Thinking About Structure II | Not a Container

Not a Container is a storefront project for downtown Greenville. The site’s dimensions are 24’ x 120.’ I created a multistory building with floors at different heights and outdoor space in the middle. Creating the structure for this project was not self-explanatory so with a little help from Tim Brown & Ufok Ersoy, the following was created.

The original idea for the structure system for Not a Container can be found here.

The structural system I ended up creating for Not a Container is shown below. The two lateral concrete walls hold up each floor. The distance between the two walls is about 18 feet so no extensive structure is needed to hold up that span. The point load is shown coming down on the roof of the building and taking the path of least resistance to travel down to the ground. The back wall has no window/light openings as it is smushed against its neighboring building. The front wall faces an alley, so there are many window openings to allow light through. The light openings are spaced in a way to create columns of concrete within its pattern to invite force loads to travel down.