SGH Professionals Win Project Awards and Present Technical Papers at SEAOC Convention

2021 Excellence in Structural Engineering Awards

Two SGH projects received Awards of Merit in the organization’s 2021 Excellence in Structural Engineering Awards program. The University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Margo Leavin Graduate Art Studios took the prize in the “New Construction” category, and Arroyo Bridge received an award for “Special-Use Structures.”

Award of Merit: UCLA Margo Leavin Graduate Art Studios and Arroyo Bridge

The UCLA Margo Leavin Graduate Art Studios are a labor of love for both the university and its students. The project turned a beloved but outdated industrial space into a new 48,000 sq ft facility while still maintaining its industrial charm. The campus includes the adaptive reuse of a 21,200 sq ft former wallpaper factory – that had not seen significant upgrades in more than 25 years – with a new L-shaped expansion featuring 26,800 sq ft of studios, laboratories, galleries, classrooms, and an artist-in-residence loft. The combined facilities now reflect the program’s elite role within the art community and allow for increased space, improved production, and unencumbered creativity. SGH served as the structural engineer of record for the project and consulted on the building enclosure.

UCLA Margo Leavin Graduate Art Studios, photo by Iwan Baan

Award of Merit: Arroyo Bridge

The Arroyo Bridge is an 80-foot-long pedestrian bridge in Southern California with two intermediate supports spanning a large, steep-sided canyon, opening up previously unavailable space. Using a network of trusses with larger components supporting succeeding smaller ones, the structure mimics how a leaf’s primary stem supports its succeeding smaller veins – every member either supports or braces the others, maintaining the structural integrity. The bridge was fabricated in conjunction with Autodesk at the Autodesk Technology Center in Boston, with robotic arms programmed to create each bridge segment so they could be shipped across the country and assembled on site. SGH served as the structural engineer of record.

Arroyo Bridge

SEAOC Convention: Technical Presentations

In addition, six SGH professionals presented technical papers and took part in panel presentations at the conference:

• Tim Graf presented “Seismic Resiliency Evaluation of Electric Generation Plants” as part of the Resiliency and Recovery-Based Design track
• Anindya Dutta and Kevin O’Connell presented “Case Study of 12 Story Building to meet the City of LA Mandatory Non-Ductile Concrete Ordinance” as part of the Concrete Performance track
• Steven Shepherd and James McDonald presented “Two-Stage Analysis Loophole” as part of the Concrete Performance track
• David Gonzalez and Kevin O’Connell presented “Seismic Retrofit of a Pre-Northridge Steel Moment Frame Building Using Fluid Viscous Dampers” as part of the Seismic Retrofit – Steel track
• Ron Hamburger participated in the panel discussion “FEMA and NIST Report to Congress and Advancement of the Concept of Functional Recovery for Design of Buildings and Lifeline Systems” as part of the Applied Technology Council track

Read more about the awards program.

Read more about the convention.