A clear, practical guide to planning a steel skeleton office building
This book explains how modern tall buildings use a steel skeleton, with lightweight exterior walls and a grid of columns and beams. It blends architectural considerations with structural design to show how a twelve-story office building can be planned and analyzed.
This edition focuses on the design process, the kinds of loads to consider, and how floor plans, light courts, and circulation spaces influence the structural layout. It also discusses how elevator and stair arrangements affect space use and the overall efficiency of the design.
- Types of construction and how they affect weight, settlement, and rigidity
- How dead, live, and wind loads are defined and used in design
- Approaches to floor systems, column layouts, and spandrels in office buildings
- Practical decisions for integrating architecture with civil engineering and code requirements
Ideal for readers of professional engineering texts and architecture manuals who want a grounded, methodical view of design choices for steel-framed skyscrapers.