Mei Kuen Liu, Instructor at the Academy of Art University

Forell Senior Engineer, Mei Kuen Liu, is concluding her first class at the Academy of Art University (AAU) with co-Instructor Architect, Karen YunJin Seong. The ARH 420 Structures: Systems Investigation 16 week Spring Semester 2013 course was specifically designed to expose architects to structural engineering and foster an intuition for meaningful discussions with structural engineers.

The course was designed to be very hands-on. Every week, the 10 students each created their own structural system model to load and test until it failed. Mei advocates this practical learning environment: “Students develop structural understanding and learn a lot when things break. Seeing the students’ progression on a weekly basis has been very rewarding.”

One of her architecture students said he learned more in 5 weeks about structures (by breaking things) than in any of his other engineering-related classes. Mei states, “I enjoy stimulating architecture, which is why I decided to teach future architects about structural engineering. I want to see their trends and help them develop structural intuition. I believe this will foster appreciation and communication between architects and engineers so they understand why we do what we do.”

Mei will be teaching ARH 420 at AAU again in Fall 2013.

UC Berkeley California Memorial Stadium

Forell/Elsesser’s seismic upgrade to the UC Berkeley California Memorial Stadium has received numerous awards this spring including:

• The Honor Award for SCUP/AIA-CAE Excellence in Architecture for Restoration/Preservation. The Society for College and University Planning (SCUP) holds this award program yearly and showcases eight categories of Excellence.
• The AISC 2013 IDEAS² $15-$75 Million Merit Award for Innovative Design in Engineering and Architecture with Structural Steel for the new construction of the Press Box. An article about the project will be featured in the May issue of Modern Steel Construction magazine.
• The Structural Engineers Association of Northern California 2013 Excellence in Structural Engineering Award for the Landmark Category. SEAONC recognizes outstanding achievement and excellence in structural engineering practice and project work in eight categories. Awarded projects and their recipients serve as models of excellence in structural engineering representing California Structural Engineers.
• The Berkeley Design Advocates Biennial Award for Design Excellence.

For a case study on our innovative seismic solutions, please visit the Memorial Stadium Case Study page. For general information on the project, visit our Memorial Stadium Project page. HNTB and STUDIOS reprized their same roles for the adjacent Simpson Student-Athlete High Performance Center.

The design team for this project included HNTB as Architect of Record and STUDIOS as Associate Architect. Webcor Builders was the General Contractor.

UC Berkeley, Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive

Forell/Elsesser Project Manager, Geoff Bomba, and the design team were interviewed by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Civil Engineering Magazine about UC Berkeley’s 65,000 sf adaptive reuse seismic upgrade and 30,000 sf new addition. This $100 million project was designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro and EHDD Architecture.

The Forell/Elsesser team includes Mason Walters, Geoff Bomba, Steve Patton, Masume Mansouri Dana, and Shaun Peppers.

For Forell’s project page, visit UC Berkeley BAM/PFA.
For current project information, please visit DSR’s BAM/PFA.

UC Berkeley, Berkeley Museum of Art & Pacific Film Archive

Forell/Elsesser provides in-house Revit education, in the form of RevitAddict tutorials, about once a month to our staff. We post these tutorials on YouTube and have +2,000 followers with more than 412,600 views. Check out our tutorials on the YouTube RevitAddict page.

• RevitAddict Wall Tutorials
• RevitAddict Columns & Braces Tutorials
• RevitAddict Foundations
• RevitAddict Floors
• RevitAddict Families & Complex Geometry
• RevitAddict Shared Coordinates
• Revit Addict Steel Beams & Beam Systems
• RevitAddict Concrete Beams & Beam Systems
• RevitAddict Family Basics
• RevitAddict Quick Tips & Tricks

These tutorials are hosted by Shaun Peppers, our BIM/CAD Manager.

Taube-Koret Campus for Jewish Life

Forell/Elsesser’s Taube Koret Campus for Jewish Life Moldaw Residences project was listed in RCLCO’s March 2013 report.

RCLCO’s “Best Practices Report” on Innovative Intergenerational Senior Housing Projects was triggered by the fact that individuals aged 70 and over will comprise 10% of the U.S. population by 2017. Intergenerational infill campus housing projects is a notable trend that is on the rise.

For more information on Forell’s senior housing experience, please visit our Multi-Family Residential page.

SFJAZZ Center, Rendering Courtsey of Mark Cavagnero Associates, 2012

On Wednesday, March 20th at the Westin St. Francis, Forell/Elsesser projects were honored as part of the San Francisco Business Times’ Real Estate Deals of the Year ceremony.

We are honored to have been a part of the teams for:

• UC Berkeley California Memorial Stadium
• City College of San Francsico Chinatown/North Beach Campus
• SFJAZZ Center
• BioMarin Tenant Improvement

Congratulations to the developers and brokers involved on these great projects!
For a full list of finalists, visit the San Francisco Business Times. Here’s a list and slideshow of the winners.

City College of San Francisco Chinatown / North Beach Campus