[vexxed82]

Originally Posted by pilsenarch

Yes ^

Think of the floor with all of the diagonal beams as a single truss... similar to a truss that holds up a bridge. And, like a bridge truss, (or a 'space frame', which is just a different kind of truss) every 'bottom structural point', if you will, does not need to be supported to maintain the structural integrity of the overall truss.

Having said that, if you look closely, the diagonal columns that are transferring the dead loads from above directly to the level 1 columns appear to be sized just a little bit larger to account for those loads... and although it's been a long time since my undergrad structures course, I would suspect the diagonals that are 'not connected' are actually in 'tension', meaning they are 'hanging' the floor below while the others are in 'compression' that are actually transferring the vertical loads to the ground level angled columns.

The angled beams in the 2nd floor appear to be simply adding additional 'shear' strength to the floor for what appears to be kind of a cantilever where the 'missing' vertical columns would have been.

Ahh ok! This helps explain a lot. Thank you! It's very fascinating how that one detail totally changes how I "see" the loads transferring when I assume they're hanging that part of the beam. Wild.