Breaking Open Opportunity: A look at renovations for CMC’s Soll Center for Student Opportunity
DCI Engineers was tasked with designing the structural changes to the student career center at Claremont McKenna College, which included expanding the reception area by removing much of the west and south facades of the first level.
Architectural requirements included minimal elevation for the structural members, so DCI was challenged to strengthen the long span of the storefront without using larger steel members. As a result, a steel plate below the cut concrete girder was used.
One challenge was to keep the integrity of the seismic resistance for the building while removing much of the west and south concrete wall. DCI was able to make the new design connection work, despite the high load connection between the new steel member and new concrete wall.