Aluna Initial Design Review

Bogota, Colombia

To obtain the required construction license from local authorities, developers of the Aluna Apartments asked DECON to provide a structural Initial Design Review (IDR) following the Colombian seismic code NSR-10.

The IDR consists of the review of all the products delivered by the structural designer and their consistency with the architectural design and the geotechnical recommendations for the foundations. Vertical and lateral load evaluation, materials, structural system definition, construction specifications are part of the aspects reviewed. A validation structural model is created and analyzed to verify the base reactions for all the different load cases the basic dynamic parameters of the structure as its fundamental periods. The detailing of all the structural members is reviewed according to the seismic design category and whether they are part of the seismic force-resisting system.

The 135,000 SF project consists of on 23-story apartment buildings, one with three basements. It will have a total of 48 apartments and 113 parking spaces. It is located at an intermediate seismic zone over a site soil class C. The structure is highly irregular, both in plan and in height. The basements walls were designed as tieback retaining walls.

Apartment buildings: The vertical and seismic force-resisting system of this building is combined between intermediate reinforced concrete shear walls and intermediate reinforced concrete moment frames in which the moment frame is not designed to be capable of resisting at least 25% of the prescribed seismic forces. The foundation consists of drilled piles connected by foundation beams.