Hotel in Secaucus, New Jersey
Zach Tauber
Structural Option
Senior Thesis
For a PDF of my proposal, click here:
Structural Depth
In current code, wood structures may reach a total of six stories. The first of those six stories must be concrete. The International Building Code (IBC) 2015 will allow for two stories of concrete structure below five stories of wood, totaling seven stories. Common practice for dormitory, condominium, and hotel style buildings is to utilize vertical uniformity through the structure. This uniformity lends itself to a bearing wall system. The current structure uses light-gage bearing walls- a system that is efficient in both schedule and cost.
The purpose of redesigning the Aloft structure is to investigate the schedule and cost efficiency of a wood/concrete system versus a light-gage system. Wood structures tend to have long term structural and serviceability issues that light-gage steel does not contain; including creep, vibrations, acoustic resilience, and fire protection concerns. To outweigh these concerns, structural cost and schedule would have to be much more efficient than that of the light-gage framing. The completion of this assignment would provide the owner with enough information to weigh all pros and cons between each system, and make a decision as to which structural system should be used.
Acoustical Breadth
The Acoustical breadth intends to fix a problem in the wood flooring system. Wood flooring and framing systems have low STC values. In a hotel, it is necessary to isolate guestrooms from unwanted noise. The goal of this breadth is to match STC values of the concrete structure below. If these values cannot be reached, while keeping a reasonably thin floor section, acoustical design will aim to satisfy suggested hotel partition STC values.
Construction Management Breadth
The second breadth topic is closely tied with the purpose in choosing this particular structural redesign. The Construction Management breadth consists of an in-depth analysis of structural system cost and schedule. These topics will be compared to that of the original structural system. The deliverable shall be a data set that the owner and/or architect can use to make decisions upon which structural system to use.
MAE Requirements
Computer modeling plays an integral role in structural design today. The curriculum of AE 530, Computer Modeling of Building Structures, included ETABS- a structural analysis and design program. ETABS will be used to check the analysis and design of the structure’s lateral system. A concrete slab design model used in AE 530, spSlab, will be used to design the concrete floor slabs. AE 537, Building Failures, contained many lectures given by guest lecturers. These lectures included topics that relate to my building such as concrete deterioration and façade system enclosures. Concrete deterioration and façade design are important considerations when designing the structural system. Much of the AE 537 curriculum involved snow loading and the application of snow loads. Because the hotel resides in the Northeastern United States, and the multi-level roof contains parapets, snow load and drift calculations become important to gravity load design.