Milwaukee, WI
Baird Center’s structure is engineered for big boats and ‘Jump Around’ – Milwaukee Business Journal
Mike Vogel’s structural engineering team at Graef designed the Baird Center to be strong enough to carry the weight of a boat show, and stiff enough to avoid vibrations causing a “Jurassic Park” ripple effect in wine glasses if a crowd jumps in unison to a live band’s hit song.
Those are just some of the standards used to engineer the addition onto the downtown Milwaukee convention center. Some of the structural challenges are even more stringent than the demands on a typical arena, for example.
Vogel is a principal and senior structural engineer for Graef, the Milwaukee-based consultant that handled that work for the $456 million Baird Center expansion that is set for a mid-May grand opening.
“It’s really fun to be a part of helping solve society’s challenges, whether it is a large vertical construction project or designing a robot or machine to help us,” Vogel said.
Heavy loads
The addition is designed to feature big, open spaces for its two major convention halls, and Vogel’s team tested to make sure the structure could handle the weight of those events.
“This is long-span that has to take expo center loads, which are gigantic,” Vogel said. “You can imagine a boat show, or a hot tub show with a bunch of tubs filled with water.”
That means the floors of the convention hall are built to handle more weight than, for example, the roof of a typical sports arena. General building code standards require the roof of an arena to handle the weight of its own materials – called “dead weight” – but also up to about 30 pounds per square foot of snow buildup on top. The convention center’s exhibit spaces, by contrast, must handle up to 350 pounds per square foot in addition to their own dead weight, Vogel said.
“That gives them the maximum flexibility to attract events the community can appreciate,” he said.
Graef principal and senior structural engineer Mike Vogel signs a ceremonial beam for the Baird Center expansion.
Bad vibrations
It’s a whole different challenge to stop those stout floors from vibrating as people walk around or dance, or as bands play music with heavy bass.
That was another factor to consider, since the Baird Center’s second-floor ballroom is directly above its exhibition hall.
“You don’t want to excite that floor so that the lights below start moving,” he said.
Stopping that vibration is a separate challenge in addition to designing a structure to support weight without collapsing, Vogel said. Wisconsin Center District officials wanted the ability to have dinner and dancing in close proximity without glasses vibrating on tabletops, he said.
“Low bass starts to resonate with structure and can excite a structure so it can start to want to move harmonically,” Vogel said. “There’s different criteria if you have a concert and you have a bunch of people doing ‘Jump Around’ and all bouncing in unison. That will also excite a structure. That is very different than somebody walking on the floor.”
The depth of the structure contributes to its stiffness, and also more structural mass will dampen vibrations, for example.
Big numbers
Vogel ran through some of the stats on the materials that comprise the Baird Center’s structure.
It has 6,000 tons of structural steel, or about the equivalent to 12 fully loaded Boeing 747 airplanes. That includes more than 569,069 separate pieces of structural steel, held together by 169,152 structural bolts.
Think of those as the pieces of a Lego set or an Ikea table that haven’t been assembled. Graef designed the structure and created the instructions telling builders how to put them together. Bringing that work in house was among Vogel’s initiatives at Graef that can cut weeks off a project schedule. During the original convention center’s construction, paper design drawings were sent to an outside firm that drew up the assembly instructions.
Builders on the Baird Center expansion used those instructions to tell steel suppliers which parts to ship to the site and when they’d be needed.
“It comes out to about four truckloads, twice a week,” Vogel said. “They get four truckloads of steel. They erect that. They get another four truckloads. They continue until they are done.”
Brad Paisley (Photo by Scott Dudelson/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE – Brad Paisley is scheduled to perform at the BMO Pavilion in Milwaukee on Sept. 4.
Ticket information
What we know:
The ticket pre-sale for Brad’s fan club members, Paisley Nation, begins on Tuesday, May 12 at 10 am. All tickets available at BradPaisley.com.
The tour will also offer a variety of VIP packages and experiences for fans to take their concert experience to the next level.
FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX LOCAL Mobile app for iOS or Android
Packages vary but include premium seats, a guided backstage tour, VIP-exclusive gift item, early entry & more. VIP package contents vary depending on the selected offer. For more information, visit VIPnation.com.
The Source: The information in this post was provided by Live Nation.
Billionaire Wes Edens, co-founder of Fortress Investment Group and co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks NBA club, is shown at Sun Valley, Idaho, on July 9, 2015. The Wall Street Journal on Sunday identified Edens as the victim of a billion-dollar extortion plot allegedly hatched by an ex-lover. File Photo by Andrew Gombert/EPA
May 10 (UPI) — Wes Edens, the billionaire co-founder of Fortress Investment Group and an owner of the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks, was the target of a billion-dollar extortion scheme allegedly perpetrated by an ex-lover, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.
A spokesman for Edens, 64, confirmed to the newspaper that the financier is the unnamed alleged victim in a federal indictment brought against Changli “Sophia” Luo of New York City.
Edens, one of world’s most successful global investment management firm leaders with Fortress, has developed and owned businesses in real estate, transportation, infrastructure, health care, financial services, media and entertainment.
He is also a high-profile sports team owner, including the Bucks and soccer club Aston Villa of the English Premier League. He is credited turning the Bucks from a perennial cellar dweller into a champion squad over a five-year span, culminating in the 2021 NBA championship.
But he also fell victim to a lurid alleged “sextortion” scheme, his spokesman confirmed to the WSJ, admitting the Edens is the unnamed “Victim 1” cited an indictment filed last year in Manhattan federal court against Luo.
The indictment reportedly accuses her of trying to extort Victim 1 of more than $1 billion by threatening to release videos and photos of them engaged in sex. Prosecutors alleged Luo also threatened to contact the victim’s family members and business partners in a threat to destroy his fortune if he did not pay up.
According to the indictment, Luo was arrested June 14 at JFK International Airport as she tried to board a flight to China, the New York Post reported.
“Mr. Edens will be making no comment on the case as the indictment speaks for itself with respect to the charges against the defendant,” his spokesman told the Journal. “Mr. Edens expects to testify under oath at the upcoming trial.”
MILWAUKEE – Forecast from FOX6 Meteorologist Lisa Michaels
Mostly sunny skies with partly sunny skies in the afternoon. There is a slight chance for a few sprinkles, but most areas remain dry. Highs near 60F on Sunday.
Patchy frost is possible again Sunday night into Monday morning as low temps inland can reach the lower 30s.
Cooler on Monday with easterly winds- low 50s near the lake to upper 50s inland.
A big boost in temperatures on Tuesday in the low 70s associated with a clipper system will bring the next chance of rain and a few storms.
Today: Mostly Sunny. Slight chance sprinkles.
High: 60°
Wind: NW 5-15
Tonight: Mostly Clear. Patchy frost.
Low: 38°
Wind: N 5
Monday: 53 LAKE. Mostly sunny.
High: 57°
Wind: E 5-10
Tuesday: Chance storms. Breezy.
AM Low: 39° High: 71°
Wind: SW 10-25
Wednesday:Partly sunny.
AM Low: 46° High: 59°
Wind: NW 5-15
Thursday: Mostly Sunny. Slight chance sprinkles.
AM Low: 42° High: 64°
Wind: S 5-10
Friday: Chance of Rain
AM Low: 47° High: 72°
Wind: SW 5-15
6-day planner
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