One Dekalb Light Gage Superstructure

One Dekalb is a 6-story 114,000 square foot structure with residential apartments, interior parking, fitness studio amenity and roof terrace. The L-shaped building consists of five occupied floors, constructed of K-Joists on light gage bearing walls, that sit on top of a 2-story steel and concrete podium parking deck.

The McLaren Difference: Applied Ingenuity

McLaren served as the building podium Structural Engineer of Record and was responsible for the preparation of bid and construction documents. The podium consisted of a total square footage of 36,700 square feet of parking. The basement level consists of a concrete slab on grade, while the 1st floor (transfer level) is a reinforced concrete slab structure on a structural steel frame.

McLaren designed the podium structure, including the basement level and the first-floor transfer level to support the loads from the superstructure. McLaren also engineered the structural steel and glass clad fitness studio with a roof that cantilevers off the northeast corner of the building.

A comparative analysis of alternate framing schemes was completed to determine that a light gage bearing wall podium building was the most appropriate structural system to meet the architect’s program, aesthetic goals, and project budget. McLaren designed the shallow spread footing foundations, basement slabs and bearing/shear walls, floor slabs and structural steel framing (beams and girders), columns, as well as the CMU elevator shaft walls and pit, and stair shafts up the height of the structure.

McLaren was able to utilize the perimeter basement load bearing walls as a perimeter shear wall to eliminate the need for internal braced frames or moments frames, significantly reducing the weight of structural steel and on-site welding required. The transfer floor level is the most critical component in a podium building where there is a major change in the occupancy category and the construction materials utilized. As such, McLaren developed a detailed loading and embed placement plan for the transfer floor level to facilitate the seamless connection between the light gage superstructure and structural steel framed podium.