Esprit de Corp inhabited one of San Francisco's largest unreinforced masonry buildings, a building type known to be a seismic hazard. In 1990 San Francisco issued an ordinance mandating strengthening of all brick buildings. Esprit chose us to engineer a creative solution.

Esprit had maintained the open feel of the original brick and timber structure, creating a campus like atmosphere within a large, warm shell. Our approach was to preserve the open feeling, but at the same time introduce stiff structural elements capable of resisting the seismic loads.

The structural solution was inspired by a chair belonging to one of Esprit's founders, originally designed by Jean Prouve. Its legs are tapered as a response to lateral forces. The elements of the steel seismic braces taper as a response to seismic forces in a similar manner.

Only the first phase of the design was implemented: strengthening of the building's parapets. An exotic approach was employed for economic reasons. Cores were drilled vertically into the existing walls and filled with reinforced concrete because mechanical equipment was located adjacent to the parapets and would have been very expensive to shut down and relocate.