Projects
Past projects for Garcia Structural Design include commercial and private works as well as new construction and renovations. We have expertise in a broad range of structural systems including traditional materials like wood, concrete, and steel as well as emerging technologies and practices such as seismic energy dissipation devices and greener building practices. One unique aspect of our practice is that we commonly employ state-of-the-art seismic analysis techniques, allowing us to achieve simpler, more economic designs or more resilient, higher-performing structures.
Modern Animal - Tenant Improvement
Garcia structural design was engaged to provide structural design for the tenant improvements for Modern Animal Veterinary Clinics throughout the bay area. This included roof strengthening for new mechanical units and interior light gauge framing.
- Russian Hill
- Berkeley
- Mill Valley (Strawberry Village)
- Walnut Creek
- Palo Alto
Architect: Design Bitches and HRA
Year: 2023
1650 Pacific Avenue (Russian Hill) - Seismic Retrofit
Garcia structural design was engaged by the owners to provide a seismic retrofit of the existing non-ductile concrete columns at1650 Pacific Avenue and structural slab repair of the existing concrete second floor. The lower ground floor columns and the exterior second floor columns were wrapped with fiber reinforced polymer (FRP). This required close coordination with the contractor to preserve historic ornamentation.
The analysis utilized ASCE 41-17 “Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Existing Buildings” to provide a performance level of LIfe Safety at the BSE-1E (225 year seismic) hazard.
Contractor: BSM Construction
Year: 2023
Metal Sculpture by Albert Dicruttalo
Palo Alto Medical Center Commission
Provided base anchorage and provided analysis on structure ability.
YEAR: 2022
1080 Chestnut (In Progress)
1080 Chestnut is an 18 Story Mid Century High-rise located in the Russian Hill neighborhood of San Francisco. Garcia Structural Design was engaged to explore options for increasing the openings in existing concrete walls. We coordinated with the contractor and architect to remove the wall and strengthen the existing concrete beams.
Architect: Michael Tauber Architecture
Contractor: Black Mountain Construction
1422 Harrison Street — Oakland, CA (in progress)
1422 Harrison Street is a one‑story reinforced concrete structure with long span wood truss supported on concrete pilasters. The building was constructed around the 1920’s and has a rectangular footprint. Garcia Structural Design was engaged by architect Colleen Mohan to provide a seismic retrofit for the existing building due to a change of use.
Utilizing friction dampers for the retrofit we focused on upgrading the lateral force resisting system at the existing roof truss and wall piers (Figure 1). Using these self centering friction dampers (resilient slip friction joints – Figure 2) energy will be dissipated through friction in instances of a seismic event. The devices used are able to provide supplemental damping as well as restoring force, making them suited to retrofit the building’s existing wood trusses.
The analysis was performed using Nonlinear Response History Analysis making sure the existing structural elements will meet all of the requirements of ASCE 41 while preserving the space and building aesthetics, along with keeping overall project costs within budget. This includes strengthening the lumber roof diaphragm with plywood, adding Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) mezzanine diaphragm at front of building, and adding wood shear walls in the mezzanine at rear of building.
Architect: Colleen Mohan Architecture
YEAR: 2023
Rancho de Maria Residence — Martinez, CA
For the design of a single-family residence in Martinez California the owner and the architect requested that we use more sustainable building materials and practices. As well, the architectural design called for a green living roof with deep saturated soil and native plants. In response, the design we developed utilized cross laminated timber (CLT) roof and walls due to the material’s ability to sequester carbon. To use the CLT walls in the seismic system we allowed them to rock and provided friction dampers at the wall ends. To minimize the amount of concrete (and the associated carbon output) on the project, the foundation design utilized rubble trench foundations and efficient concrete mixes.
YEAR: 2021
Tribune Tower
Seismic retrofit of the Oakland Tribune Tower complex including installation of viscous dampers to dynamically link the twenty-story tower structure and an adjacent six-story podium structure in order to eliminate seismic pounding issues. (Nonlinear dynamic response history analysis with peer review by Simpson Gumpertz & Heger).
YEAR: 2018
Chanel — Beverly Hills, CA
New construction for a four-story retail store. The seismic design included viscous wall dampers with a steel moment frame system and a matt foundation. (Nonlinear dynamic response history analysis with peer review by Degenkolb).
