IBC Section 1604.9 requires structural members, systems, components and cladding be designed to resist forces due to earthquakes and wind, with consideration of overturning, sliding and uplift. It also states that a continuous load path be provided for transmitting these forces to the foundation. Seems obvious to engineers that a continuous load path is needed, but it’s still nice to have the code say so.
But what happens if your structure’s upper and lower story walls do not stack? How do you create the required continuous load path? As engineers, we try to steer the architect towards eliminating the offset, making things line up, and keeping construction simple. But architectural requirements cannot always accommodate simple, and non-stacking walls occur all the time.