From Concept to Construction: Commercial Building Design at Frontier

Commercial buildings carry more than loads. They carry the expectations of owners, the ambitions of architects, the schedules of contractors, and the daily lives of the people who work and gather inside them. Frontier designs with all of that in mind.

The Structural Design Process

Commercial structural design advances through three phases — schematic, design development, and construction documents — with each phase locking in decisions that the next phase builds on.

Good commercial building design doesn’t happen all at once. It evolves through a sequence of increasingly refined decisions.

Schematic Phase: We establish the structural concept: the framing strategy, the lateral system, the foundation approach. This is where big decisions get made, and we make them with full awareness of what they mean for cost, schedule, and architectural flexibility.

Design Development: The concept gets detailed. Member sizes are determined, connections are developed, and the structural drawings begin to take the form that will guide the contractor.

Construction Documents: The full drawing set: plans, sections, details, notes, and specifications. This is the document that gets permitted and built from. Completeness and clarity here directly affect the quality of what gets built.

Construction Administration: We don’t walk away at permit. We stay involved through construction, reviewing submittals, responding to RFIs, and visiting the site when needed.

Materials We Work With

Frontier’s commercial design work spans a wide range of structural materials: steel, concrete, cold-formed steel framing, engineered wood, masonry, and combinations of these. We match the structural system to the project, not the other way around.

Built for Denver and Beyond

Our work includes restaurants, retail, mixed-use, office, industrial, recreation, and institutional buildings across Colorado and neighboring states. We understand the local codes, the local soils, and the local expectations, and we bring that knowledge to every project.

Reach out to discuss your commercial building project.

Related Articles:

• Construction Administration: Why the Engineer Should Stay Involved — What CA actually covers and why skipping it often costs more than it saves.
• Lateral Systems: Wind, Seismic, and the Structural Spine of Every Building — How lateral resistance is designed into commercial buildings.

Ready to Talk Through Your Project?

Structural problems found in the field cost two to five times what they would have cost to solve on paper. Tell us about your project — scope, location, timeline, team — and we'll respond quickly with how we can help.