Esprit de Corp.

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.

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 proposed steel seismic braces taper 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, avoiding the costly relocation nearby mechanical equipment and allowing it to function during construction.