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Remodel and enlargement of single family residence in Berkeley, California. The original residence was 1,370 square feet, the new residence is 3,700 square feet. The work included replacement of the foundation, the development of the garage and basement level, and the creation of a new top story. |
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The client wanted the house to be engineered for seismic performance beyond the minimum intended by the Building Code. This led to a rigorous schematic design effort, working with the architects JSW of Berkeley to achieve the client's structural performance requirements while maintaining the architects' design intent. Construction services were provided by Tom Ratcliff, General Contractor. |
| Construction of a new house after the 1991 Oakland Hills firestorm. The lot was close enough to known traces of the Hayward fault that ground displacement through the site was considered possible. To accommodate that demand, a rigid mat foundation was designed, with the intent of allowing fault displacement through the building footprint without destruction of the foundation. |
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| Don Hisaka, the architect/owner, allowed the lateral load-resisting system of the house, structural steel X-bracing, to be exposed and expressed as part of the architectural design. |
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Construction of a new house after the 1991 Oakland Hills firestorm. The clients wanted to rebuild the house they lost in the firestorm. Architect Catherine Roha, Berkeley, California, provided architectural services, and Canyon Construction, Moraga, California, provided construction services. |
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| Remodeling and enlarging an artist's studio in Emeryville, California. The existing artist's live-work space was completely restructured and expanded. Architect services were provided by C. David Robinson, and Bruce Helmberger was the contractor.
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Construction of a new single-family residence and a separate pool house in Lafayette, California. The soil consisted of highly expansive clay material. Drilled cast-in-place reinforced concrete piers were used as the foundation system. The framing system for the main living space included the design and construction of site-fabricated, exposed wood trusses. |
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Soils Engineer: LB Karp
Architect: Richardson Architects
General Contractor: Creative Spaces
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| Remodel, sound proofing, and accessibility improvements of movie theater in Mill Valley, California. |
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Time constraints on the design and construction were successfully met as the theater re-opened on time for the Mill Valley Film Festival.
Architect: Arnie Lerner
General Contractor: Plath Construction
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Construction defects caused considerable foundation movement, damaging the single-family house. Here Josh is reviewing the existing foundation exposed by excavation during the destruction testing phase of a litigation project.
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During recent litigation, this shear wall was opened to expose the existing framing and hardware. Nailing of the plywood was first reviewed prior to plywood removal. After the plywood was removed, sill nailing and hold downs were examined for proper installation.
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Four existing timber railroad trestle bridges in various states of disrepair were stabilized, strengthened, and reconditioned to serve as trail and service road bridges over tidal flats at the Point Isabel to Miller-Knox trail on the San Francisco Bay shore. |
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One new bridge was also constructed (shown here) of cast-in-place and pre-cast concrete with wood railings to replicate the appearance of the reconditioned bridges.
Client: East Bay Regional Park District. McGuire & Hester was the contractor. |
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Structural engineering design and erection review for sound and light support structures; design and structural testing of modular, transportable light trusses.
Client: FM Productions |
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Residential | Commercial | Litigation | Other Structures
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