Office Building in California

Abstract

California University has just completed two buildings at Davis, one of nine storeys, and another smaller one, devoted to offices. Building involved the use of prefabricated, prestressed, load bearing units. The production and placing of these units required a very strict program of control and planning, as each of these operations had very specific features that were not straightforward. The walls, roof and floorings were made of load bearing panels. The lift and stair box was also an important structural element. Both this box and the cross bracing will take up loads arising from possible earthquake effects. As the building is situated on ground with poor resistance, the foundation consists of a number of inverted arches, which float on the soil, and distribute the loads uniformly over a wider area. The lifting of the various units was carried out with two moveable cranes fitted with very long lifting arms, both of which were operated in a closely integrated manner. The final success has been outstanding, both owing to the low cost, the saving in time, and also because it will be easy to extend the project at a later date, by merely moving the position of the lift box, and using the same type of building units.