Paul Zorr
“Harbor Study for Lake Calumet, Illinois” (MS 1967)
Advisor: Myron Goldsmith
Structural Advisor: Fazlur Khan
Model Photographs: Joseph Jachna
Material: Steel
Structural system: Two-way Warren truss system on 16 columns
Maximum span: 405 ft.
“Although it functions as a warehouse, the structure has a quality suitable for a building where appearance is of great importance, such as an exhibition space or museum.”
Paul Zorr’s thesis considered a large structure to function as a transit shed for the short-term storage of ship-borne cargo. The site model located six 75,000 square foot buildings at Lake Calumet Harbor in Chicago. Each roof is a two-way Warren truss system cantilevered over a system of square steel columns on a 100-foot square structural bay.
“Although the building is to be used for the temporary storage of general cargo, proportions, expression of structure, and details were given careful study and analysis. The structure has a very light and open character and with the roof trusses suspended from the top of the columns it appears that the roof floats in space.”
