For 10 years, SCEC has been the coordinating organization in southern California for earthquake science, and through its outreach programs has advocated actions which make buildings more resistant to damage due to earthquakes. Now, as SCEC prepares for its own future, the building which has housed the SCEC administration and outreach offices (USC's North Science Hall) is being renovated -- and retrofitted to withstand earthquake shaking for the first time since it was built in 1928. While the south side of Science Hall was thoroughly remodeled in the 1980's, North Science has had only intermittent changes since its construction. In mid-May, SCEC staff relocated to South Science Hall for the summer.

Scroll down for a photo essay showing progress of the retrofit and renovation. UPDATED 9/5/01

A major part of the work being done this summer is reinforcing and stabilizing the building against future earthquakes. The concrete frame structural system was designed without any shear walls that meet modern requirements, so the challenge to the architects and engineers was to design a new structural system that would resist lateral forces without destroying the original exterior masonry walls or restricting interior space planning flexibility. And all of the work has to be completed during the fifteen week summer vacation period. The structural firm overseeing the project is Saiful/Bouquet (Saiful Islam, Engineer of Record, Jim Pearson - Associate).

The main element of the design is a pair of concrete "shear tubes" to be constructed within two corners of the original building courtyard. Each of these tubes is a hollow concrete structure measuring approximately 12' x 14' and will extend from the building footings to the fourth floor. These tubes are to be anchored into the concrete frame at each floor level with concrete drag struts placed alongside existing beams. Between the shear tubes, a new elevator shaft will be constructed, serving all floors. Altogether, the new construction fills in approximately 40% of the courtyard, but allows work to proceed much faster and with less damage to the historical features of the building than a more traditional strengthening of existing walls.

Placing the shear-resisting elements in the center of the building, however, creates the possibility that the building would be damaged by rocking under the influence of vertical motion during an earthquake. To counter this possibility, 50' deep "micropiles" are being drilled through the building foundations around the perimeter of the courtyard. Drilling equipment has been craned into the courtyard and will be craned out when the piles are complete.

This is certainly great news for SCEC staff who have worked with an eye on which desk to dive under for 10 years. In addition to the seismic strengthening, an extensive renovation of the basement and first floors of North Science will provide SCEC and the USC Earth Science Department with much more space than in the previous configuration. SCEC will occupy over 3/4 of the first floor (three times the space as before), and space in the basement will be used for laboratories and classrooms for the Earth Sciences Department. The architectural firm for the renovation is Lundstrom Architects (Jon Lundstrom, Architect of Record, Luis Aguilar, Rod Butterfield - Associates).

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	May 4 / May 11	May 31 / June 5	June 13 / June 19	Aug 3	Sept. 5
SCI 166 (Former SCEC Admin. office and conference room, future SCEC Admin, Outreach, and Director offices and conference room)
SCI 165 (Former SCEC Outreach offices, future Media Center)
Hallways, 1st floor
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	May 4 / May 11	May 31 / June 5	June 13 / June 19	Aug 3	Sept. 5
West classrooms (Future student, post doc, and Information Techology offices)
West classrooms (Future Computer Lab)
Basement
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	May 4 / May 11	May 31 / June 5	June 13 / June 19	Aug 3	Sept. 5
Courtyard