South Campus Residence Hall

Overview

Utah State University (USU) faces the challenge of limited development space for future expansion. Efficient housing structures are paramount in allowing USU to continue providing quality education. USU envisions increasing student enrollment by 30% in the next 8 years, from 20,089 in 2022 to 26,000 by 2030. The university has demolished Moen, Reeder, and Greaves residence halls and is replacing them with a single residence hall with a smaller total footprint.

The previous residence halls housed 210 students and had high maintenance and operating costs. They are documented to have had existing lead paint and did not have central air conditioning. The new building will house up to 280 students, be safer, reduce the housing land footprint, and reduce USU’s maintenance and operating costs. The replacement building is called the South Campus Residence Hall.

The new residence hall will comply with current building codes, including IBC 2021, ASCE 7, and applicable material reference codes. The main structural systems were designed using a finite element analysis, with additional calculations in spreadsheets, industry-standard engineering software, and miscellaneous hand calculations. The USU A&E Design Manual were referenced to ensure all structural and site design fulfill the client’s vision for the project

Top Left: Footprint of previous buildings.
Top Right: Footprint of proposed building.
Bottom Left: Picture of previous conditions.
Bottom Right: Rendering of proposed building.

Alternative Considered

• Alternative 1: Steel Building with Braced Frames
• Alternative 2: Steel Building with Moment Frames
• Alternative 3: Mass Timber Building with Steel Braced Frames
• Alternative 4: Mass Timber Building on a Concrete Podium with Timber Shear Walls
• Alternative 5: Concrete Building with Concrete Shear Walls
• Alternative 6: Metal Stud Building with Metal Stud Shear Walls

Design

The group utilized the following 6 general design steps

1. Architectural Design
   • The group established an architectural layout for the building based on required number of rooms, amenities, and floor spaces. Two floor layouts were selected with large open spaces for student gatherings and studying. Revit modeling software was used to generate drawings.
2. Civil Design
   • The group followed standards outlined in the Utah State University A&E Design Manual with the exception of stormwater management. To reduce environmental impact, the group opted to use bioswales and a rain garden to promote infiltration instead of runoff generation.
3. Design Criteria
   • ASCE 7-16 was utilized to generate building usage and environmental loads.
4. Gravity Design
   • The group utilized hand calculations and Enercalc software to design the Glulam beams, Glulam columns, and the CLT slabs.
5. Lateral Design
   • A model of each building was created in Ram Structural System to analyze the lateral system. Both Static (Equivalent Lateral Force) and Dynamic seismic load cases were considered. Dynamic analysis was performed to get a better idea of the true deflections of the building. Buckling Restrained Braces (BRBs) were utilized to lower the seismic design forces on the building per the ASCE 7 code.
6. Connection Design
   • The group utilized Simpson Strong-Tie manuals and hand calculations to create details for the gravity and lateral connections of the building. The foundation elements were designed using reactions (uplift, shear, and downforce) from building models and hand gravity calculations

Revit Model

External Contributors and Mentors

The team would like to thank recognize Justin Naser, SE of ARW Engineers, Dr. Mohsen Zaker-Esteghamati of USU, CoreBrace, and Simpson Strong-Tie for their mentorship contributions to the project.