Ida on McKinley is a multi-use development made from shipping containers on 3rd Street and McKinley Street in Phoenix, AZ. The architect is Local Studio, the structural engineer of record is Schneider Structural Engineers. Runkle Consulting, Inc worked under Schneider to design the shipping container part of the structure. The building is 7 stories high,…

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This shipping container apartment complex was challenging because it was located in a coastal flood zone and a high wind area in New Haven, CT. It sets up above the ground about 10 feet. This added a bit of complexity for stability of the foundations and the walls supporting the building. The developer of this…

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In this video, we are leveling up and stiffening a sagging floor. The floor sagged over time because the builder didn’t provide properly designed trusses. We stiffened the trusses and jacked up the floor to fix the problem, and this is how we did it. The contractor is David Moore with Structures, Inc. I found…

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pressurized sewer system

Most of the time the waste lines in a container building work by gravity – basically on the principle that water and…well other stuff go downhill. It presents a lot of challenges in shipping containers to keep all the waste pipes at a decent slope. In this earlier video I talk about the challenges. On…

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Shipping Container Building

This is a project we are wrapping up on. It should begin construction around October 2021. It’s a combination container structure and structural steel, with a concrete deck for the second floor. It’s a creative combination of different types of structure (concrete, masonry, steel, containers) to provide an attractive design. The containers from my standpoint…

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Underground Detention Excavation

The Project: This project was an underground detention pond that we designed with reinforced concrete. I have seen large underground detention ponds, but never one this large made from concrete. With this one, the desire by the developer was burying the basin, with soil cover and planting. The Challenges of an Underground Detention Pond: Loading:…

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Abandoned Terminal

This past week Governor Gavin Newsom stated that California would ban gas powered cars in 15 years. Also, an article appeared in Forbes magazine on September 26. It is predicting that Tesla’s proposed $25,000 electric car would mean “Game Over” for gas and oil. That made me think. What happens when cars go electric to the…

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