U.S. Air Force Academy's Center for Character and Leadership Development wins a 2018 IDEAS2 National Steel Award

The U.S. Air Force Academy Center for Character and Leadership Development in Colorado Springs is the latest recipient of an IDEAS2 National Steel Design Award. Bestowed by the American Institute of Steel Construction, the IDEAS2 Steel Design Awards are the highest honor bestowed on building projects by the U.S. structural steel industry. Out of 100 submissions this year, 12 projects were selected to receive awards.

With Skidmore, Owings and Merrill's New York office serving as architect and structural engineer, the CCLD's most defining element is its dramatic, cantilevering 105-foot-long skylight. “The project is a simple and elegant expression of an idea that is in keeping with the campus at large and yet iconic in its own right," commented Lynda Leigh, SE, senior project manager at Turner Construction in Chicago, and this year's general contractor juror.

As the first structure to be built in USAFA's Cadet Area since the 1990s, the CCLD is an architectural interpretation of the Academy's mission to integrate character and leadership development into all aspects of the Cadet experience, while also serving as a think tank for similar initiatives nationwide. 

Shaped like a plane's tail fin, the CCLD's 105-foot-long skylight establishes a bold presence on the campus. The glass structure comprises of diagonal steel plates composed in a triangular grid and precisely calibrated to resist lateral forces due to wind load.

Designed without any embellishments, the AESS (architecturally exposed structural steel) is cohesive to the structure's sleek aesthetics. The glass structure aligns with the North Star to signify “the Academy's mission to develop leaders of character”.

Project team members will be presented with the Steel Design Award during a ceremony at the building on November 13.

Other National Steel Design Award winners include the 150 North Riverside Drive tower in Chicago, Seattle's LEED Gold-certified Trash Facility, and the ProMedica Corporate Headquarters.

Project team

Owner: United States Air Force Academy
Architect and Structural Engineer: Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, LLP, New York (entered the project in the competition)
General Contractor: ECC, Burlingame, Calif.