design
Versatility of CFS shines in latest campus expansion
Colorado Christian University Armstrong Center LAKEWOOD, CO, USA
The new Armstrong Center at the Lakewood campus of Colorado Christian University serves as the academic and spiritual cornerstone for the school. The fifth addition to the campus since 2015, it allows the School of Music to return to the main campus and houses an expanded library, a 500-seat performance theater, and the University’s first dedicated chapel.
Salas O’Brien provided cold-formed steel (CFS) design for this 60,000-square-foot project, including CFS framing, theater cloud anchorage, and band rehearsal screen supports. We also designed the canted CFS furring walls that transition into vertical walls, the CFS framing that supports the welded steel ledgers for the heavy stone finish, and twostory wall studs that end in a cantilevered window sill.
The new Armstrong Center is a great example of the versatility of CFS. It is used with common building materials including concrete, steel, wood, and masonry throughout the interior and exterior of the building.
© Jeffrey Grounds Photography
SERVICES
Structural, CFS Design
COMPLETION YEAR 2024
CONSTRUCTION COST
$40 million
Results
\ New construction
\ 500-seat theater
\ Dedicated chapel
\ School of Music
\ Expanded library
SIZE
60,000 square feet
PROJECT PARTNERS
Phase 2 Company, Saunders Construction
Unique features delivered through cold-formed steel design
Westin Hotel Sky Lobby Ceiling at Denver International Airport DENVER, CO, USA
Salas O’Brien’s cold-formed steel (CFS) and BIM expertise was critical for the design of the Westin Hotel Sky Lobby ceiling at DIA. The suspended ceiling is made out of glass fiber reinforced gypsum that mimics the shape of the exterior steel diagrid which overhangs the north and south ends of the building, giving visitors sweeping views of the Rocky Mountains and of the terminal. The barrel-vault ceiling geometry associated with the design exemplifies the level of coordination that was needed to design what is truly a work of art.
The ceiling on the hotel’s sixth floor is just inches away from a 60-foot cantilevered steel structure. It is constructed with a combination of slotted channel framing, traditional wire-hung tee framing, and framing supporting glassfiber-reinforced gypsum shapes, gypsum board, and customfabricated aluminum extrusions and fittings. Our solution also accounted for deflective movement up to six inches in winds while achieving the architect’s stunning design vision.
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SERVICES Structural, CFS Engineering
COMPLETION YEAR
2015
PROJECT PARTNERS Spacecon Specialty Contractors, S.A. Miro, Gensler
CONSTRUCTION COST
$579M (hotel and transit center)
Awards
2016 ABC Rocky Mountain Chapter Eagle Award Winner (Spacecon Specialty Contractors)
2016 ENR Mountain States Best Airport/Transit Project Award Winner (S.A. Miro)
2017 AIA Colorado Design Award Winner (Gensler)
102-foot
clear span for suspended barrel-vaulted suspended CFS ceiling system in the Westin Hotel Sky Lobby
© Scott Frances/OTTO
Salas O’Brien Cold-Formed Steel Engineering Design
CFS expertise allows for faster enclosure and minimizes operational impact
Denver International Airport (DIA) Concourse B & C Expansions CFS
Engineering DENVER, CO, USA
In 2019, DIA undertook a large expansion project for two of its three concourses. Concourses B and C were increased by 126,000 square feet and 530,000 square feet respectively. Salas O’Brien undertook the challenge of designing a wide variety of CFS and CFS/steel hybrid panels and incorporating the two systems into one panelization process. The panel design allowed the client to receive the steel members directly from the supplier for insertion into the panels and for the panels to be constructed off-site due to project site space constraints. The offsite fabrication component had its own set of challenges, including coordinating the structural steel within the CFS panels to allow for reasonable panel sizes and execution and design for special structural considerations for loads incurred during transportation to and installation at the project site. Salas O’Brien’s CFS expertise, combined with our extensive project track record at DIA, minimized the CFS trade’s envelope impact on airport operations and allowed for faster enclosure.
