Trade Shop Facility

The client’s goal was for an efficient and cost-effective building on a very tight schedule, along with being Miami-Dade County’s first LEED Silver Certified facility. Being located in Miami, Florida, the 146mph design wind speed produces critical loads to be considered when selecting the structural framing systems.

As a design-build project, construction cost and speed were essential, making open-web steel joist a natural structural framing system. 80,000-sf of joist and joist girders were a very efficient solution for framing the roof. The other 20,000 were office and this framing proved very efficient as well. This allowed all framing to be by a single trade. 60,000-sf of joists and joist girders were more than 20 feet above the ground, so fireproofing was not required. All framing was erected in 3 weeks and, along with tilt-up wall panels at the perimeter, allowed the entire shell to be constructed in less than one month.