Which types of structural framing systems and materials are most commonly used in the US for residences? For office buildings?
For residences, wood framing is most common in the US because the design of the lateral force-resisting system must be approached from a system design perspective which involves light-frame wood. For office buildings, structural steel is the most common. Structural steel framing is a durable, reliable, cost-effective, sustainable option for low-rise, mid-rise and high-rise office building projects and typically refers to building frame systems where the vertical and horizontal structural elements are formed by a system of structural steel beams and columns. Column spacing is typically 25 to 45 feet on center, with spacing variations lower and higher depending on architectural requirements. In my building, it was a little more narrow of 20 to 26 feet. The range of available shapes and sizes allows virtually any architectural requirement to be met.
How do you think design coordination was done before we started using digital models?
What advantages does doing this coordination digitally have over previous methods?
I think design coordination used to be done by having the rough sketch of the architectural side first before coming up with a hard plan on the structural framing. Kind of like starting at the core and building outwards towards the shell with consideration for the architectural design (shell). The advantage of coordination digitally is that it can highlight these clashes.
What strategies can design teams use to find and avoid clashes prior to the start of construction?
What can be done besides sharing the models digitally?
They can decide on where grids/columns/steel bars will be placed in order to avoid having clashes with other things like bathrooms, mechanical rooms, staircases, and the elevators. Since these are where the structural design parts are not flexible, they need to be made clear to avoid clashes prior to the start of construction.