SERVICES
Structural, CFS/Steel Hybrid Panelization
COMPLETION YEAR 2023
SIZE
656,000 square feet
PROJECT PARTNERS Jacobs, Four Star Drywalll
CONSTRUCTION COST
$1 billion
Winner
2024 Cold-Formed Steel Engineers Institute Design Excellence Awards Honorable Mention
© Elevate Snaps
Cold-formed steel bearing walls utilized for luxury senior living facility
Wind Crest - Erikson Senior Living Residential Buildings CFS Engineering HIGHLANDS RANCH, CO, USA
Salas O’Brien designed the cold-formed steel (CFS) framing for this sevenstory luxury residential building utilizing CFS bearing walls. CFS’ versatility, durability, and lightweight properties contribute to the building’s extended lifespan with reduced maintenance costs, compared to steel or reinforced concrete. Through 2023, Salas O’Brien has performed CFS engineering for seven Wind Crest buildings.
The unique physical characteristics of CFS support the gravity loads of the building, as well as the intricate architectural finishes and features, while also handling lateral wind loads. We faced the challenge of coordinating varying load conditions from the roof girder trusses, six stories of Hambro floor joists, and diverse wall finishes, tracing them down at each level to design the CFS wall studs and opening framing. Additionally, we designed the CFS metal framing for the adjoined building and elevated bridge which required meticulous coordination to prevent differential deflection or other issues.
SERVICES
Structural Engineering, Cold-Formed Steel (CFS) Engineering
CONSTRUCTION COST
$30 million
COMPLETION YEAR 2023
Results
PROJECT PARTNERS
John Low LPD, R.L. Goodson Jr. Inc. JHP Architecture/Urban Design, Brinkmann Constructors
CONTACT
Russ Leffler, russ.leffler@ salasobrien.com
\ 7-story CFS bearing walls
\ CFS metal framing for the adjoined building and elevated bridge
\ Triceratops fossils were discovered during the early stages of construction which were then donated to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science
10 Salas O’Brien
Intricate details highlight CFS design expertise
Aims Community College Welcome Center CFS Engineering GREELEY, CO, USA
The Aims Community College Welcome Center is the Greeley Campus hub for all student services. Its 110,000-square-foot space comprises a 1600seat auditorium, an 800-person capacity ballroom, conference spaces, service offices, resource centers, and upper-level outdoor patios with breathtaking views of the Rocky Mountain front range. Its sheer size and complex architectural features dominate the landscape, with striking glass and multi-faceted soffits that define it as the centerpiece of the campus.
The load path and deflection compatibility conditions along the exterior facade frequently changed, requiring our team to provide specialty details and design checks approximately every 10 feet. We designed square, canted CFS wraps for the three four-story sloped and tapered round HSS columns and braced lateral analysis with heavy anchorage into the roof deck for the roof over-framing. Finally, we addressed the sloped and warped soffit facades with special connection and load path considerations to enable the use of conventional CFS.
SERVICES
Structural Engineering, Cold-Formed Steel (CFS) Engineering Design
PROJECT PARTNERS
Phase 2 Company, Hord Copland Macht, KL&A
Structural Engineering
CONSTRUCTION
2022 Cold-Formed Steel Engineering Institute (CFSEI) Design Excellence Awards, Second PlaceMunicipal/Services
© Aims Community College
CFS flexibility and strength utilized for modern architectural envelope
Blue Federal Credit Union New World Headquarters CFS Engineering CHEYENNE, WY, USA
The new headquarters for Blue Federal Credit Union is a pinnacle structure of the organization’s campus development plan. Salas O’Brien provided cold-formed steel (CFS) engineering design for the new facility which features steel construction, composite concrete floors and an intricate CFS and curtain wall glazing exterior envelope. It showcases the use of CFS to create beautiful architectural facade features and design for substantial envelope cladding support and transfer loading to the primary structure.
Our CFS expertise was critical to overcoming several design challenges including large unsupported spans. Several sections of the three-story office wing and two-story community wing required the framing to clearspan from the foundation to the roof utilizing 42-foot and 46-foot spans. Other areas had cantilevered CFS framing supporting 24-foot tall curtain wall glazing framing where we successfully designed large CFS supports that did not require welding. Field panelization was also utilized, with portions of the +40-foot tall walls being pre-built and lifted into place.
