Masonry Magazine April 1972 Page. 7
LOADBEARING MASONRY SEMINAR
Unusually heavy turnout of building design professionals taxed the facilities at the Chicago Marriott Motor Hotel.
Standing room only at IMI-sponsored conference for Chicago area architects, engineers
CHICAGO, ILL-A turn-away audience of more than 350 architects, engineers, design and construction professionals attended the recent special Loadbearing Masonry Seminar in the Chicago Marriott Motor Hotel.
The seminar was conducted as a pilot project and is now being reviewed to determine future format and feasibility of scheduling later seminars in cities where MCAA Chapters and BM & PIU locals have negotiated support for IMI, according to Donald R. Bidwell, Board chairman of IMI.
The one-day affair featuring the nation's leading experts on high-rise loadbearing construction was sponsored by the International Masonry Institute (IMI) in cooperation with the Builders' Association of Chicago, the United Order of American Bricklayers & Stone Masons Union No. 21, and the Mason Contractors Association of Greater Chicago. IMI's Executive Director Neal English said the Trustees and Advisors of IMI were impressed and pleased that the major local, state and national organizations involved in masonry construction joined forces with IMI to make this unprecedented meeting possible. They feel that the large attendance clearly indicated Chicago area architects, engineers, and others welcomed the move. "Without question," English said, "it was a very successful seminar."
Eight speakers participated in the program and showed color slide films concentrating on the loadbearing masonry system. Under the loadbearing concept, thin masonry walls work together with rigid floor and roof systems to create a strong structural shell, eliminating the need for concrete and steel skeleton frames. The masonry provides both enclosure and structure.
In essence, a high-rise masonry building becomes a series of one-story buildings, each atop the other. All trades follow together as the building rises, resulting in greatly improved construction speed and efficiency.
The morning session began with a welcome address by IMI Executive Director Neal English, who served as program moderator, followed by a "Design and Engineering Overview" featuring speakers Henry Toennies, Director of Engineering, National Concrete Masonry Association, Arlington, Va., and Alan H. Yorkdale, Director of Engineering & Research, Structural Clay Products Institute, McLean, Va.
Toennies showed slides of a number of high-rise loadbearing masonry structures either completed or going up in various regions of the nation and Canada. Among the taller buildings are two of 21 stories in Pittsburgh and one of 20 stories in Denver. More commonplace are loadbearing buildings of lesser height-from eight to 15 stories.