About the author ⁄ Steve Heyne, S.E.

Steve Heyne is an Associate with ZFA Structural Engineers in Santa Rosa, CA. (steveh@zfa.com)

Historic Alameda High School Retrofit

Part 2: Preserving Historic Value, Providing Modern Seismic Safety

A California public school campus constructed in 1924, partially retro fitted in 1936, recognized as a historic place in 1977, vacated shortly after that in 1978, partially retrofitted again in 1989, shuttered in 2012, was brought back to life in 2018. For a brief history of the Historic Alameda High School campus and the state government regulations setting seismic safety standards for public school buildings in California, see Part 1 of this article series in the January 2022 issue of STRUCTURE.

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Mar, 2022 By Nik Blanchette, P.E., Steve Heyne, S.E. and Chris Warner, S.E. In Feature Comments 0

Historic Alameda High School Retrofit

Part 1: Too Valuable to Demolish, Too Expensive to Retrofit

In 2012, the Alameda Unified School District in Alameda, California, made the difficult decision to fence off and vacate all three historic classroom buildings on the Historic Alameda High School (HAHS) campus due to seismic safety deficiencies. These buildings and the attached auditorium, lobby, gym, and locker room buildings had stood since 1924. However, the classroom buildings lacked approval under California’s Field & Garrison Acts, putting the school district at legal risk (and any building occupants at life safety risk). The long process to rehabilitate and restore these nearly century-old buildings had entered its final chapter.

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Jan, 2022 By Nik Blanchette, P.E., Steve Heyne, S.E. and Chris Warner, S.E. In Feature Comments 0

Historic Goodman Library

Repair and Retrofit in the Aftermath of the 2014 Napa Earthquake

During the early morning hours of August 24, 2014, many of Downtown Napa’s historic buildings sustained moderate to heavy damage due to the powerful 6.0 magnitude earthquake that struck just over 5 miles away to the southwest. Among those was the iconic Goodman Library located in the heart of the city. All the building’s stone walls sustained damage in the form of cracks, but it was the partial collapse of its prominent tower that was remarkable (Figure 1). …

Feb, 2019 By Chris Jonas, S.E. and Steve Heyne, S.E. In Feature Comments 0

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