In 1994, Northridge, California, was struck by a 6.7 magnitude earthquake, which caused extensive damage to the area. KPFF’s Structural Engineers were among the first responders who arrived to assess the damage and develop plans for rebuilding the community. KPFF’s response to the quake is considered a crucial moment in our history, and many employees credit it as a turning point in the company’s success.

Last summer, as the 30th anniversary of the earthquake was approaching, and with several retirements on the horizon, we decided to preserve the stories related to the event. What began as an update to a few slides turned into a full documentary. Scope creep at is finest.

With the Hollywood strikes ongoing, we enlisted the help of a striking television writer to help tell our story. His availability allowed us to complete the documentary in only a few weeks, leaving me and the rest of the marketing team fully available support our office with proposals and other marketing tasks.

Initially, there was some hesitation from the participants, but once in front of the camera, the stories flowed easily. “It really bonded us to work as a team,” reflects Susan Crichton. From Joe Stewart quarterbacking calls from owners and clients, to Juan Hinds-Rico entertaining employees from out-of-town, we worked together to accomplish the tasks at hand.

Although the most meme-able moment was Mike Dygean claiming “we don’t know sh–” when it came to facing the disaster head-on (yes, we already have a gif), Ramzi Hodali had perhaps the most inspiring reflection of the time: “I would say what we do matters. We’re here to save lives…create safe buildings.”

The documentary was first shown at the 2023 Fall LAS Basecamp, KPFF’s New Hire Orientation. Later, it was screened at a “World Premiere” party for the entire LAS staff on January 16, 2024, a day before the 30th Anniversary of the quake. The full documentary was made available to the public on January 17, 2024. “I get chills every time I watch it,” Joe Stewart shared. “My wife loved it.” You can watch the complete documentary by clicking here.

The post What We Do Matters: A Look Back on KPFF’s Response to the 1994 Northridge Quake appeared first on KPFF Greater Los Angeles Structural.

The California State University Los Angeles Student Housing East (CSULA SHE) will be a new student housing facility, expanding dormitory capacity to accommodate approximately 1,500 additional students on campus. This transformative complex will offer traditional double and triple residence units for freshman and sophomore housing. The roughly 1,500 bed residence will include many amenities and gathering spaces such as: a fitness center, lounges, wellness room, laundry facilities, advanced vending machines, a kitchen, collaborative and independent study rooms, administrative spaces, and community and multi-purpose rooms. The project will also feature a new dining facility of approximately 20,000 square feet that will incorporate both a new and existing student housing dining program.

Additionally, this construction effort will include some enhancements on the site that will improve circulation between these dorms and the campus core. The most exciting element is a new 112 foot long pedestrian bridge and 80 foot tall stair/elevator tower to provide quick and easy access for students traveling to and from the housing complex, especially those with disabilities, as the site of the new center is significantly lower in elevation than the main campus.

While we look forward to the opening of this impactful project, the CSULA SHE building is still under construction. As of writing, the enclosure is fully complete except for some windows strategically left open for ease of construction. The elevator cores are nearing completion, and all floors have their basic structures built out. The interiors are being painted as quickly as the framers are finishing interior partitions. Other finishes, such as carpets, tiles and doors, are also being installed signaling the final stages before completion.

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In this segment, we will focus on one such street and community: Crenshaw Boulevard. It is, perhaps, not as glamorous as its cousins Hollywood Boulevard and Sunset Boulevard but known to many Angelenos as the cultural and commercial hub of the African American community in Los Angeles. More specifically our focus is on the birth and development of Destination Crenshaw, a 1.3-mile-long outdoor art and cultural corridor. Destination Crenshaw is the first project of its kind in Los Angeles using an iconic street as an anchor for public art and streetscape design. It was an idea that was born in response to LA Metro building LAX Crenshaw rail line at grade instead of underground, and championed by councilman Marquees Harris-Dawson, Council District 8. LA Metro’s decision to build at grade could have negatively impacted the local businesses along the corridor but the community showed resiliency in creating an opportunity from a threat.

The outdoor museum project will have community gathering spaces for recreation and relaxation including an amphitheater, 2.6-miles of paved sidewalks with custom pavers, decorative lighting, pocket parks, parklets, and hundreds of new trees. The pocket parks and parklets are adaptive re-use of existing parking lots with artwork installations. Designed by Perkins + Will and Studio-MLA, the project purposes to restore and highlight the unique contributions of African Americans to life in Los Angeles.
The project includes three major iconic structures. the first one is a 120-ft tall structure that reads Crenshaw on all its sides, a beacon that will be appreciated from several places around the City. Destination Crenshaw also incorporates an existing landmark ‘Wall of Crenshaw’, an 800-foot-long mural featuring artwork by well-known African Americans from the community. The mural on the wall covers several generations and intended to be preserved for future generations. Lastly, the crown jewel of the project is a piece called “Sankofa Park,” an elevated concrete observation deck which offers views of the corridor and the City, including Downtown Los Angeles.

Currently in design and permitting phase, the creation of Destination Crenshaw project will be an important feature along LA Metro’s LAX-Crenshaw rail system as it connects LAX to Exposition Line (thereby connecting to Downtown Los Angeles in the east, and Santa Monica in the west). The project is aimed to benefit not just the local community but also offer a peek into the past, present and future of this prominent African American community to the passengers of the rail line as they traverse through the corridor.

