Anteater Courtyard Structural Design

Summary

The Anteater Courtyard Apartments project develops the structural design for a three-story multi-family residential building with ground-level mixed-use space. The building uses a wood-framed superstructure supported by a concrete podium, and the design study places the project in Irvine, California to address seismic design considerations. The project responds to the need for a safe, practical, and serviceable structural system that can support residential occupancy while accommodating irregular building layouts, non-stacking walls, floor openings, and architectural constraints. Because the building has different framing conditions from floor to floor, the main design challenge is to create a clear load path that safely transfers roof, floor, wall, beam, post, and connection loads down to the podium and foundation.

The project scope includes establishing loading criteria, developing roof, third-level, and second-level beam layouts, selecting joist directions, sizing major beams and posts, choosing hanger connections, and reviewing the preliminary lateral force-resisting system. The design also considers seismic force transfer through diaphragms, collectors, chords, shear walls, hold-downs, and anchorage connections. This project matters because multi-family residential buildings must protect the people who live, work, and move through them, especially in a seismic region like Southern California. The final design affects future residents, building owners, contractors, engineers, plan reviewers, and the surrounding community by improving structural safety, constructability, serviceability, and confidence in the building’s long-term performance.

Technical Approach/Methodology

The project solves the structural design problem by creating a clear, continuous load path from the roof to the podium and foundation. The design process starts by identifying the roof, floor, wall, and seismic loads, then uses those loads to lay out joists, beams, posts, hangers, and shear walls. Bluebeam helps organize and mark up the framing plans, while ENERCALC checks whether selected beams and posts have enough strength and stiffness. For seismic design, the project uses the ASCE 7-22 Equivalent Lateral Force method and the ASCE Hazard Tool to estimate earthquake forces for the Irvine site. The design also uses wood structural panel shear walls, diaphragms, collectors, chords, hold-downs, and anchorage connections to transfer lateral forces safely through the building. Overall, the approach combines code-based calculations, structural software, and practical framing coordination to develop a safe, buildable, and serviceable apartment building.

Outcomes

The project produced a complete structural design report for the Anteater Courtyard Apartments, including the main design approach, loading criteria, framing layouts, beam and post design information, hanger selections, preliminary lateral design, design constraints, alternatives, recommendations, references, glossary, and appendices. The final deliverables include roof, third-level, and second-level beam layouts marked up in Bluebeam, along with beam labels, joist directions, support conditions, and connection notes. The project also produced a beam design summary spreadsheet that tracks beam names, member sizes, reactions, controlling load combinations, post requirements, and hanger selections. ENERCALC calculations support the selected beam and post sizes, while the lateral design section summarizes the seismic base shear, diaphragm force transfer, shear wall demand, and sample wall capacity check. Overall, the project demonstrates how the gravity and lateral systems work together to safely transfer loads from the upper wood-framed levels down to the concrete podium and foundation.