IMEG provided structural engineering services for a new 83,000-sf Mercedes Benz showroom in Chicago. The building includes three floors and an 18,000-sf covered parking garage on the fourth floor. The facility includes showrooms, offices, and a break room for employees.

Early in design, IMEG presented many different steel and concrete structural systems, complete with member sizes and tonnages. These systems were analyzed for cost and aesthetics with the architect and the construction manager before the structural system was chosen. A two-way concrete flat plate system with concrete columns and shear walls was chosen. The location of the columns and spans was coordinated with the architect to keep the concrete slab thickness to 12″, despite spanning up to 33’-6″ in one direction. There are also steel elements used to support the curtain wall system.

The project design included two cantilevered exposed steel stairs. The stairs were designed to seemingly float above the floor, yet were held to tight vibration and deflection limits.

There is also a large portion of the exterior wall system which cantilevers out 20’ past the building envelope, resembling a sail. The structural steel support for this element was kept to 8″ deep to provide the slender appearance that the architect desired.

Both IMEG structural engineers and the architect utilized Revit allowing for efficient structure-architecture coordination. IMEG also used a specialized link to some of its advanced design software to directly link the 3-D model and the structural analysis model.

Many of the concrete walls and slabs are exposed in the final condition, which meant working closely with the architect to help achieve the right look for the project.