Bellevue, Washington continues to blossom into a vibrant, world class city. The Lincoln Square Expansion (LSE) broke ground in downtown Bellevue in June 2014 and, when complete in 2017, will add two 450-foot towers, a four level retail podium, and six levels of subterranean parking to Bellevue’s urban core. …
The renovation of a building offers an opportunity to rejuvenate a space and ensure the preservation and conservation of its history. The Masonic Temple in Glendale, California, once stood as the tallest building on Brand Boulevard and has housed six different Masonic organizations since its opening in January 1929 (Figure 1). …
In 2007, Sutter Health brought together its Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) team to produce its new San Francisco flagship hospital, California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC). At the first team meeting, Sutter challenged the IPD team, consisting of SmithGroupJJR, the design sub-consultants, the general contractor, HerreroBoldt and its major subcontractors, to bring innovation to the project to provide the best hospital possible within the Sutter-established budget. …
With a robust 2015 behind them, companies involved in steel construction look forward to an even stronger 2016.
“Business is strong, and 2015 was another record-breaking year for SidePlate, both in number of new projects and overall contract value,” says Jason Hoover, Eastern Regional Business Manager, Industry Outreach Executive for SidePlate Systems, Inc. “To keep up, we’re currently hiring engineers for our main office in California and a few other positions across the country.” …
This is the first in a series on early suspension bridges. It starts with James Finley (STRUCTURE, November 2008), who designed and built the first iron chain suspension bridge (1801-1802) with a horizontal deck across Jacob’s Creek just south of Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania on Old Route 119. Chain bridges with a deck resting directly on the chain had been built for years, but were only for pedestrian traffic. …
Throughout history groups of people have created organizations to improve the lot of the members of the group and of society at large. Factors that triggered the formation of such organizations vary. The medieval guilds were a response to the need to maintain a competitive edge and quality standards in the face of competition facilitated by increasing mobility within Europe. …
Fasteners are typically low cost items; however, their failures may result in catastrophic and costly consequences. A recent case of bolt failure that has received enormous media attention was associated with the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, the second busiest bridge in the nation. While investigations continue on the primary causes of bolt failures, corrosion was recognized as the foremost contributor. Corrosion is a naturally occurring phenomenon, the direct cost for which is a staggering $558 billion in the U.S. – approximately 3.1% of the U.S. GDP (2015). …
Structural Focus was an Award Winner for the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts Goldsmith Theater project in the 2015 NCSEA Annual Excellence in Structural Engineering awards program (Category – New Buildings $10M to $30M).
Completed in October 2013, the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts project includes the restoration and seismic upgrade of the historic Beverly Hills Post Office building and the construction of the new 500-seat state-of-the-art Goldsmith Theater. …
In this, the fourth and final column of a series (“The Idea,” December 2015; “The Future,” January 2016; “An Analysis,” February 2016), I ask you to consider the engineering way of thinking (EWT) as a relatively formal way of adapting to a constantly changing environment (in the broad sense) by enabling variation and selection as safely as possible under sometimes significant uncertainty. I will emphasize two sources: Engineers and Ivory Towers, by Hardy Cross (1952); and Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure, by Tim Harford (2011). Cross is a well-known engineer (think moment distribution) from the mid-20th century, and Harford is an economist today. …