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Buildings Designed to be Expanded Vertically


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#51 Doohickie

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Posted 12 June 2022 - 10:16 AM

What about a building designed to be expanded horizontally?  I saw this tweet and I wonder if his interpretation is correct.  Are the rods sticking out from the walls intended to be for tying the building to another building?  This is a building in OKC by the way.

 

Also notice what appears to be metal reinforcing rods protruding from the side of the building. It would lead me to believe they expected to build another structure that tied into this one


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#52 John T Roberts

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Posted 12 June 2022 - 11:22 AM

First of all, just about any building can be expanded horizontally without any structural accommodations made in the first building.  Very few buildings are built with that actually in mind, even though it can be done.  However, you usually don't see rebar extending outward from a facade to eventually handle the expansion.  As an architect, extending the rebar outward is an open invitation to structural deterioration and a huge source of leaks.  There have been a few cases here in Fort Worth when that was clear intent, but no structural attempts were made on the buildings to accommodate the expansion.  I remember seeing in old Star-Telegram articles when a historic skyscraper was built, the developer also bought the adjacent building that would share a property line with the new building.  The old First National Bank (Bob R. Simpson Bldg./Baker Bldg.) was an example of this.  There was one hybrid example here in Fort Worth of where three horizontal additions to Stripling's Department Store were built with all three designed to be expanded vertically from 3 stories to 7.  Two of the three buildings were expanded to 7 with the third, not receiving the vertical expansion.  On the upper floors, the steel beam and rebar were exposed.  Here's a link to a historic photograph below from the UTA Digital Galleries Website.

 

https://library.uta....99/20089067.jpg

 

Finally, when they demolished the Landmark Tower, you could see the structure of the lower part of the building.  There was a large bridge beam on the north side of the building carrying the loads of the upper portion of the building.  Where this beam was located was really not needed unless there were plans to expand the banking hall to the north at some point in time.  One of the features of these grand banking lobbies were an almost column free space.  This bridge beam aligns with the large spans inside the building.  Like the First National across the street, Continental National did purchase the building next door at some point before the skyscraper was built.  I don't know when that purchase occurred, but Continental National did occupy the old Fort Worth Board of Trade building on this site prior to 1921.  In that year, the bank moved to the National Bank of Commerce and relocated into the W.T. Waggoner Building.  I do know that at some point in time afterwards, Continental National was the owner of the Board of Trade Building.  Please excuse my tangent, but here is one of my photographs during the demolition phase.

 

landmarkdemo-09.jpg



#53 Doohickie

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Posted 12 June 2022 - 02:29 PM

Do you think that was the original intent of the metal extensions in the pic at the original twitter link though?  Or could there be another use for those?


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#54 John T Roberts

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Posted 12 June 2022 - 04:15 PM

I do think that was the original intent of the metal extensions.  I can't think of another use for those, unless something was planned to be attached on the exterior of the building.   This is just my opinion, since OKC is not my hometown and I don't have access to historic information there.



#55 John T Roberts

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Posted 14 October 2023 - 09:27 PM

After completing a deadline at work on Friday, Historic Fort Worth asked me to work on our 2023 Preservation Awards this weekend.  I don't want to deliver any spoilers or advance notice of our awards, but in verifying some things for the presentation, I discovered that the Lone Star Gas Building was actually built at 4 stories and designed for 8.  In 1957, 3 more floors were added, so this means that the building could have another floor added to the top in the future.  I have revised the overall list in the first post of this thread.



#56 Nitixope

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Posted 15 December 2023 - 09:23 AM

Record DG-2023-024: 
Downtown Design Review Board
Record Status: Approved

 

https://aca-prod.acc...ShowInspection=

 

Project Description:
100 Energy Way
Requests a Certificate of Appropriateness for the addition of a one level parking deck to an existing four level parking garage for a total of five levels.





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