My mother used to have a saying, (watching my brother and I bandy about with many a sharp object), “it’s all fun until someone gets their eye poked out”. In her stern voice, she was simply trying to make things safe for my bro’ and me.
You might have a totally sweet concept for your ideal dream pole building. An architect can design for you the most amazing project on paper, but some of the best ideas simply cannot be built. Every design must take into consideration elements, such as construction variables, materials, load weights, building codes, and cost which are necessary to bring paper drawings to life. In a Wall Street Journal article, some of the most amazing architects throughout history have designed buildings which were stricken with issues which made it impossible to construct their vision. See Wall Street Journal article at:
From Building Design to Reality
Even with today’s sophisticated programs, there are many designs with a fair amount of issues which create havoc when trying to move from a brilliant concept to the structural design stage.
With software programs, such as Hansen Buildings Instant Pricing, the pole building industry is able to bridge the gap between your vision and building reality. This proprietary program anticipates and solves issues during the pole building design stage, thereby reducing and eliminating headaches in the construction stage. In 1956, if Frank Lloyd Wright had designed an electronic, 3D model of his proposed mile-high skyscraper, he would have been able to resolve its issues. His challenges included the space and load bearing requirements to occupy a 528-story elevator system. With the proper software (and lots of money), Wright may have seen his vision come to life.
Construction software programs can not only design whole pole buildings, but they also allow for specific design of the most complex areas on any structure, such as roof trusses. If a roof fails, the whole building can fail, thereby making the roof truss one of the most important elements in the design process. Most design professionals agree elements such as roof trusses should be designed only by an experienced truss designer. Having the necessary experience, truss designers can take into consideration geometric volume (roof cavity) and the ability of truss components to perform given the building requirements.
Regardless if you’re designing a roof truss, a pole barn or a mile-high skyscraper, the vision and structural design requirements must harmoniously coexist before the first piece of material is cut.
Often I am challenged by folks wanting to design a pole building which may have possibly been done before, but not with the same design loads and dimensions. And sometimes, I am put to the test to design a “pole barn” which looks nothing like any pole building you or I have ever seen before. I rely upon solid calculations, design loads and a software system which can test them out for me. If it isn’t solid and I can prove it on paper, I don’t want to see it built. Just like my Mother taught me, “safety first”.
