UFP Western Division, Inc. has teamed up with Earthbound Corporation, a Gebrueder-Thiele company, to provide stronger, cost effective solutions for framing slab-on-grade light commercial structures using the Intact Structural Frame system.
The Intact Structural Frame is a marriage of engineered wood and state of the art anchor technology that forms a complete structural frame and provides a stronger, more cost-effective solution for framing slab-on-grade light commercial structures. The system anchors the structure into the foundation, creating a continuous load path around its perimeter. By anchoring from the roof system to the foundation, uplift and overturning are resisted both during seismic events and extreme wind conditions like tornados and hurricanes. This system also uses a self-actuating, shrinkage-compensation device that tightens connections as the foundation settles. During an extreme wind or seismic event, the system will help prevent the building from gaining the momentum that can lead to collapse and destruction.
This patent-pending building system has cost- and time-savings benefits of wood construction, while rivaling concrete and steel in its ability to withstand high load criteria (snow, wind, seismic).
The primary market for the Intact Structural Frame is light commercial buildings that are typically designed with concrete masonry walls, steel joists and steel decks. This system is for light commercial structures such as restaurants and retail outlets as well as strip-mall stores. Intact Structural Frame components can be used in virtually any light commercial building application that employs steel or concrete masonry in its structure. BD+C
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Great Solutions: Healthcare
11. Operating Room-Integrated MRI will Help Neurosurgeons Get it Right the First Time A major limitation of traditional brain cancer surgery is the lack of scanning capability in the operating room. Neurosurgeons do their best to visually identify and remove the cancerous tissue, but only an MRI scan will confirm if the operation was a complete success or not.
| Aug 11, 2010
Great Solutions: Collaboration
9. HOK Takes Videoconferencing to A New Level with its Advanced Collaboration Rooms To help foster collaboration among its 2,212 employees while cutting travel time, expenses, and carbon emissions traveling between its 24 office locations, HOK is fitting out its major offices with prototype videoconferencing rooms that are like no other in the U.
| Aug 11, 2010
2009 Judging Panel
A Matthew H. Johnson, PE Associate Principal Simpson Gumpertz & HegerWaltham, Mass. B K. Nam Shiu, SE, PEVP Walker Restoration Consultants Elgin, Ill. C David P. Callan, PE, CEM, LEED APSVPEnvironmental Systems DesignChicago D Ken Osmun, PA, DBIA, LEED AP Group President, ConstructionWight & Company Darien, Ill.
| Aug 11, 2010
Inspiring Offices: Office Design That Drives Creativity
Office design has always been linked to productivity—how many workers can be reasonably squeezed into a given space—but why isn’t it more frequently linked to creativity? “In general, I don’t think enough people link the design of space to business outcome,” says Janice Linster, partner with the Minneapolis design firm Studio Hive.
| Aug 11, 2010
BIM school, green school: California's newest high-performance school
Nestled deep in the Napa Valley, the city of American Canyon is one of a number of new communities in Northern California that have experienced tremendous growth in the last five years. Located 42 miles northeast of San Francisco, American Canyon had a population of just over 9,000 in 2000; by 2008, that figure stood at 15,276, with 28% of the population under age 18.
