The title is drawn from the observation of a structural engineer explaining the secret to a novel building design: essentially, it's one, mid-sized office building in Toronto that's being designed, in part, as an insert to an existing structure that has historic-preservation status (and thus, cannot be removed or visibly altered.)

A critical point to the design is the use of 35,000-lb, cast steel nodes to link together a structural steel frame.

There are a few more interesting illustrations here.

"Supporting the tower on conventional columns wasn’t an option because of the large size and number of columns that would have been required," according to the report. "What consulting engineer Stephenson Engineering Ltd. and Sweeny Sterling Finlayson & Co. Architects Inc. decided on instead was a series of 70-foot-tall 'delta frames,' each comprised of 1-meter-diameter, tubular steel columns shooting up through the new development’s atrium (within the four-story structure) to support the new tower."

The report quotes Carlos de Oliveira, president and principal structural engineer for Cast Connex Corporation, which designed and will supply the cast steel nodes for the project, which he observed "provide for a more rational means of meeting all the structural and architectural requirements.”

“With steel castings, you put the steel where it needs to be for the flow of forces on the structure," de Oliveira said. "You are not confined to having to build up elements from plate.” He also said the castings provide "architectural elegance."

The proliferation of steel castings in very large dimensions for applications like turbines has been well reported. Similar products undoubtedly have a place in infrastructure development and replacement, too (e.g., bridges.) Count this as another boon for steel foundries.