The Farmstead Apartments in Nampa, Idaho consists of 7 buildings, 120 units and covers 5.5 acres. FOCUS engineers worked closely with Ramsey Construction to address the complications associated with the sites high groundwater. This groundwater interfered with the construction of the buildings seepage beds. Working closely with the client a solution was developed that raised the site minimally and used low profile seepage beds. This strategy addressed the groundwater issue and avoided expensive earthworks costs.

The 12th East Apartments consist of two three-story apartment buildings that are connected by a concrete balcony walkway that spans the two buildings, and an exterior stair system. Each apartment was designed to be structurally independent from a seismic perspective, which presented challenges when designing the concrete walkway connection. FOCUS engineers developed a structural expansion system that allows for lateral drift so that each building can move independently while still being connected. This solution met all code requirements and was detailed in a way that made it cost efficient and easy to construct.

FOCUS provided full structural plans and calculations for a single-family home in East Canyon Estates. The residence was designed using distinctive design elements including curved study walls and complex steel work. The use of the steel beams brings a defining architectural element to the home. Exposed steel beams support the angled roof of the great room. High above the circular living space is a suspended circular roof supported by the roof above with curved steel beams. The design of curved walls posed a challenge for FOCUS structural engineers. It required unique analysis and detailing of structural members to account for the irregularity.

The Highland Group hired FOCUS to provide structural engineering for his new two-story, 10,024 SF custom home. The front entry features a unique staircase design, encircled by a silo-like frame. For this distinctive element, the FOCUS team used curved beams; accurate load calculations were imperative to the design. The custom staircase within was designed with steel stringers to complete the overall design aesthetic, which included other detailed work from FOCUS—custom design corbels, timber truss designs, and exposed timber framing for the house’s deck.

Highland Group is known for their one-of-a-kind residential designs, and FOCUS was privileged to provide structural engineering on this 2-story, 15,424 SF custom home in the Heber area. The residence was framed entirely on site, with a design that required exposed timber rafters on eaves. During this process, high snow loads created numerous unique engineering design challenges. A significant amount of builder and architect interaction was necessary to achieve ideal and workable detailing solutions. To help the homeowner’s vision come to life and to circumnavigate how the high snow loads prevented the home’s interior framing from lining up perfectly with the exposed rafters, we stayed organized and accommodated the changing site conditions. By communicating easily-understood adjustments and framing to the framers, we obtained a structurally sound and impressive result.