Pick And Shovel

ALUMINUM GUARD RAILS
USED IN NEW
PARKING GARAGE, PITTSBURGH

Workmen install a unique woven-wire panel on a new 7-story parking deck in Pittsburgh, Pa. The panels, hand-woven of aluminum wire, introduce a smart new look to safety parapets.

Aluminum has been designed into a new 7 story Diamond Street parking garage in Pittsburgh's "Golden Triangle" area to give a smart new look to protective guardrails.

The new off-street parking facility has abandoned the prosaic concrete parapet in favor of a glistening grillwork of hand-woven Alcoa aluminum wire on the perimeter of each floor. With its companion aluminum handrails, this "new look" in protective barriers lends an open-air feeling without sacrificing customer safety.

The grillwork is framed in extruded aluminum channels for extra strength. A "satin" finish was applied for added aluminum luster. Altogether, 391 three-feet-high panels, ranging from eight to 12-feet in length, were installed on the project. The completed parapet of 1 1/2-inch diameter aluminum handrails, aluminum wire mesh and a metal bumper guard, is securely anchored to the concrete floor of each deck. An integral part of the handrail system is the unique aluminum combination "elbow" and "T" joints. The joints were sand cast in Alcoa's Cleveland, Ohio plant and were given the same "satin" finish as the woven wire panels.

Hoffman and Crumpton, Architects, designed the garage for the Public Parking Authority of Pittsburgh. Standard Metal Products Company, subcontractor for the aluminum work, had the mesh hand woven by Heiger Iron and Wire Company. All three firms are located in Pittsburgh.