Saiful Bouquet received the 2002 SEAOSC Most Outstanding, Excellence in Structural Engineering Award, the highest award conferred, along with the 2002 SEAOC Excellence in Structural Engineering Award for developing a creative seismic retrofit solution for this very unique 1970’s 12-story office tower. The unique structural feature of this tower includes floors being suspended from the top and approximately four to five inches of physical gap between the suspended floor and the concrete core walls.
SB performed a very advanced state-of-the-art analysis to better predict the seismic performance of this unique structure and based on that came up with a unique solution which consisted of adding “energy dissipation devices” between the suspended floors and the core shear walls at each floor level (total 88 energy dissipation devices used). These devices dissipated the seismic energy thus significantly reducing the seismic demand on the tower. Furthermore the scheme could be implemented with minimum disruption to the tenants, which was a major concern for the owner and for a cost significantly less than that required for a conventional retrofit scheme.
SB’s solution saved the client approximately $5 million dollars in construction cost and loss of rent over retrofit solutions implemented by others on almost identical buildings.
Awards
- 2002 Most Outstanding Excellence in Structural Engineering Award, (Highest Award Conferred by SEAOSC), Structural Engineers Association of Southern California (SEAOSC)
- 2002 Excellence in Structural Engineering Award, Structural Engineers Association of Southern California (SEAOSC)
