HOTEL CHURCHILL

SEAOSD/SEAOC 2017 EXCELLENCE IN STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING AWARDS

OWNER/DEVELOPER SAN DIEGO HOUSING COMMISSION

ARCHITECT STUDIO E ARCHITECTS

CONTRACTOR ALLGIRE GENERAL CONTRACTORS

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER KPFF CONSULTING ENGINEERS

Project Description

Constructed in 1914, this historic San Diego

landmark received a major facelift and seismic

retrofit to provide 72 affordable housing units

for veterans and homeless youth. Facts on the

original building:

• Cast-in-place concrete floor framing and

columns

• Lateral system used a combination of

concrete shearwalls & hollow clay tile infill

in upper floors.

• Originally six stories with an unreinforced

masonry 7th floor added in 1930

• Significant weak/soft story deficiency at the

1st floor with high probability of collapse

Seismic Retrofit Scope

This project was the first viscous fluid damper

retrofit of an historic building in the City of San

Diego. The voluntary retrofit which underwent a

comprehensive peer review included:

• Infill moment frames in combination with the

viscous dampers at ground floor

• Shearwalls and new foundations in basement

• Carbon FRP strengthening of diaphragms and

columns

• New steel collectors at 2nd story

• Significant mass reduction of the building

• Time history analysis with non-linear dampers

in ETABS

Non-Seismic Renovations

Other significant structural work included:

• Removal of a non-conforming elevator and a

widening of the existing shaft for a new elevator

• New glass-clad full-height exterior feature stair

• Large opening cut in the middle of the building

for a new interior steel stair

• Complete removal and replacement of the 7th

story with a new lighter steel framed roof

• Rebuild of the 20’-0” tall historic rooftop signage