San Francisco’s 590-ft Skyscraper Lifts Seismic Design’s Stature
Structural engineer Ron Klemencic had extra reasons for gratitude during the 2005 Thanksgiving season. After hitting his head against the wall on and off for more than three years, he finally received stamps of approval for the first two performance-based seismic design high-rises in earthquake prone San Francisco. PSD can cost less, improve design and ease construction.
Word about the 38- and 43-story Infinity towers came the last week of November, followed by news about the 64-story One Rincon Hill (ORH) in early December. “I was elated both times,” says Klemencic, president of Magnusson Klemencic Associates, Seattle. “It was two years of blood sweat and tears on [the Infinity] before we even initiated Rincon Hill.” That review took a year, twice the norm for San Francisco towers.