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Oakland Medical Building Seismic Repair and Upgrade - Oakland Year Originally Built: 1914 Sq. Feet of Building: 45,100sf Owner: Nicholas Molnar, Managing Partner Contractor: M.A Lindquist Construction Co. and American International Construction Construction Cost: $490,000 Following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, the owners of this existing nine story, historically significant, office structure required a seismic repair and upgrade. Work included a lobby renovation, exterior terra cotta and marble repair and an innovative structural engineering design solution resulting in major cost reductions in this concrete frame structure. Construction work was performed while the building was occupied. The seismic analysis by James Hill and Associates, Structural Engineers, was based on displacement based performance and control. Following an extensive physical testing program, a mathematical model was made for linear dynamic analysis using a response spectrum created from data recorded at a nearby building during the Loma Prieta earthquake. In modeling the building, the infill brick was analyzed as a bracing strut in the outside frame. New shear walls were designed to limit deflections to an acceptable level assuming a 475 year return period earthquake. The economic feasibility of this project was dependent on this non-standard design approach which uses existingbuilding features to maximum advantage. The work was done in collaboration with architect Arnold Lerner.
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