The 35th Annual Conference on Deep Foundations will be taking place from October 13 through 15 in Hollywood. Tipping Mar Associate Leo Panian will be giving a talk entitled "Seismic Design of Micropile Foundation Systems" on the afternoon of the 13th. Click here for more information and to register.

The LEED Platinum-certified Marin Country Day School is the subject of a blog by EHDD Architecture in an effort to answer the questions "Can high design also be environmentally responsible? Can a green building represent the best of both architecture and sustainability?" MCDS is the latest in Tipping Mar's high-performance learning-environment projects with EHDD.

Oakland's Lancaster Lofts, a Tipping Mar project with Zeta Communities and architect Dan Smith, will be one of two innovative net-zero energy case studies presented at AIA San Francisco on August 31 at 5:30pm.

The LEED Platinum-designed project strives to continue the pattern of urban revitalization in the neighborhood while creating a sustainable and affordable net-zero energy, prefabricated house. The primary strategy involved building a high performance, tight enclosure to reduce the energy loads by about 45 percent. Renewable energy sources (PV) were then added to compensate for the remaining energy load requirements. (The event at AIA is free of charge.)

The AIACC Awards 2010 have been announced, and Novato's Performace Capture Studio is a winner of the Honor Award in Interior Architecture. Transforming two huge airline hangars on a former Coast Guard base, this massive (120,000 sf) internal project was designed for an intensely collaborative and highly creative 3D film studio and office environment. Tipping Mar provided structural engineering services for the project, working with Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects and Kanner Architects.

SF Chronicle's John King highlights David Baker + Partners projects that serve society and the environment. H2Hotel, in Healdsburg, CA, is just one of many sustainable projects in Tipping Mar's long history with DBP. Others include Pacific Cannery Lofts in Oakland, Blue Star Corner in Emeryville, the Union City BART TOD, and ClockTower Lofts in San Francisco.

BRIDGE Housing Corp., KTGY Group Inc. Architecture and Planning, and Segue Construction have completed Trestle Glen, a transit-oriented, eco- and pedestrian-friendly apartment community located in an unincorporated area of San Mateo County, adjacent to the Colma BART Station. Tipping Mar provided structural engineering services for this $44.5 million sustainably designed project.

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Building was recognized at the AIA San Francisco's 2010 Design Awards, winning two Citation Awards for Integrated Project Delivery and for Unbuilt Design. The original structural design described a twelve-story building that featured a structural-steel moment frame and supplementary viscous dampers to meet the performance mandate of Immediate Occupancy after a design basis earthquake (DBE). Looking for a more cost-effective scheme, the contractor (Webcor Builders) challenged Tipping Mar to value engineer and redesign the building. Our resulting concrete scheme, with vertically post-tensioned concrete cores for the lateral system, resulted in a project savings of $10 million; enabled the project team to add another floor to the building; and met the Immediate Occupancy performance mandate. KMD Architects leads the design team.

Last night, at an awards ceremony at the City Club of San Francisco, Tipping Mar received the 2010 Excellence in Structural Engineering Award in the sustainable design category from the Structural Engineers Association of Northern California (SEAONC) for the David Brower Center. Situated in downtown Berkeley within 0.6 miles of the Hayward Fault, the Daniel Solomon-designed Brower Center provides offices and conference space for environmental advocacy and nonprofit groups. The project, named after one of the preeminent environmentalists of the twentieth century, incorporates many features of sustainable design in its architectural, structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and lighting systems and is expected to be LEED-Platinum certified.

The Marin Country Day School, in the second phase of the MCDS master plan, received LEED Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council this past April. Designed by EHDD Architecture, in collaboration with Tipping Mar, Stantec Consulting, Sherwood Design Engineers, and CMG Landscape Architecture, the buildings include a new 29,000 sq. ft. Learning Resource Center with art studios, technology labs, and high-performance classrooms. It is the first zero-energy classroom building in North America. (The first phase of the project is LEED-Gold certified.)