Foster City Charter HC - The City of Foster City requested proposals to develop the last 15 acres of open land that T. Jack Foster had originally dedicated to the construction of a high school for Foster City. In an effort to preserve this land for educational purposes, we worked with the Foundation to prepare a conceptual design, cost estimate, and feasibility study for a modern small-footprint urban high school that would serve the educational & cultural needs of the entire community, function as part of the surrounding civic center, and be adaptable to non-educational occupancies.
Bay View Bank - During the Loma Prieta Earthquake, the shear core of this building was extensively damaged even though the ground motion was slight. What made this unusual was that all of the upper floors were suspended from by steel straps over the top of the shear core; they were designed to remain stationary in space while an earthquake moved the shear core; the core was lightly reinforced because it was independent of the inertia from the floors. We were hired to investigate the cause of this damage and design a repair. During our investigation, we discovered that the floors were attached to the shear core during original construction. We also discovered that the building would fail its foundation and tip over during a maximum credible earthquake. We designed a new steel framed building that would surround the old building and double its floor space while modernizing its design.