It only takes a glance at the news to see what earthquakes can do to buildings unprepared for strong shaking. The cracks, crumbling and total collapses of walls, floors, ceilings and facades can kill hundreds of people, leave thousands homeless, and disrupt critical infrastructure for months or longer. Many earthquake-damaged […]
San Diego is blessed to have many stately Victorian homes still keeping watch over the swirling sunsets sinking west behind the harbor.
These majestic and ornate structures, with their brightly colored facades, turrets, spires and wrap-around porches, were built to impress — reflecting the optimism and opulence of a society experiencing […]
California’s homeless population grew by more than 21,300 people in 2019. That’s an increase of 16.4% — more than all other states in the nation combined, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
No matter where you stand on this very complex and controversial issue, the fact […]
Earlier predictions of Southern California’s earthquake risk were dire enough as many as 1,800 deaths, 50,000 injuries, and $200 billion in damage with long-lasting social and economic impacts.
New figures from the U.S. Geological Survey are significantly worse: more than 1,000 dead in Los Angeles alone; major transportation corridors destroyed; water […]
Don’t throw the past away
You might need it some rainy day
Dreams can come true again
When everything old is new again
These popular lyrics, from the 1974 movie “All That Jazz,” reflect the continual push by society to tap into something unique, even when it seems that everything has been done before.”
It’s […]
Earthquakes are a part of life in Southern California. “The Big One” can hit anytime. Buildings with a “soft-story” are particularly vulnerable to earthquakes. Soft-story buildings usually have a large, open ground floor space like a parking area, with one or more stories above it. Without shear walls and other […]
The final judge of the quality of any seismic retrofit work is really the next big earthquake. Everyone living, working and owning property here in Southern California knows this, but sometimes this fact gets muddled with legislation, owner’s liability concerns, building codes, and the cost of earthquake retrofits. Obviously, there […]
In recent decades, engineers and architects have learned a lot about how to make structures more impervious to earthquakes. New materials and designs have been introduced to make buildings better equipped for future earthquakes to come.
However, there are delays in building authorities adopting these newly developed materials due to inertia […]
Property Owners in Los Angeles have a lot on their plates with strict seismic building codes. In one of the most seismically active areas of the United States, those codes are intended to protect lives and minimize property damage and preserve the economy in the event of inevitable earthquakes. […]
Giving new life to old buildings is the essence of adaptive reuse, and the concept is steadily gaining popularity in communities around the nation, including here in California. Instead of demolishing old buildings to make way for new buildings, the trend is to take old buildings and adapt them, thereby […]
