America First Credit Union Building Redesign

Team: Cameron Kunz, Nicholas Leavitt, Jake Strickler and Ethan Black

Project Summary

This project, for America First Credit Union (AFCU) and ARW Engineers, aims to optimize the structural design template for a proposed bank in Scottsdale, Arizona. The core objective for Structural Solutions is to revise the existing design to improve its economic and environmental sustainability.

America First Credit Union

Alternatives

Lateral Force Resisting System

Moment Frame

CMU Walls

Roof System

Wood Joists

Steel Rafters

Concrete Type

ICF - Insulated Concrete Form

Hempcrete

Selected Alternative

The revised design will incorporate moment frames for the lateral force resisting system, steel rafters for the roof system, and ICF for the concrete used.

Design

Architectural drawing#
Structural Solutions' model

Figure 1: Floor plan comparison between the architectural drawings and Structural Solutions’ model of the bank.

outside building architectural drawings
Structural Solutions model

Figure 2: Front view comparison between the architectural drawings and Structural Solutions’ model of the bank.

Criteria & Selection Process

  1. Cost
  2. Lifetime Carbon Emissions
  3. Constructability
  4. Lifetime of Building
  5. Building Erection Time
Table 1: Selection process of each alternative based on the 5 criteria and their importance to the project goals
Criteria LFRS Roof Concrete Importance Factor
MF CMU Wood Steel ICF Hemp
1 Sufficient Okay Sufficient Okay Sufficient Sufficient 1
2 Sufficient Poor Sufficient Sufficient Okay Sufficient 0.9
3 Okay Sufficient Sufficient Sufficient Sufficient Okay 0.8
4 Sufficient Okay Sufficient Sufficient Sufficient Poor 0.7
5 Sufficient Poor Okay Sufficient Okay Sufficient 0.6
Selection Selected Selected Selected

Methods

Special thanks to…

  • -McKay Parrish at ARW Engineers
  • -Dr. Mohsen Zaker Esteghamati at Utah State University
  • -ARW Engineers for the opportunity and the project

for helping this project come together