ZFA served as the structural engineer for a new 155,000-square-foot commercial building for a private tenant in Napa. The three-story building was completed in 2023, accommodating the client’s desire for asset and membership growth, more administrative space, and expansion of staff amenities. The completed building houses 700 employees and includes a partially underground parking garage, a café, and a community room.
The structure is designed as a conventional steel building supported by concrete foundations with some retaining, concrete shear walls below grade. The steel floor framing, which includes both wide flanges and open web joist roof framing, was designed for vibrations to ensure a comfortable environment for end users.
From the project’s early stages, ZFA fostered collaboration by working efficiently and intentionally with the entire team to meet project goals. During the design development phase, ZFA provided a well-developed concrete shear wall design to be used for pricing. A cost estimate concluded that concrete shear walls would prevent the project from meeting its construction budget. To stay under budget, the lateral system was changed to steel special concentrically braced frames prior to the completion of construction drawings.
ZFA continued to emphasize collaboration with the team throughout design and construction. The structural design team worked closely with the architect and mechanical engineers to coordinate rooftop equipment support, as well as major revisions to the atrium area in construction. During construction, ZFA collaborated with the contractor and architect to minimize congestion of reinforcing at foundation steps and advised on anchorage designs for a fabric canopy and for the long-spanning aluminum storefronts and curtain walls.