HISTORY & TRADITION:
As a private company celebrating over 100 years of development and construction on the US West coast, Swenson builders have always focused on quality and safety in structural design, with a unique interest in the effects of seismic events on building structures.
In the late 1990s, BSB spent over $1M in research & development to find the best way to build a concrete high-rise structural system, focusing on time, money, and safety.
The project that sparked its development, was our Vendome Transit Oriented Development in San Jose, a 500 unit master planned community on 2.8 acres of land. As the 1st High-Rise Residential Project in San Jose, and the first transit development, BSB had to figure out a way to produce the most economical structural system, while providing the highest level of structural safety. We had to build the project in one phase, and limit the time value risk as much as possible.
We challenged our structural engineers and architects to find the solution, and Landmaker was the production. BSB has completed 3 tower projects in San Jose utilizing the Landmaker Structural System, with 3000 more residential units entitled in 7 different high-rise project sites in the San Francisco Bay Area, ALL designed using the Landmaker System.
LANDMAKER DESIGN ELEMENTS:
- BASICS: Concrete Structural System
- BASICS: Post-tensioned slab system
- BASICS: Pricing includes the foundation, floor slabs, columns, sheer walls, and all engineering related to the structural system (it is pre-engineered which saves soft cost $ dollars)
- LONG TERM STABILITY: Optimized cantilever system (part of the slab that extends past the last column and creates the perimeter of the floorplate) reduces deflection in the slab due to heavy uses over time (Office users with large filing cabinets, etc) (in standard systems, you will see a sagging or deflection in the floor over time, but not with Landmaker)
- FLEXIBILITY: 6-8 inch slab thickness allows for maximum floor to floor ceiling heights
- FLEXIBILITY: Can accept most exterior skin system types
- SALES: Optimizes interior column placing to maximize leasable / sellable floor area.
- SAFETY/TIMING: Concrete Sheer Walls (the earthquake walls) are placed outboard, instead of around the building core (elevator core) (makes it easier/quicker to build and structurally safer).
- HEIGHT LIMITS: No Steel I-Beam; this means you receive an additional 2 feet / floor (or a net gain of 1 floor for every 5 stories, which is great for areas working around height limits)
- SUSTAINABLE: uses Local Materials like concrete & rebar, unlike steel that needs to be shipped from China or the East Coast of the continental US.
- SUSTAINABLE: Concrete has better thermal massing than steel; this allows lower loads for HVAC Systems, and saves the owner $ in the long run
- TIMING: Concrete can be ordered as needed, and you will not need to rely on ordering steel months in advanced, or worry about steel shipments or strikes affecting your project's timeline.
- FIREPROOFING: 4 hour fireproofing compared to steel's 2 hour rating
- COST: Although BSB focuses on the structural safety and sustainable nature of this system, one cannot deny the inherant cost benefit; BSB can build this system at half the price of a similar steel system for high-rise projects.
The LANDMAKER STRUCTURAL SYSTEM is designed to be the LAST BUILDING STANDING and meets the 2015 California Seismic Safety Code, implemented for hospitals and emergency facilities.
This means that your corporate campus, residential project, medical office building, hotel, or other project will be designed to that same standard, at a fraction of the cost.
The system is designed to be built by simple labor forces in varying regions around the world using local materials.