LA Civil and LA Structural are providing civil engineering and structural engineering services for the project. Since our involvement on the project in early 2018, Destination Crenshaw, has presented and continues to present opportunities for creating relationships with key bureaus of the City of Los Angeles Public Works Department, LA Metro, Council District 8 and the LA Mayor’s Department of Transportation. As the technical engineering lead, KPFF is working closely with the team by addressing important design and permitting issues with active participation in project development meetings including strategies for a seamless transition between Destination Crenshaw and LAX-Crenshaw projects as they overlap re-construction of the street infrastructure.

Construction on Destination Crenshaw is expected to begin in early 2020 with a goal to open it to the public along the opening of the LAX-Crenshaw line.

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St. Petersburg Pier has a long history in the City of Tampa Bay, and this new project is the next phase for this storied development. The Pier was built as a part of the original Orange Belt Railway in 1889, and was the first pier in Tampa Bay allowing for the delivery of goods to the city. In an effort to modernize and revitalize the area, the City and then mayor, Rick Kriseman, conceived of an ambitious project to build a new pier and resultant amenities. The new pier will include three exciting and attractive buildings meant to engage the public through an Education Center, a Pavilion Building and the Pier Head Building.

Throughout the years, the pier had survived several remodels, expansions and modifications. In a 2004 report addressed to the City Council, a team of consultants concluded that the structural maintenance program in place for the Pier approach and head were no longer cost effective. and the report urged the City Council to consider a complete replacement of the structure. The new development will incorporate three main buildings:

1. The Education Center Building
2. The Pavilion Building
3. Pier Head Building

All of these buildings are concrete structures with shear walls, post-tensioned slabs and columns. Construction of this transformative project started in 2017, and is nearing completion, at end of this year. KPFF became involved in the project after construction was underway. KPFF became involved as part of the subcontractor team with MG McGrath, a valued partner of ours. Together we designed the exterior steel canopies and metal cladding components for all three buildings. Our relationship started in 2016 when we worked together on the design and construction of “the Horn” Medtronic Monument, located at the Minnesota Vikings Stadium. The relationship continues to strengthen on this project thanks to our teamwork on this fast-paced schedule. The design of the canopies had to be done while the building was under construction, and early procurement of connections played a large role in the adjustments to the concrete pour schedules.

The canopies for the Education and Pavilion Buildings are connected to the main post tensioned slab only at the edges, cantilevering between 5-10’ for the Education Center and 10-16’ for the Pavilion Building. The first challenge that we faced was to design a connection that allowed the pouring of the post-tensioned slab without interfering with the tendons, the post-tensioning process, and the installation of hardware for the connections. All of the concrete is exposed, therefore visible connections were not an acceptable option.

Our team proposed the use of cast-in-place form savers to accomplish the desired connection and allow the construction process to proceed without disruption. This also allowed the design team to continue the development of the steel framing options while the embeds were installed on site. The connection to the form savers was accomplished by high-strength galvanized bolts which saved time during the erection of the steel on site.

The steel design included a value engineering option to minimize the lead time by using standard steel sections in lieu of customized steel plates. We collaborated closely with the architect of record to select the appropriate steel section in width and depth to meet the design intent. Standard steel channels were the preferred option as they provided the required width and depth. Also, standard steel channel sections could be procured quickly, minimizing the steel lead time.

Another aspect of the design of the canopies is the interaction with the aluminum frame to support the perforated aluminum panels. Getting the design right required coordination between our team, the steel fabricator and the MG McGrath team to create a frame and supports that were modular in nature. This sped up the construction process by maximizing offsite fabrication and minimizing the installation time on site. Our design included the use of mortise and tenon connections between the perimeter aluminum frame and the stiffening interior frames that support the perforated metal panels. This connection design accelerated the construction of the frames in the shop and provided clean exposed joinery for the underside of the panels.

The Pierhead Building, a six-story concrete structure, is the jewel that crowns this masterpiece of a development. Our contribution included the design of the fourth-floor aluminum panels soffits and the steel canopy at the top. The structure, like the other buildings, is comprised of concrete walls and post-tensioned slabs. The main canopy has a cantilevered span of 37’ and a section that connects the top level to the fourth level also known as “The Tail.”

The steel sections are 36” deep and a maximum of 6” wide for the flanges. Several options of standard sections were considered, but the most optimal section for this canopy was a built-up I-type girder that matched the architectural width requirements and provided a clean edge for the exposed steel members. The connection of the steel beams to the concrete walls was done with Williams all-threaded reinforcing bars connecting the beam seats that are connected to the steel beams. This canopy is currently under fabrication and the first pieces of steel have been shipped to the site to begin the erection process.

The Pierhead soffit aluminum structure is hanging from the fourth-level slab and is comprised of aluminum triangles supporting the aluminum perforated metal panels. The soffit has over two hundred and twenty-four connections only to the underside of the slab. The main challenge with these connections was to allow the needed movement during construction to accommodate the slab slopes, the narrow heights between the slab and the soffit, and the potential misalignment of the embeds. Our team, in close coordination with MG McGrath team, developed a concept with hanger rods, couplers and aluminum plates that provided the required flexibility for field installation. The soffit is currently under production and the installation of the panels will begin in the upcoming weeks.

Our dedicated team has put significant effort into this project, and every engineer has been exposed to concrete, steel and aluminum design. As is our custom, the process has been highly collaborative, and we have enjoyed working with the architect, fabricators, and the contractor to develop unique solutions to streamline the fabrication and erection process. We are proud to be part of MG McGrath team and this impactful project for the City of Tampa Bay.

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