In season three of ArchitectChats, we are continuing our Dissecting the Code series, which highlights leaders and initiatives in the AEC profession that are ensuring the structures that we design meet the evolving demands of today’s world.
Before the building community caught wind of the sinking and tilting of the Millennium Tower in San Francisco, many were acutely aware of the vulnerability of cities nationwide to earthquakes. From New England to the Pacific Northwest, and from the West to the South, nearly every region is at risk for natural and human-induced earthquakes, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
With a 72 percent chance of experiencing an earthquake with a 6.7 magnitude or greater in the next 15 years, the city and county of San Francisco recently commissioned a study to determine how to safeguard the its tall buildings from earthquakes, and how to position them for recovery post-disaster. On Oct. 4, the nonprofit Applied Technology Council released the “Tall Buildings Safety Strategy,” complete with 16 recommendations.
Danielle Mieler, PE
In this episode, Danielle Mieler, principal resilience analyst at San Francisco’s Office of Resiliency and Capital Planning (ORCP) and vice president of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, in Oakland, Calif., walks through the salient takeaways and recommendations from the Tall Building Safety Strategy. The unprecedented report, Mieler says, holds relevance for all cities at risk of seismic events that with tall buildings (defined in this particular study as structures 240 feet or taller).
San Francisco’s ORCP was due to receive a final report on Dec. 14, after this episode was recorded. Mieler says the report will be released at San Francisco’s Building Inspection Commission’s Dec. 19 hearing and to the public at ORCP’s OneSF website.
Episode 27: Dissecting the Code, Part 8 – Tall Buildings Get a Safety Check for Seismic Risk, featuring Danielle Mieler, principal resilience analyst at San Francisco’s Office of Resiliency and Capital Planning and vice president of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, is also available on SoundCloud and on iTunes.
This episode of ArchitectChats was brought to you by the ICC Evaluation Service, and produced by Wanda Lau, Lauren Honesty, and Henrietta Biayemi.
Correction: The podcast intro should say that the U.S. Geological Survey expects San Francisco to experience a major earthquake by 2033.
