The Load-Bearing System from the Perspective of Sustainable Building

The building sector has a great potential to achieve goals for sustainable development by promoting environmental quality, economic effectiveness, and social improvement. One aspect that can possibly be considered in this context is the design of the building structure. The purpose of this case study is to investigate how the choice of a load-bearing system of building can affect the amount of concrete and steel reinforcement used in the foundation and its impact on the economy and environment. An alternative structural system of an existing building is proposed. The load-bearing frame walls and spread concrete foundations under walls are replaced by load-bearing timber columns that are placed on separate concrete footing pads. The results show that the amount of concrete and steel in the proposed system has considerably been decreased compared to the reference building. Consequently, this results in minimizing the construction costs as well as the resulting emissions of carbon dioxide into the environment. This case study reviews practical engineering design aspects that can be used by structural and construction engineers to help achieve sustainability goals of the built environment.