Jim DeStefano is the President of DeStefano & Chamberlain, Inc., located in Fairfield, CT. (jimd@dcstructural.com)
Stamford Media Village is not just another nondescript five-story office building (Figure 1). What is so unique about this project? Everything! Rewind to 2018 when Wheelhouse Properties acquired a derelict 1920s vintage reinforced concrete factory building located at the South end of Stamford, Connecticut – a rhinestone in the rough. The site is situated along a barge canal adjacent to Long Island Sound and is surrounded by redeveloped mill buildings.
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Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) panels are commonly used in mass timber structures. As with any structural element, proper detailing of the connections is crucial. Structures with practical connection details are usually cost-efficient and easy to fabricate and assemble. In contrast, poorly conceived connection details often result in an overly costly structure plagued with difficulty.
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Mass timber is not a new idea, just a new name. Many people have heard the term “mass timber” batted around in the last few years, but not everyone has a clear understanding of what it means. Mass timber used to be referred to as “heavy timber” and the International Building Code (IBC) classifies it as Type IV construction. …
I have been watching, with some interest as the recent drama unfolded, the effort to block the adoption of the American Society of Civil Engineers’ ASCE 7-16 into the 2018 International Building Code (IBC). I was particularly amused to see the way that the structural engineering community has rallied in defense of a standard that they openly despise. If you get more than two structural engineers in a room, it is only a matter of time before they start complaining about the latest edition of ASCE 7 and the misery that it has brought to their practice. …