Project overview
The MBF HQ office is a headquarters building in Sharjah. Wrenze Steel carried out the structural design for the project, working with Palazzo Venezia Middle East as consultant and QA Construct LLC as contractor.
The render shows a contemporary office front: tall glazed walls, a feature entrance portal, deep overhanging roof planes and a forecourt with fountains, pools and palm trees.
Our scope
Our scope was structural design. On a project with both a consultant and a contractor, the structural engineer sits between design intent and construction. The consultant needs a design that meets the architecture and the approval requirements. The contractor needs one that can be built efficiently.
Structural design for an office building like this typically covers:
- the structural system and the layout of columns and beams;
- design loads, including floor loads for office use, roof loads and wind;
- member sizing for strength, stability and deflection;
- connection design and support details;
- drawings and calculations for review and approval.
The structure
Contemporary office buildings with large areas of glazing and long roof overhangs often use structural steel for the parts that need long spans or slim profiles. Steel lets columns stay small, roof edges stay thin and glazed walls run uninterrupted between supports.
Each of those architectural goals sets an engineering condition.
Overhanging roofs work as cantilevers. Their depth is limited by the look the architect wants, so stiffness and deflection at the tip often govern the design, along with wind uplift on the exposed underside.
Glazed walls need supports that barely move. Glass tolerates very little deflection, so the beams and mullion supports behind a glazed front are usually designed to tighter limits than an ordinary floor beam.
Feature entrances such as a framed portal are part structure and part architecture. Their members are visible, so connection details matter for appearance as well as strength.
Sharjah projects follow the same design approach we use across the UAE, with design to the codes and local requirements set for each project. See our work in Sharjah.
Read about our structural steel design service, or request a quote for your office building.
