AISC Ideas2 Merit Award Winner, UCSF Ray & Dagmar Dolby

Forell | Elsesser has received one of four nationwide American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) merit awards for the UCSF Parnassus Ray & Dagmar Dolby Regeneration Medicine building. IDEAS² was awarded because of its innovative and creative use of structural steel from an architectural, structural engineering, and sustainable design perspective. Forell | Elsesser was part of the design/build team of DPR Construction and SmithGroupJJR.

Ray & Dagmar Dolby Regeneration Medicine is the first LEED Gold Certified project to receive an Innovation in Design (ID) Credit for high-performance seismic design. Forell/Elsesser was able to show that the base isolated design resulted in a 40% reduction of structural materials and 43% reduction of CO₂ over a conventionally designed structure of equal seismic performance. In addition, the design-build process saved UCSF approximately $20 million and two years on their schedule.

Forell’s structural engineering solution for this long, narrow structure was base isolation. “Triple Pendulum” isolation bearings were selected because of their ability to limit the structure’s torsional response. Based on nonlinear response history analysis, the building is designed to move a maximum of 26″ laterally and 2″ vertically during a magnitude 7.8 (M7.8) earthquake.

David Friedman, CEE Academy of Distinguished Alumni

David Friedman was recently inducted into the UC Berkeley Civil and Environmental Engineering Department (CEE) Academy of Distinguished Alumni. David was recognized as one of 26 members of CEE’s inaugural class for his contribution to the practice and business of structural and earthquake design, for his service to the Berkeley campus, for his leadership on the seismic safety retrofit of the California Memorial Stadium, and for his dedication to CEE as a founding member and current chair of the CEE Advisory Council.

The awards ceremony took place at Forell/Elsesser’s renovated California Memorial Stadium for which David was Principal-in-Charge.

This year, David was also honored with the 2012 H.J. Brunnier Lifetime Achievement Award from the Structural Engineer Association of Northern California (SEAONC).

San Francisco Friends School

The Greenbuild International Conference and Expo will be taking place Wednesday, November 14 through Friday, November 16 at the InterContinental San Francisco. Forell’s Allen Nudel and Lindsey Maclise will be in attendance.

Many of Forell | Elsesser’s projects will be featured in Greenbuild’s Full Day Tours on Saturday, November 17. These projects include:

• San Francisco Friends School (FD11 – an adaptive reuse of the former Levi Strauss Factory building)
• Portola Valley Town Center (FD12 – the First LEED Platinum Certified town hall complex in the nation)
• Adobe’s San Francisco Office (FD06 – the Baker & Hamilton industrial building to office conversion is LEED Platinum-EB Certified)
• Historic Ford Assembly Plant (FD09 – seismic evaluation and upgrade of the 525,000 sf former largest assembly plant on the west coast)
• UC Berkeley Maximino Martinez Commons (FD13 by the former Anna Head name – student housing complex seeking LEED Silver Certification)
• UC Berkeley Blum Center for Developing Economies (FD13 LEED Silver Certified renovation and seismic retrofit of 1914 building and new construction)

Portola Valley Town Center