JNB Trucking: Commercial Office Structural Engineering in Eugene

Location: Northwest Eugene, Oregon
Client/Owner: JNB Trucking
Partners: Nir Pearlson, Architect; 2G Construction (general contractor)
Year: Designed and built 2013
Size/scale: New single-storey office building, about 2,150 sq ft plus covered outdoor space, later extended 16 feet to the east
JBE services: Structural design of the office headquarters, including the lateral system and foundations; truss submittal review; design changes for the expansion
Sector: Commercial & Retail

JNB Trucking industrial structural engineering project, Eugene, Oregon — photo 1

The challenge

JNB Trucking wanted a new headquarters office on its yard in northwest Eugene, next to the existing shop, that was open and full of light. Nir Pearlson’s design put the offices around a central vaulted space lit by skylights, with exposed glulam columns and beams. With the centre left open, the bracing against wind and earthquakes had to be worked into the walls around it. Partway through, the owner also decided to extend the northeast corner of the building 16 feet to the east.

Project photos

What we did

Nir Pearlson, Architect, worked with us to develop the light-filled, open office headquarters. We designed a light wood-framed building on a concrete slab over compacted engineered fill: exposed glulam columns and beams inside, steel columns at the exterior, prefabricated roof trusses, and conventional framing over the vault. Plywood shear walls form the lateral system, designed for the site’s wind exposure and seismic forces.

When the building grew to the east, we reviewed the changes, upgraded the nailing on an existing shear wall and checked the new one. During construction we reviewed the roof truss submittal.

The result

JNB Trucking has an open, light-filled headquarters in northwest Eugene. It’s representative of the commercial office structural engineering we do in Eugene alongside architects.