News & Insights
Salas O’Brien recognized for excellence in cold-formed steel design
The cold-formed steel (CFS) design of a new casino resort hotel tower receives second place in the creative detail category of the Cold-Formed Steel Engineers Institute’s Annual Design Excellence Award Ceremony.
Salas O’Brien is excited to announce that its structural engineering team was recognized by the Cold-Formed Steel Engineers Institute (CFSEI) with second place in the Creative Detail category at the Design Excellence Awards for the cold-formed steel (CFS) design of a new hotel tower for the Caesars Virginia Casino Resort. Salas O’Brien received the award during CFSEI’s annual expo and conference in Raleigh, North Carolina. CFSEI is a national organization comprised of structural engineers and other design professionals. Its annual Design Excellence Awards program recognizes outstanding achievement in creative design, technical innovation, and overall project excellence in the use of CFS, according to the CSFEI website.
Hotel Tower CFS Design
This landmark resort and casino development in Danville, Virginia is a collaboration between Caesars Entertainment and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI). The Salas O’Brien project team, led by principal Russ Leffler, PE, SE, and senior vice president Daniel Stadig, PE, provided structural pre-fabricated and pre-finished exterior insulation and finish system (EIFS) CFS wall panels for the 12-story 320-key hotel tower. A prominent design challenge was providing support for the window washing system tie-back points called intermittent stabilization anchors or ISAs.
The pre-finished panels needed to provide the support point without extensive field installation requirements. The original design assumed hollow structural section (HSS) posts would be needed behind or embedded in the wall framing to provide this support. Salas O’Brien created a design that eliminated the HSS posts and allowed a pre-installed support method within the panels using standard CFS material and connectors. This unique solution provided the necessary support point while also minimizing fieldwork, bringing substantial savings to the project.
For more information, including all the 2025 CFSEI Design Excellence award winners, visit CSFEI’s website.
About Salas O’Brien
Salas O’Brien is an employee-owned engineering and technical services firm focused on advancing the human experience through the built environment. Our team is engineered for impact, helping clients achieve critical goals, advancing our team members through growth and opportunity, and operating at the center of important global issues, including sustainability and decarbonization. We are a top firm as ranked by Engineering News-Record and Consulting-Specifying Engineer, and we have appeared for over a decade on the Inc. 5000 list of North America’s fastest-growing private companies.
For media inquiries, contact Stacy Lake, Director of Corporate Communications.