YEAR: 2021
118 Hamilton Place — Oakland, CA
Seismic rehabilitation for a multi-unit apartment building to meet the City of Oakland mandatory soft-story retrofit program. The existing building was a four-story wood structure on a sloped sight. We worked closely with the owner to develop a retrofit program with minimal impact on the building’s tenants. This included developing a state-of-the-art seismic analysis and performance assessment to limit the scope of work required.
YEAR: 2021
1465 Civic Court — Concord, CA
The Center for Elder’s Independence is a large two-story senior housing facility in Concord that was to undergo a partial architectural and mechanical upgrade. Built in 1979, the facility’s structural system was wood truss joists with platform framing and plywood shear walls. We developed an economical seismic upgrade using plywood shear walls at the ground floor building interior, allowing the upper story to remain tenanted while construction was performed and avoiding any impact on the exterior building envelope or waterproofing system.
YEAR: 2019
The Tioga Hotel — Merced, CA
The Tioga Hotel is a historic structure in downtown Merced which was to undergo a full architectural and mechanical renovation in order to be converted from a hotel to a mixed-use building for residential and retail occupancies. We developed a retrofit to resolve seismic issues with the building’s non-ductile concrete frames while preserving important historic aspects of the building. The seismic upgrade included new concrete shear walls, steel moment frames, and micro-pile foundation elements. As well, we provided a full range of concrete, steel, and wood structural design for installation of new mechanical systems, renovation of the mezzanine framing, and reconfiguration of the existing architectural partitions to suit residential use.
YEAR: 2019
UC Riverside — Riverside, CA
This project consisted of four separate wood and steel structures for the campus of UC Riverside. The facilities consisted of a barn renovation and new kitchen and staff dining halls. The project utilized Revit to coordinate closely with the architects and provide delicate structural details to meet the architectural needs. The lateral system consisted of light weight wood framed shear walls and diagonal steel braces all supported on concrete foundations. A steel truss was utilized for the roof systems which integrated well with the architectural theme.
YEAR: 2018
Porter Commercial Office — Palo Alto, CA
This two-story 100,000 square-foot office in Palo Alto was constructed from steel and concrete framing. The L shaped office building constructed with composite roof and concrete floor decking. The structural design of the lateral system consisted of buckling restrained braced frames which transferred loads to concrete shear walls down to a structural mat foundation.
YEAR: 2017
Bethany Senior Center — San Francisco, CA
Bethany Senior Center is an eight-story, reinforced concrete structure originally built in 1967. We developed a seismic strengthening scheme that included the addition of shotcrete walls and steel columns at the lowest two levels to engage and strengthen existing discontinuous concrete wall elements in the upper levels. The use of advanced analysis procedures allowed significant reduction in both the cost and extent of the seismic work. In particular it allowed the building to remain tenanted while the work was performed which minimized the impact that the renovation might have had on the building’s occupants. The analysis procedure used nonlinear dynamic response history analysis with geotechnical provided ground motions to accurately simulate the seismic response and verify the seismic performance objectives. (The work was peer reviewed by Simpson Gumpertz & Heger).
YEAR: 2017
Pacific Heights Residence — San Francisco, CA
The existing two-story 7,500 square-foot residence underwent a full renovation to upgrade the entire residence which included a full seismic retrofit and excavation of 30’-0” below grade to accommodate two new levels and a pool at the basement. This required close coordination with the architect and geotechnical engineers and careful consideration of the support of the neighboring existing structures.
YEAR: 2016
345 Arguello — Mercy Housing, San Francisco, CA
We were asked by the owners of 345 Arguello to perform a structural analysis to determine any deficiencies and provide retrofit recommendations for the existing five-story wood 69-unit timber framed building. We found the existing structure lacking in lateral strength and provided a shear wall strengthening plan. We worked closely with the contractors during construction to implement the proposed retrofit efficiently with minimal disturbance to the tenants.
YEAR: 2016
Apple Store Stonestown — San Francisco, CA
Modification of existing building seismic system to allow removal of steel moment frame columns for an open retail store. The seismic design included installation of viscous dampers to compensate for the removal of the seismic columns and a new transfer truss to support the floor where columns were removed. (Nonlinear dynamic response history analysis with peer review by Simpson Gumpertz & Heger).
YEAR: 2015
