Project Description
The purpose of this project is to provide structural engineering services for a new Engineering Building for Northern Arizona University's (NAU) Engineering building. This new structure will be submitted to the Structural Engineering Institute (SEI) annual competition. The existing building is at 98% percent capacity and is in need of additional space to accommodate the projected increase in the number of students, and to provide additional laboratory space. The site is located on the south side of NAU’s main campus in Flagstaff, Arizona (Appendix A), surrounded by the NAU's Forestry, Health Sciences, and Social and Behavioral Sciences buildings. The exact location of the project can be seen in the figure below.
The most important aspects for this project will be compiling multiple design alternatives, selecting the best alternative design and the structural design and analysis of the final design. These will be a key part in this project because the only possible solutions for the overpopulation of the Engineering Building is to construct more space. Therefore the programing or pre-design phase of the project will be key in success of the design. The pre-design phase will incorporate identifying all stake holders and using them to develop the constraints. Once the constraints have been identified we will proceed to create a schematic design. The schematic design will have to address all of the different design options as well as identifying the optimal solution. The primary design will be per the 2009 International Building Code. The load types consist of snow, dead, live, wind and seismic loads. Each type needs to be taken in to consideration during the design process. Prior to the structural design phase it will be necessary to perform a geotechnical analysis of the soil on the project site. This information will be used to determine the foundation constraints. This information will be used to determine the potential cost of retaining structures.