On December 22^nd, 2003, the San Simeon Earthquake shook the central California coast damaging two historic unreinforced masonry buildings in downtown Atascadero. One of those buildings was The Printery, constructed in 1915 to house E.G. Lewis’ (the Founder of the Colony of Atascadero) printing operation. Since the earthquake, the building has been abandoned and has suffered from vandalism over the years. In 2016, FTF Engineering was introduced to a non-profit looking to purchase the building to transform it into a community arts building (Figure 1). The non-profit, operating as The Printery Foundation, was able to secure ownership of the building from a public auction in 2017. 

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Light wood framed residential construction has historically performed well in seismic events. The combination of low mass, redundancy, and damping resulting from damage of finishes allow the buildings to see large inelastic deformations without collapse. In high-end residential construction, this may no longer be the norm. Clients are choosing finishes that are heavier and more brittle, such as natural stone veneers and tile floors over lightweight concrete topping. …