Make room for a home to evolve.
An addition to an existing home called for new floor and roof framing, changes to retained construction, and a large glazed opening. The structural design needed to support the new spaces while resolving how the addition met the building already in place.
Crafted’s scope brought those decisions together: review of existing framing and reinforcement where required, new framing design, lateral support at the glazed end of the building, and foundation and retaining-wall details. The work connected the architectural arrangement above ground with the supports below it.
Keep the opening. Resolve the load path.
A large area of glazing leaves less room for the solid wall construction that can otherwise contribute to a building’s resistance to sideways forces. The design therefore needed a structural frame and connections suited to that opening, alongside the floor and roof framing carrying vertical loads.
The addition also brought several materials together. Steel beams and columns met wood joists and engineered timber members, with new concrete supports at the base. Each transition needed a clear connection, and the retained structure needed to be distinguished from the work being added or altered.
Bring steel, timber and concrete together.
The structural scheme used steel framing around the glazed opening, with moment connections detailed at beam-to-column junctions. These connections were part of the lateral-support strategy, allowing the architecture and the frame to be developed together.
The floor and roof plans combined conventional wood framing, laminated veneer lumber (LVL), and steel members. Selected beams used steel plates alongside timber, often called flitch construction. The drawing set identified retained framing as well as the new members and their supports.
Frame elevations linked the framing at different levels to columns, concrete piers and footings. Foundation details addressed new supports beside existing construction, including local slab removal and infill, anchorage, and doweled connections. Retaining-wall sections coordinated the below-ground structure with changes in grade.
A frame is only as clear as its connections.
The steel connection details developed the beam and column arrangement into plates, bolts, welds and shear tabs. Separate details addressed the meeting of timber beams and steel columns, as well as the attachment of wood joists to flush or dropped steel beams.
At the base, the drawings coordinated column base plates, anchors, concrete piers and reinforcing. Above, roof and deck interfaces referenced architectural finishes and geometry. Together, the plans, elevations and details described how the different parts of the structure connected.
Architectural intent, carried through the details.
The completed project combined an addition to an existing home with a structural scheme developed around its glazed opening. Crafted’s contribution brought the steel frame, timber framing, foundations and their connections into one coordinated set of structural documents.
The case illustrates the value of considering openings, framing and foundations together. The glazed opening depended on a series of less-visible decisions about support, continuity and connection.
Client and project details are withheld for privacy. This narrative describes the structural design; it is not a construction record or a specification for another building.