How to Design a Simple Two Floor Office Building with a Roof?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the design of a simple two-floor office building with a roof, focusing on structural considerations such as load calculations, beam and column placement, and foundational requirements. Participants explore the necessary steps and assumptions needed to approach the design process.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested
  • Exploratory

Main Points Raised

  • One participant expresses confusion about where to start in designing the building.
  • Another participant suggests that the problem involves static loads and emphasizes the need to specify the type of beam foundation, floor slabs, and columns.
  • It is proposed that the design should begin with the roof to determine the weight it must support before designing the floors.
  • Participants discuss the need for internal columns on each floor based on the nodalization of the design.
  • One participant calculates dead load using a specific density but questions how to account for the roof's weight without given load information.
  • There is a suggestion to assume snow load, but another participant notes that no information about snow load is provided in the problem definition.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the importance of starting the design from the roof and the likely need for internal columns. However, there is disagreement regarding how to handle the weight of the roof and whether to assume snow load, as no consensus is reached on this point.

Contextual Notes

Participants mention the need for specific definitions and calculations related to static loads, but there are unresolved assumptions regarding load types and the absence of certain load information in the problem definition.

chiku18
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hello everyone

i have to design a simple two floor office building with roof.
i am very lost and confused and don't know where to start from.
can someone help?pleaseeee

concrete1page.jpg
 
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chiku18 said:
hello everyone

i have to design a simple two floor office building with roof.
i am very lost and confused and don't know where to start from.
can someone help?pleaseeee

View attachment 41836

This looks like a static load and strengths of materials problem. You need to specify the type of beam foundation, floor slabs, exterior and internal columns, and roof to be self supporting for static loads only.

Define your roof and floors, calculate weights, If needed, define support beams to support roof and floors, then design columns to support those loads, then define foundation beams to support the full structure.

Hope that helps or somebody with more civil structural background can chime in. It also might help if you would tell us what level of education, statics, materials and math background you are working with.
 
chiku18 said:
i am very lost and confused and don't know where to start from.

Start at the roof and work downwards. You can't design the top floor till you know the weight of the roof it has to support.
 
AlephZero said:
Start at the roof and work downwards. You can't design the top floor till you know the weight of the roof it has to support.

That is more clear than what I wrote. Based on the nodaliztion in the drawing woud you agree that the design probably includes two internal columns on each floor?
 
NUCENG said:
That is more clear than what I wrote. Based on the nodaliztion in the drawing woud you agree that the design probably includes two internal columns on each floor?

yes i agree but how would i find the weight of full roof?
no load is given i can find the dead load

DL=150 lb/ft^3 x cross section

but i can't because its roof...should i just assume snow load?
 
Last edited:
NUCENG said:
That is more clear than what I wrote. Based on the nodaliztion in the drawing woud you agree that the design probably includes two internal columns on each floor?

u mean like this?

1.png
 
chiku18 said:
yes i agree but how would i find the weight of full roof?
no load is given i can find the dead load

DL=150 lb/ft^3 x cross section

but i can't because its roof...should i just assume snow load?

chiku18 said:
u mean like this?

View attachment 41864

No information in the problem definition about snow load so assume none.

Yes
 

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