How could I construct this wall/room?

[phalynx]

In the next phase of the Phalynx House, we are looking at a library.  I would like to explore the possibility of a 2 story library with a catwalk.  How could I build the the walls and roof to withstand the 19' high walls and support the catwalk with books/etc and keep the walls from collapsing inwards?

[John Raabe]

That high an unsupported wall should be engineered as there are also wind and other forces that go to work on large sail areas like this.

If all the loads were forever downward, a frame wall of 2x6 @ 16" o/c should do fine with solid blocking to a perimeter concrete foundation. You would hang and secure the bookcases and catwalk back into the wall. The catwalk will need braces or some other configuration to carry the load to the walls and maybe extra studs to stiffen at such load points. Again, the engineer will calculate this for local conditions.

This will not be a low-cost owner-builder project!

[phalynx]

Aww John,  that deflated me WAY too fast.  Could I run large beams across where the far extents of the catwalks are?  If I kept the dimensions of the whole room small and attached it to a larger building,,, would that help?  I have the "man cave" that is 20x32 with 10' ceilings.  If this building was directly attached to it and was only 19' high, would it help? 

I am a "serious" do it yourselfer..    No job is too small, yet.

[ScottA]

I think you'd need steel to pull that off unless the room was inside a larger structure.

[John Raabe]

Phalynx:

Anyone who could build the "man cave" could certainly build a library - maybe even that library. But, there are a number of issues that push the project that is in the photo into the "commercial structure" realm.

I could image that the catwalk becomes some sort of rigid "anti-sway" bar to stiffen the tall open walls. But, as ScottA says, this will likely involve steel and a few welded "moment frames". Definitely gets an engineer involved.

[Redoverfarm]

Like others have said I think steel skeleton disguised with wood would be one solution.  And then there is these which would also work with a lot less effort.

http://www.vandykes.com/search?sSearch=ladder&arr_filter[brand][]=&arr_filter[arr_variation_options][style][]=&Start+Search=

We have a couple of business that still utilize then on a daily basis around here.  Neat.  I always ask for something on the top shelf just to watch the process

[umtallguy]

butt and pass log cabin would work...

stacked logs pinned with rebar, with a reasonable amount of windows it will carry that load and withstand a hurricane.

Lots of chinking mortar though

[phalynx]

Redover, that is plan B 

So, the next question would be, attaching a building to an existing building properly.  If I attach a building to the side of the man cave, how would i properly attach the metal roofing so that it wouldn't leak?  Would I need to build some form of gable to match?  How does one make a pretty connection so it doesn't leak?