5-Story Podium Fire & Type of Construction

[DJYork]

Not sure where to actually post this, so here it goes. I have a project that is 5-story with a combination of concrete podium and 4-stories of wood. The 4-story wood structure is Type V, and the concrete podium is Type I. The issue is the 5-story structure has a base footprint of approximately 16000sf with a single story portion of 8000sf. To classify the single story portion as Type V construction it appears that the single story and concrete portion would be required to be separated by a Fire Wall. Is that correct? Is there a way to get the single story construction different without a separation? I know if it was a small 'accessory' than it doesn't require anything special, but this does not meet the requirements.

Any help would be appreciated, and maybe I am overlooking something to make this work without a fire separation of using different material.

Thanks,
D

 

[focuseng]

Construction type rating is a building classification. I don't believe you get to separate them vertically like this. Thus the entire structure (building) is rated at Type V (A or B) and the lower podium simply has a higher fire rated assembly for the walls and floor (IBC chap 6). I have had separated buildings which are connected by creating the correct Fire Wall but this is a horizontal separation from foundation to roof 100%. Not familiar with a vertical separation that let you do this (a floor is not a fire wall). You need to look at the area modifications allowed by utilizing setbacks, fire supression etc to modify the story height/building heights/story area etc found in IBC chapters 3 & 5 if you need more.

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