Kendall Auto Porsche

This new 11,500-square-foot sales and service building includes a 1,500-square-foot mezzanine for parts storage. The creative architectural design features the juxtaposition of curved, sleek lines around the front of the building and more rigid, geometric structure around the back. The design team sought to provide a fitting complement to the world-class automotive engineering housed within this facility.

The roof was composed of steel decking over open-web steel joists. The prominent cantilevered roof diaphragm allowed for uninterrupted glazing along the entire front of the building. For aesthetic appeal and to let natural light into the showroom, Eclipse Engineering worked closely with the architect to provide necessary but inconspicuous structural elements across the 700-square-foot skylight, which extended across the entire depth of the showroom roof.

Some areas of the building required creative problem-solving, which resulted in the engineering of vertical ‘truss’ wall elements to support large roof and wall overhangs. The walls were composed of structural steel with light-gauge steel infill and the lateral systems included light-gage shearwalls, steel braced frames, and steel moment-frames. The slab-on-grade foundation included conventional strip footings and stemwalls.

Due to the high level of complexity and intricate detailing of this project, it was critical we worked closely with the entire design team–specifically, the designers for the specialty components and the general contractor. We were heavily involved from the beginning of the design concepts of this project beginning in 2014 all the way through completion in 2017.

Images courtesy Cole Architects