Hi! I edited this page again on Feb 28 because I forgot to link the ACC folder.

Strategy and features

I am using steel because it is a commonly used material in California for industrial buildings and public spaces. Steel can be recycled from car scraps without losing any of its properties. In addition, considering the frequent earthquake and fire in California, a steel framed small building can be long lasting.

I also want my building to have a lot of exposed frames from the inside so the occupiers can feel a sense of openness. The frame is not shown from the outside to prevent sun damage and corrosion.

I started out by placing some grids on the bottom floor, which has the smallest area of all 4 floors. I focused on placing columns around the central garden since the curtain walls need a lot of support from the columns. I found myself following the grids less and less because of the irregular building shape as it goes up.

Level 2 floor plan (that shows level1’s beams and columns)

Level 5 floor plan (that shows the top floor’s beams and columns, a lot more difficult to model than lower levels)

Materials, locations, and elements

The structural frame, concrete slab floor, and the structural walls from two angles (front and back) are shown below.

Here are some first-person views from the coordinated views. The presence of the frame accentuates the modern design of the building.

Second floor inside view

Middle entrance view

Third floor balcony looking in.

Top floor trusses. You can easily see the modeling inaccuracies in the component which we can’t really adjust. The ceiling is also somewhat lower than when I modeled it, for which I’ll adjust the height in the architectural model.

Floor — Concrete slab with rigid insulation on the bottom, 3’’ LW concrete on 2’’ metal deck for all other floors.

Columns — HSS rectangular column, 14*10*5/8, used in both vertical and slanted directions.

Beams — W 12*26, beam systems used W 8*10.

Trusses — Pratt flat trusses, Height of 5’, used only on the top 2 floors as the garden is sealed off and the length of the building increases.

Challenges

There are a lot of floors in my building, and because of the expansion, each floor is facing a different scenario. For example, I had to change the column directions which sometimes disconnects the beams.

I also have a sloped roof. It is hard to adjust the beams to the perfect angles that follow the roof. I have tried to attach the beam systems to a new work plane but the beams would then change a direction. So aligning the roof and the beams took me a long time.