Semester three: commercial steel framed

While the previous two semesters made me confident in my wood framing construction and systems. This semester has offered a new challenge with steel framing. While many of the components and the process for detailing are the same, researching and detailing the new components, especially surrounding the curtain walls was a fun new challenge. Researching and selecting a different style of glass to make my building bird friendly was a valuable exercise in designing based on client preferences and researching products to fulfill new constraints. I preferred the Okatech glass product I found to my original design.

3D detail

Working on the 3d detail was a lot of fun and I am quite proud of the end result. While the information is similar to that provided in section details, using the model in place tool was a great way to visualize the components as they would be built, and strengthen my understanding of the principals behind the wall construction. I spent time adding knife plates, steel angles, control layers, and the wall structure behind the curtain wall. There is even some work I cropped out of my final detail which helped me to understand how my building would be constructed.

Parking solution

I spent a lot of time working on the loading dock and parking area, minimizing the space used and ensuring that the site remained barrier free. I ended up having my parking directly off the lane, allowing for the minimum number of stalls due to the high transit access in the Bridgeland area, while removing the need for a full size parking lot. I looked at 1772 33 St SW as a case study for this. this site, located near the Westbrook LRT station has all of its parking, and loading stalls directly off of the lane. While theirs run parallel to the building and mine is perpendicular, the concept is the same and minimizes the amount of space required for the parking area

barrier free washrooms

Finding the most efficient method of including the washrooms for the offices. I ended up including 2 barrier free washrooms, one for each office. this meant that no matter which exit was used from the an office, a washroom would be located within the site line. While this exceeded the single required barrier free stall, it allowed for a more symetrical design. another good option would have been including the janitor closet in place of one of the barrier free washrooms, however I decided against this, preferring the ease of access for staff and guests.