Morabito Consultants provided structural engineering services for RightAway Storage, a four-story, 109,260-square-foot self-storage facility located on a two-acre site in Baltimore City. The project required an efficient structural system that supported dense storage layouts, repetitive unit planning, and durable long-term performance in an urban environment.
The facility is supported by a reinforced concrete mat foundation designed to distribute building loads across the site, with localized below-grade concrete retaining walls used to resist lateral earth pressures. This foundation approach provided a stable base for the multi-story storage building while accommodating site and geotechnical requirements.
The superstructure uses an efficient light-gauge metal framing system with interior and exterior bearing walls spaced at approximately 10 feet on center to support lightweight concrete on composite metal deck. Where bearing walls do not align vertically, wide-flange steel beams and columns provide transfer framing to maintain continuous load paths throughout the building.
Roof framing consists of metal deck supported by light-gauge bearing walls, while the lateral force-resisting system combines light-gauge metal stud shear walls with strategically placed bracing elements to resist wind and seismic loads. The final design evolved through close coordination with the owner and design team, including a transition from structural steel framing to light-gauge framing and foundation refinements based on updated geotechnical recommendations.
RightAway Storage demonstrates Morabito Consultants’ expertise in multi-story self-storage structural design, light-gauge metal framing, composite floor systems, mat foundation design, and cost-effective commercial storage facility construction.