On the Question of Framing a Complex Architecture Without Building Joints In Steel. 2

Necessary articulation depends on a lot of things, including the soil, the type of footing system, the cladding and internal finishes, the climate, etc. But I think 150m without joints in a high seismic area, with plan irregularities, is asking for trouble. It is sometimes necessary for the structural engineer to insist on revisions to the architecture, and this sounds like one of those cases.

Three things:

1) Like Hokie, I'd recommend including movement joints.

2) I believe that, with a suitably comprehensive thermal/dynamic analysis, you could justify omitting the joints.

3) I expect that the chord forces and thermal stresses generated by #2 will lead you back to point #1.

It's worth remembering that temperature swings during construction will exceed those experienced when the building is enclosed. I've had the misfortune to see the embedment for one of my mission critical steel drag struts ripped out of its supporting shear wall by thermal strain during construction. For what it's worth, my drag strut was very long and my world is very cold.

The greatest trick that bond stress ever pulled was convincing the world it didn't exist.

I think it is time to introduce your architect to some of the works of Frank L. Wright.

Heh...Whenever you try to show an architect something based on another architect's work...good luck.


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