SEATTLE, Washington -- There are significant changes coming with the new International Building Code (IBC 2018/ASCE 7-16), specifically seismic design load requirements for buildings in high seismic regions.

“While typical building code cycles see maybe 5% to 20% change, the new changes—for some extreme cases—will increase up to 80%,” said Tom Xia, PhD, DCI Engineers Principal, Technical Director and member of the ASCE and Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH). “That is not a minor change.”

Our Portland office has seen their fair share of historic adaptive reuse projects. This post focuses on two specific projects completed in the city’s Old Town/Chinatown District, and another in the Central Eastside neighborhood. Each building has its own revival story and collection of before-and-after photos.

Usually the closest a structural engineer’s work will get to experiencing the forces of climbing is a maintenance worker ascending a tower or bridge… or a trespasser scaling a skyscraper via suction cups…

In terms of engineering, climbing structures are their own unique animal, involving all the usual suspects—wind loads, seismic loads, gravity loads—but with a little extra thrown in.

In the past century, an evolution has occurred in the field of structural engineering. It’s the evolvement of design practice and building codes that allow us to construct even taller buildings for people. So what makes it possible to go so tall without letting the structure collapse in wind or during an earthquake?

We sat down with our October DCI Expert in the Spotlight, Richard “Dick” Hemmen for a Q&A session about Seismic Renovations and Tenant Improvements. Hemmen, who has worked on many seismic renovations and TI’s, shares with us the importance of maintaining a buildings structural components for the occurrence of a seismic event.

Expert Bio