SERVICES
Structural, Cold-Formed Steel (CFS) Engineering Design
COMPLETION YEAR 2020
PROJECT PARTNERS
Holsinger Drywall LLC
CONSTRUCTION COST
$25 million
SIZE
76,000 square feet
Winner
2021 Cold-Formed Steel Engineering Institute (CFSEI) Design Excellence Awards, First PlaceCommercial
2021 ENR Mountain States Best Projects, Best Project Office/Retail/ Mixed-Use
© Jess Blackwell Photography
12 Salas O’Brien Cold-Formed Steel Engineering Design
Tesoro Golden Eagle Refinery Control Building Construction and Relocation
MARTINEZ, CA, USA
Salas O’Brien provided the CFS design for this 2,000-squarefoot steel-frame structure which required off-site construction due to the 50-foot-deep water surrounding the wharf. With an expedited schedule of only seven months, our team designed two separate 3D models to analyze the seismic and building relocation activities. Once complete, the two-story, 181,000-pound modular structure floated on a barge 12 miles down the Carquinez Strait to Avon Wharf for installation.
SERVICES
Structural Engineering, Seismic Evaluation
PROJECT PARTNERS
Smith LaRock Architecture
Colorado State University New Football Stadium CFS Engineering
FORT COLLINS, CO, USA
Salas O’Brien used our cold-formed steel (CFS) engineering expertise to tackle several challenges for CSU’s new stadium, including 60-foot walls with no intermediate support and an expedited construction schedule. CFS provided a lighter, more versatile construction material that was more durable and cost-effective for the structural supports for stone columns, soffit ceilings, and the jumbotron wall. The CFS engineering design was split into 18 separate areas and multiple phases for completion in just three months.
SERVICES
Structural Engineering, CFS Design
PROJECT PARTNERS
Spacecon Specialty Contractorse
UCHealth Steadman Hawkins Clinic
ENGLEWOOD, CO USA
Salas O’Brien was challenged with creating a cold-formed steel (CFS) panelized solution during the construction phase for the exterior envelope of this new 13,000-square-foot, four-story orthopedic surgical and rehabilitation center. The final design consisted of 196 CFS panels, few of which were considered identical. Each panel required careful coordination with the expected integration and relation to the superstructure, adjacent panel, and adjacent curtain wall framing.
SERVICES
Structural Engineering, CFS Panelization
PROJECT PARTNERS
Spacecon Specialty Contractors, Haselden Construction
Jason O’Rear Photography
Passion & Expertise
We are an engineering and technical services firm focused on advancing the human experience through the built environment. We help clients achieve critical goals, advance team members through growth and opportunity, and operate at the center of important global issues, including sustainability and decarbonization.
Applying technical mastery and market vision
We have the objectivity to question assumptions, the versatility to embrace every problem’s unique nature, and the experience to challenge the status quo. We approach every project with a comprehensive view, focused on achieving high quality, lasting relationships, and a sustainable future.
Helping clients adapt to a changing world
We provide a full range of engineering and technical consulting services. From quick-turn projects to the most complex systems, our team is dedicated to providing quality solutions that deliver long-term value.
SERVICES
Embracing the unique nature of each problem and creating opportunity and impact through solving it.
\ Structural
\ MEP/FP
\ Civil \ Technology
\ Acoustics
\ Architecture & interiors
\ Commissioning
\ Energy & resiliency
\ Sustainability
\ Geothermal & renewables
\ Resource efficiency management
\ Digital & automation
\ Building envelope
\ Building science
\ Litigation support
\ Asset management
90+
Offices throughout North America
900+
Registered professionals
3,800+ Passionate team members
RECOGNITION
Our consistent recognition among top-performing organizations in our industry reflects our commitment to excellence and solid year-over-year performance.
Engineering News Record 2024 #39 on the Top 500 Design Firms List
MEP Giants 2024
#9 top 100 MEP firms in North America
Inc. 5000 2024 12x honoree
BD+C Giants 400 2024
#3 on the Top 70 Engineering Firms list
Zweig Group Hot Firms 2024
#3 fastest-growing AEC firms in North America
