The Craft of Architecture

Name: Hoyt Architects
Price range: $

As an architecture firm, we believe in elevating this craft. Our experience working with different types of materials provides a deep knowledge base we are able to execute. It is not just building and design, it is an integration of both—driven by a deep understanding of design and construction.

CONCRETE

Cast-in-Place Superstructure:
The One Park project features a cast-in-place concrete structural frame, utilizing a highly engineered post tensioned system to achieve its high-rise elevation. Providing efficient flat plate with thinner floor profiles while safely supporting the cantilevered balconies on every residential level.

Massive Podium Foundation:
The multi-level concrete podium forms a high-performance structural base that efficiently transfers tower loads while integrating parking, resident amenities, and active ground-floor spaces into a cohesive design.

Block and Plank Architecture:
Amaryllis was designed by utilizing a highly efficient "block and plank" structural system, this multi-level residential facility is engineered for both rapid assembly and long-term durability. The load-bearing concrete masonry units (CMU) establish a rigid vertical framework, efficiently distributing structural loads while providing the necessary compartmentalization for multi-family living.

Precast Floor Diaphragms:
Spanning the structural block walls are precast, hollow-core concrete floor planks. This seamless integration not only accelerates the overall construction timeline but also delivers superior acoustic separation and inherent fire resistance between residential units. These performance advantages enhance resident comfort, support code compliance, and contribute to lower lifecycle costs, making the building well-suited for long-term ownership and institutional-quality multifamily investment.

Precast Concrete Assembly:
Aspire's parking garage's massive exterior walls and structural framework are constructed using high-quality precast concrete components manufactured off-site, acting as modular building blocks that allow for rapid, efficient on-site assembly and a clean, durable finish.

Prestressed Structural Strength:
To safely support heavy vehicular loads while maintaining wide, open driving lanes without the need for excessive columns, the facility relies on prestressed concrete floor slabs and beams engineered with internal steel tension to maximize long-term load-bearing capacity.

METAL

Advanced Space Frame Engineering:
The Patriot Plaza project features two distinct, stark white steel spaceframe canopies designed to provide shade and shelter. The construction required two different glazing support methods; the expansive 60-meter span roof utilizes a bending-stiff upper chord to support the translucent glass, whereas the smaller band shell relies on bolting the glass directly to the structural nodes.

Specialized Connections:
The intricate web of tubular steel is brought together using highly specialized Block Knoten and Kugel Knoten structural node systems. Covering 23,150 square feet, the installation process required extreme precision, with construction crews utilizing aerial lifts to navigate and assemble the complex, curved geometry of the canopy ceiling in the field.

Engineered Steel Trusses and Metal Decking: This structural system—composed of heavy-gauge wide-flange beams configured as engineered steel trusses, corrugated metal decking, and composite concrete—provides the horizontal floor assembly for the additional One Palm tower floors above an existing concrete garage.

Precision Steel Integration: The steel framework and composite slabs established a load path down through the existing garage. This structural path allowed the One Palm/Aloft Tower to support an additional three floors and pool amenities, floating them above the existing long-span parking structure.

Steel Plank & Girder Plank Systems:
For the Sarasota Modern our technical approach seamlessly combines a structural steel framework with precast concrete elements. By engineering specialized structural connections, the steel columns and beams precisely support high-capacity girder plank systems, which optimizes floor-to-floor heights and accelerates the overall assembly timeline.

Efficient Plank Systems: The specification of hollow-core plank flooring within this hybrid structural system maximizes clear spans while significantly reducing the building's overall dead load. This meticulous coordination between the steel framework and concrete plank delivers a rigid, fire-resistant diaphragm that fundamentally enhances the building's structural integrity and spatial flexibility.

Clear-Span Steel Superstructure:
At Easterseals Autism Center, by engineering a highly efficient grid of open-web steel joists and primary beams, we effectively manage load distribution while maximizing clear spans. Optimizing the span-to-depth ratio of these joists minimizes the required column footprint, resulting in flexible, unobstructed interior environments.

System Integration and Detailing:
Designing this level of structural framework requires rigorous attention to complex connection detailing and exact dimensional tolerances. The seamless integration of the steel skeleton with the concrete slab rough-ins and perimeter masonry walls highlights a technically driven approach to precise structural alignment.

WOOD

Wood Frame Wrap Construction:
Designed as a Wrap, Aspire achieves high-density apartment metrics while integrating a multi-level concrete parking garage inside the residential wings.

Complex Multi-Material Engineering:
Delivers coordinated solutions that unite heavy concrete framing and stick-built multi-family construction, achieving structural integrity, code compliance, fire safety, and architectural excellence without compromising design intent.

Multi-Story Light Wood Framing:
When designing residential superstructures like Bahia Vista, clients often choose multi-story light wood framing for its unmatched adaptability and speed of construction. This approach allows us to efficiently scale the building while maintaining a cost-effective and sustainable project delivery.

Complex Systems Integration:
Coordinating structural and building systems is one of the greatest challenges in multi-story wood construction. Our team engineered open-web wood floor trusses to deliver the strength and spanning capacity required for the structure while creating unobstructed pathways for mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) systems. Through meticulous coordination of shear wall locations and utility routing, we ensured every structural and building system worked together efficiently reducing conflicts during construction and preserving the integrity of the design.

Case Study:

Integrated Structural Response — A case study of blending structural systems and programming into a single solution.

The structural success of One Palm / Aloft Hotel Sarasota depended on combining several distinct systems into one coordinated solution. The existing concrete garage provided the base structure and established the controlling grid, capacity, and load-path constraints. Above it, the addition of three steel-framed floors offered a lighter and more adaptable way to expand the program, but it also required careful attention to column alignment, transfer conditions, lateral-force continuity, steel-to-concrete connections, and differential movement between materials.

Rather than treating the hotel, residential, parking, retail, and amenity components as separate structural problems, the project required an integrated approach. The post-tensioned concrete floors addressed repetitive spans, efficiency, and service coordination, while the steel expansion responded to weight, constructability, and the need to adapt new occupancies to an existing garage framework. Transfer elements, connection detailing, and lateral-force-resisting strategies became the link between these systems, allowing the divided program to function as a unified building.

Ultimately, the project illustrates how mixed-use urban construction often depends less on a single structural idea than on the successful coordination of multiple systems. By balancing the capacity of the existing concrete garage with the flexibility of new steel framing and the efficiency of post-tensioned concrete floor construction, the design team could meet the divided programming challenges of hospitality, residential, parking, retail, and amenity uses within a constrained downtown site. The result is an integrated structural solution in which each system supports the others and the overall building program becomes achievable.