Saiful Bouquet is providing full structural engineering services to reconfigure and convert the usage of this existing department store to office and restaurant space. The existing building was originally built in the 1960’s as a 2-story concrete building with light steel roof over a basement level. The building floor plate is approximately 80,000 sq. ft. totaling 240,000 sq. ft. for all 3 levels.
The project involved extensive structural modification with the localized removal of existing floors and roofs, creating a central courtyard and light wells. Saiful Bouquet worked closely with the architect and City of LA to perform a complete seismic upgrade to the entire building to comply with the current building code. New buckling restrained brace frames (BRBF) were introduced at the building perimeter at the upper level on the in board side, to maintain the historical fabric of the building façade. Shotcrete walls were added at the lower 2 levels directly before the BRBF’s to supplement the building’s seismic resistance.
Construction is scheduled to start soon.
