Structural Makeup of the Commercial Building

1057 Words3 Pages

Contents

• Introduction

• Site Analysis

• Structural Make-up

• Beam Calculations

• Load Trace

• Choice of Materials

• Conclusion
Introduction
This report will investigate the structural makeup of the commercial building we are working on as part of the Studio 2 module. The building has a single-storey basement that is to be used for car parking, with 5 upper storeys comprising of a café and open plan offices. This report investigates firstly the site that the building is situated on, secondly, the structural make-up of the building, thirdly the load trace and finally, materials used along with reasons for choosing them.

Site Analysis
The proposed commercial building is to be located on a site at 45 Dominick Street, Shandon, Cork City. The results of site investigations indicate that it has a high water table. The site itself is 0.3 acres with adjoining buildings on 3 out of 4 sides. The main site entrance is through the southern boundary that leads on to Dominick Street, a narrow public road that measures 4.5m across at its narrowest point. The northern boundary has a second entrance with a 6.3m wide wayleave through to Church Street, which is a wider street (9m at site entrance). This second entrance could be used as an access point for large machinery and for delivery of materials and equipment onto the site.

Structural Make-Up
The basement is excavated by using permanent embedded retaining walls formed using concrete secant piles around the perimeter and excavating the soil in between. The secant piles remain as a structural component of the building. The basement floor slab is cast-in-situ with integrated pad foundations to support the cast-in-situ columns supporting the ground floor slab which is also cast-in-si...

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...s possible with steel more so than other methods.

7. Long term retention of strength properties

8. Does not burn

9. Is not vulnerable to insect or fungal attack

Conclusion

The structure of this building was designed with a number of criteria in mind. First and foremost, the client would require speedy construction in order to generate income. This resulted in the use of structural steel for the majority of the building above grade.

The existence of a basement carpark resulted in the use of concrete as part of the structural makeup of the building. Concrete was also used structurally in the cores and floor slabs for its fire resistance and tensile and compressive strengths.

In conclusion, the combination of both materials in this project was deemed appropriate as the aim was to utilise the advantages of both steel and concrete in the design of the building.

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