August 4, 2008
Accolades for Pasadena City Hall Retrofit Project
A project for which AMEC Geomatrix played a significant role – the seismic upgrade and rehabilitation of Pasadena City Hall – has received 15 awards for excellence over the past two years from various design, preservation and construction organizations. It also has been the focus of major articles in Civil Engineering, Traditional Building, and Structural Engineering magazines.
The project not only strengthened the building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it enabled it to achieve a Gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
Specifically AMEC Geomatrix served as geotechnical engineer on a team that included, among others, DMJM as construction manager, Architectural Resources Group as architect, Forell/Elsesser as structural engineer, and Clark Construction as general contractor. AMEC Geomatrix characterized seismic hazards and developed foundation recommendations for use in the project team’s seismic and design evaluations of the building.
The building had suffered moderate damage from numerous earthquakes since it was constructed in 1927, most recently the M6.7 Northridge earthquake in 1994. The seismic upgrade and major rehabilitation, completed in 2007, featured an innovative base isolation system that will help protect and preserve the structure. Seismic hazards for the site, represented by response spectra and associated ground-motion time histories developed by AMEC Geomatrix, were dominated by earthquakes on nearby faults, as well as possible large-magnitude events on the more distant San Andreas Fault. In addition to characterizing seismic hazards, AMEC Geomatrix developed capacity and stiffness recommendations for existing and new foundation elements for use in the project team’s performance-based seismic design evaluations for the building.
The awards are listed below:
City Beautification/Heritage Award, San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership
Heritage Award, American Institute of Architects, Foothill California chapter
Reconstruction Gold Award, Building Design & Construction magazine
Southern California Restoration Award, California Construction magazine
Build America National Merit Award, Associated General Contractors of America (AGC)
Constructor Award, AGC of California
Building Team Award, Building Design & Construction
Project Achievement Award, Construction Management Association of America, Southern Calif. chapter
Preservation Award, Los Angeles Conservancy
Opal Project of the Year Merit Award, American Society of Civil Engineers
Excellence in Construction Techniques, AGC of California
Chairman’s Heritage Award, Pasadena Beautiful Foundation
Planning Landmark Award, American Planning Association, Los Angeles section
Project of the Year Award, American Public Works Association
Preservation Sustainability Award, California Preservation Foundation
John Egan, GE, Principal Engineer in AMEC Geomatrix's Oakland office was the Principal-in-Charge for the AMEC Geomatrix team.
For more information, please contact:
Marion Thatch, FSMPS, CPSM
510.663.4128