On Jan. 3, Ron Klemencic, who turned 55 the next day, got an early birthday present. From his 32nd-floor office window in Seattle, the seismic structural engineer looked down to see crews at grade beginning shoring work for an 850-ft-tall “proof of concept” for his cutting-edge composite steel frame.
The high-rise, called Rainier Square Tower, represents the realization of a 15-plus-year ambition of the chairman and CEO of Magnusson Klemencic Associates (MKA). Klemencic expects the radical superstructure system, appropriate for office towers, to replace the common but slower-to-build “leading” concrete core surrounded by a trailing steel frame.