AOC Mammoth Lakes Courthouse, ENR 2012 Best Projects: Government/Public Building

Forell | Elsesser’s AOC Mono County Courthouse has received Engineering News-Record’s (ENR) 2012 Best Projects Award for a Government/Public Building. This $14.95 million civic building was a seismic design achievement. In addition to seismic issues, the building had to withstand an annual average snowfall of 35-feet. This fast-track project was delivered on-schedule and within budget despite a record snowfall of 55-feet during the year of construction.

Congratulations to the team which included Sundt Construction, Mark Cavagnero Associates, Gayner Engineers, AECOM, and Triad/Holmes Associates.

Forell/Elsesser has a long list of Government and Justice projects.

California Maritime Academy (CMA) Waterfront Dining Center

2012 Best Practice Award Winners were honored at the eleventh annual California Higher Education Sustainability Conference. The purpose of this conference is to highlight, reward, and promote excellence in energy efficiency and sustainability in higher education facilities.

Forell | Elsesser’s current California Maritime Academy (CMA) project was honored this year and our De Anza Community College project was honored in 2010 with the same award.

• Best Overall Sustainable Design 2012: California Maritime Academy Waterfront Dining Center
• Best Overall Sustainable Design 2010: De Anza College Mediated Learning Center (MLC)

De Anza Mediated Learning Center

Forell/Elsesser Pier Model

Congratulations to the West 8 team! Forell | Elsesser was Structural Consultant on their winning design competition team for the Fort Mason Center’s 13-acre waterfront campus! The West 8 team was one of 20 architects invited to the design competition.

West 8’s design illustrates seven strategies to tie the former Army port of embarkation into its prime waterfront location. To view West 8’s winning design, visit Fort Mason’s West 8 page. For general information on the competition, visit SF Gate or Fort Mason.org.

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

LEAP Sandcastle

For more than 10 years, Forell | Elsesser has co-sponsored the LEAP Sandcastle Contest. The event will be held on Saturday, October 20th at Ocean Beach and the theme is “Things that Jump.” Our co-sponsors are RMW Architecture + Interiors and Dome Construction.

This fundraiser supports LEAP’s Arts in Education programs serving 8,000+ students in over 40 schools. This contest is unique in that engineers, architects, designers, contractors, and corporations team up with local elementary school students to build huge sandcastles. In addition to the day of sandcastle building, months of preparation was required to develop the concept with the students and figure the best way to execute the 20-foot by 20-foot design using only sand and water. This year, 26 teams are competing for numerous awards.

Admission to the community is free so come on Saturday and check out all the amazing jumping designs! Sandcastle building will be approximately from 10AM – 2PM and judging/viewing from 2PM – 4PM.

Check out our brief article from last year’s contest and an article about this year from SF Gate.