Durrett Sheppard SteelX

Durrett Sheppard Steel Co., Inc. (DSS) is a processor and distributor of steel products located in east Baltimore. Processing capabilities include plasma burning, sawing and shearing from a 200,000 s.f. facility. DSS provided all of the structural and ornamental steel for the facility, including plasma cut beams, tube, plate, channels and beams.

The new administrative building was conceived as an opportunity to exhibit the company’s carbon steel product line and processing capabilities; hence virtually all structural steel was left exposed and augmented with a vocabulary of exposed steel w-shapes, channels, rods, steel panel, plate and welded bar grating fashioned into screens, lights fixtures, shelves, wall panels, and reception desk. The central space is a column-less open office area spanned with 70 ft bar joists. A continuous clerestory beneath a deeply cantilevered roof overhang provides ample daylighting, while suspended ceiling “clouds” prevent glare on computer screens. Galvanized, weathered A-606, red and grey oxide primed, and clear coat finishes provide a durable, low cost, low maintenance industrial pallet with highly polished ground concrete floors and polished concrete block.