As structural engineers, a successful historic building renovation is truly dependent on our partnerships with the architect, contractor, and owner.  Our history with both Tonkin Architecture and the RAFN Company began over 30 years ago so we all breathed a collective sigh of relief knowing that the team had the experience to take on this challenging restoration. 

As you can imagine, Building 9 had its fair share of unforeseen conditions. And at one point during construction, a literal river ran through the basement with a little waterfall of groundwater. Through it all, the communications from the design and construction team showed their experience and wherewithal. No hysterical phone calls or urgent emails peppered with ASAPs. The Superintendent would just call up and nonchalantly say, “Hey, guess what?”  Not because any of us minimized the magnitude of the situation, but because our minds were already racing on possible solutions and coordinating things that would be impacted by this discovery. As the structural engineer, it is so helpful having the contractor proactively bringing ideas to the table so we can work with them to solve the problem as quickly as possible while minimizing cost impact.  Our easy collaboration with both contractors and architects is a cornerstone of ILGSE.

Building 9 was originally constructed in phases between 1929 and 1944 and is listed on the National Register for Historic Places. The 3-story, 224,000SF, irregular structure was a combination of building types. At the north wing, there were unreinforced masonry exterior bearing walls with a concrete framed floor system while the south wing was a typical concrete frame building with brick veneer over an atypical, single 9” thick wythe of a solid, very hard, fired brick. The center section of the building was only one story above grade and had existing structural steel trusses.  The main floor of the center section was the typical concrete floor construction found in the other wings. The entire building was supported on conventional concrete footings that bear on native soils.  Along with the retrofit concrete shear walls and steel brace frames described above, we also introduced  seismic gaps at each side of the building’s center section to provide separation between the two larger housing wings and the single-story center section.

This historic renovation created 148 affordable housing units in the north and south wings, while the center wing houses an early education center as well as a neighborhood health clinic. The impact that the adaptive reuse of this building has on the community cannot be understated. Mercy Magnuson Place will be home to families and continue to serve the greater community for decades to come.