ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks

ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks Design

SteelStacks is a cultural and entertainment campus on a 126-acre brownfield site. Isett provided a range of services for key projects in the redevelopment & revitalization of the site.

Before construction began, a forensic building investigation was conducted of 12 former Bethlehem Steel buildings, resulting in the identification of structures for adaptive reuse.

Isett provided structural engineering for the design of the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks, a 67,000-SF multi-venue building designed without column supports that would interrupt sight lines and traffic flow. The “bones” of the building became part of the architectural design. The exposed I-beams are painted “International Orange” as a nod to the Golden Gate Bridge, whose steel was manufactured at the Bethlehem Steel blast furnaces adjacent to ArtsQuest

Isett also provided civil, structural and MEP design of the Sands Casino Hotel (now Wind Creek); civil, structural and MEP design for the Event Center, a 50,000-SF performance venue between the hotel and casino as well as the adjacent Vision Bar; structural engineering for the 64,000-SF expansion of the casino years later; and structural engineering for the National Museum of Industrial History.

The American Institute of Architects Pennsylvania awarded Spillman Farmer Architects, the building’s designers, a Silver Medal – the organization’s highest honor.