Design brief Building Structures 1 2021-2022:

At a beautiful location at the Lloydkade in Rotterdam (figure 1) an office and an art gallery need to
be developed.

Figure 1: Location: Lloydkade next to parking lot of former restaurant Blik

An architect has already drawn a sketch plan for the office and art gallery, that will be used by the
same owner: a rich art trader. See figure 2 and 3 for the first sketches for the plans and section of
the building.

Figure 2: Design sketch of section of the building

Figure 3: Design sketch of plans for the building

The building consists of an office (with storage) and an art gallery, connected by a glass structure
(this connecting structure is acclimatized). The office fronts towards the river Maas (orientation to
south). The office and art gallery together need a staircase and an elevator. For the structure of
the office and art gallery the use of timber and precast concrete and masonry is required. For the
structure of the connecting part, only glass is allowed.

The long facades need to be closed with only some openings. The north and south facades need to
be as transparent as reasonably possible. For the Art Gallery direct sunlight needs to be avoided.
For the office sun shading needs to be provided for the large open façade with orientation to the
south.

To be flexible for the future the floors of the office and art gallery need to be calculated on a live
load of 5 kN/m2. The art gallery furthermore needs to be able to withstand a floor load of 10 kN on
a random location. The storage needs to be calculated on a live load of 7 kN/m2.

The sizes as depicted in the sketches need to be used as starting point, although small deviations
can be made.
Both buildings are supported by a pile foundation. For the piles you can use the values from table
1.

Table 1: Load bearing capacities various prefab foundation piles. Values presented are
compressive forces. Capacity for tensile forces is 20% of the capacity of compressive forces.

220*220 mm2 250*250 mm2 320*320 mm2

L=18 m FR;d=290 kN FR;d =380 kN FR;d = 620 kN

L=20 m too slender FR;d =560 kN FR;d = 920 kN

L=24 m too slender FR;d =750 kN FR;d = 1228 kN

Questions:

In the Netherlands, we have the phases preliminary design ("VO"), detailed design ("DO"),
technical design ("bestek") and construction-ready ("bouwvoorbereiding/werktekeningen"). For this
exercise you have to deliver on "DO-level", where it is sufficient to provide hand calculations using
simple rules and stress checks. You can make use of the document “Basic design rules for
simplified calculations in steel, concrete, timber, masonry and glass”.

Structural Design Office and Art gallery: use timber, prefab concrete and masonry.

1. Elaborate the functional design for the office and art gallery. Make a choice for the number of
windows, the length of the cantilevering roof of the office and gallery, the positioning of the
staircase and elevator.

2. Make a motivated choice for the roof and facade cladding and insulation.

3. Make a motivated choice for the positioning of vertical load bearing elements of the office and
art gallery (walls and columns) for both ground floor and first floor.

4. Explore the opportunities to provide stability by means of braced and unbraced structures in
both directions (South-North and East-West direction) of the building and make a choice. It is
possible to choose different systems in both directions.

5. Make a choice for the integral load bearing system of the office and art gallery (including beams,
floors and stabilizing elements). Consider and sketch at least 3 alternatives and motivate your
choices. For the alternatives: think of logical combinations of laminated beams, precast concrete
beams, timber walls, masonry walls, precast concrete walls, precast concrete columns, timber
floors/roof and precast concrete floors/roof. It is important to provide alternatives in material
choice and structural lay out, not yet for the sizes of the elements. Make sure that all alternatives
provide stable solutions in both directions.

Hint: For the alternatives you can think of deviating in construction systems for the North and
South part of the building, using different systems for the ground floor and first floor+roof, to
make light-weight alternatives or more solid alternatives.

6. Make a motivated choice for the ground floor and foundation beams. Consider: pavement floor,
in situ concrete and prefabricated concrete (see also reader module 6).
Structural calculation of Design Office and Art Gallery

7. Give an indication for the various live loads (per m2) acting upon the structure (horizontal and
vertical). What is the consequence class you have to deal with? What are the appropriate safety
factors?

8. Make a choice for the size of the various load bearing elements based on reference projects,
design diagrams and rules of thumb (see document Basic Design Rules) for all three alternatives.

9. Calculate the necessary sizes (and, for the concrete elements main reinforcement) of the various
elements (use simplified calculation formulas of document Basic Design Rules. No elaborate
calculations as in “Beton- en staalconstructies” needed). Do this for all three alternatives.

10. Explain how the wind forces transfer from roof to the foundation. Do this for two situations:
wind north-south and wind east-west.

11. Demonstrate by calculation that the load bearing elements can take the wind forces on the long
facades and that the structure is sufficiently strong, stiff and stable (if not: adjust the design). For
the wind forces you can consider the building to be rectangular. Start with a calculation by hand
and check this with a computer calculation. Make sure that you explain input and output of the
calculation in your report. Do this for only one alternative.

Connecting glass structure

12. For the entrance of the building a small glass structure needs to be designed, with glass
facades, a glass floor and glass roof. This has to be done completely in glass. Make at least three
possible designs and choose one. Motivate your choice.

13. Make a structural design for the entrance structure and calculate the sizes. Include wind and
snow loads.

Overall

14. Make a motivated choice for one of the load bearing alternatives (for instance based on the
amount of material needed, as calculated in question 9, but consider also additional criteria).

15. Make drawings of this structure (at least roof plan, first floor plan, ground floor plan, side view
and cross section) on scale with a description of relevant sizes and measures and description of
structural elements.

16. Take a section at the position of the roof cladding and at two different positions at the façade
and draw the details which show both the cladding (finishing structure) and load bearing structure.

17. Determine the loads on the foundation (dead and live loads)

18. Make a sketch plan of the piles, showing the position, size, length and number of piles required
underneath the foundation beams of the building.
Deliverables:

Imagine that you have to submit your building design (with entrance) for approval of local
authorities (Bouw- en Woningtoezicht). For approval they require in this situation a report
consisting of 5 parts:

I. General description
• Description of location and type of building
• Description of material qualities and loads

II. Description of load bearing behaviour

• Explanation of horizontal and vertical load transfer, including a description of stability in
both directions

III. Determination of sizes

• Determination of sizes of structural elements by rules of thumb

IV. Verification of sizes

• structural calculations from the relevant parts (Stresses and deformations of elements,
calculation stability of the building, cumulative load calculations for pile plan)
• calculation or explanation for the details (explanation e.g. with reference details)

V. Visualization of total structure

• drawings from the structure on scale, with relevant details

Hint: the main report should only show the chosen alternative. The other alternatives (including
determination of the size of elements, can be included in the appendix).

Deadline for submitting is Friday 25 March at 18:00. You have to submit at Brightspace.