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Composite vierendeel supports slender tower

Edificio de Oficinas en Condominio Insurgentes No. 890
Mexico City, Mexico

Walter P Moore provided structural engineering concepts and design services for this 26 level office building located in Mexico City. The 20,000 square meter (220,000 SF) facility features 20 levels of office space over six garage levels. Because the building is located in Mexico City's seismic zone, know as "zona de transicion" (the transition zone), the building was designed by Walter P Moore to meet Mexico's Seismic Zone II criteria. Superstructure construction was completed in early 1996.

Walter P Moore engineered a system of vierendeel frames in order to deal with the slenderness (aspect ratio of 5:1) of the building. The advantages of this system are that the frames clear-span the full building width, placing all loads on the exterior columns. By placing the loads on the exterior columns it increased overturning resistance and prevented column uplift, resulting in additional savings on foundation costs. The vierendeel system also provided totally column-free space on alternate floors. In spite of the building's slenderness, height, and cantilevered tower, the composite system and vierendeel frame design resulted in a very economical frame weight of 60kg/ m2 (12 lbs/SF).

We analyzed the dynamic performance of the building using state of the art techniques to maximize tenant comfort and safety.