Publications and Downloads

  • Propped Shear Walls
    Combining Steel Braces and Concrete Shear Walls for
    Seismic Strengthening of Existing Buildings
    by John Wolfe, David Mar, and Steven Tipping
    Combining friction damping with the best aspects of steel braces and concrete shear walls, this structural system creates a high-performance lateral bracing system that is less expensive and less architecturally intrusive than either steel braced frames or concrete shear walls acting alone. The I. Magnin Building in Oakland, CA, is one of 20 projects so far retrofitted using this system.
    Modern Steel Construction magazine
    January 2001 (190KB PDF)

  • Story Isolation
    A New High-Performance Seismic Technology
    by David Mar and Steven Tipping
    The authors introduce the Story Isolation System, which allows structural designers unprecedented control over a building's response to earthquakes by allowing the designer to set the period and level of damping.
    9th U.S.-Japan Workshop on the Improvement of Structural Design and Construction Practices
    August 2000 (updated December 2002) (1704KB PDF see note below!)

  • Straw-Bale Shear Wall Test Specimens
    by Tipping Mar + associates for the Ecological Building Network
    Construction details for six test specimens used in the straw-bale shear wall tests. Adobe Reader 6 is recommended for its superior zooming capability, but any version of Adobe Acrobat will work.
    February 2003 (805KB PDF)

  • A Building Within a Building
    San Francisco's Historic Pacific Union Building
    Gets a Facelift From the Inside Out
    by David Mar
    An existing tightly spaced column grid on the lower floors was almost completely replaced with a new grid of widely spaced columns, while the column grid on the upper floors was untouched. At the same time, the brittle and aging building was provided with a structural system capable of resisting large earthquakes
    Structure Magazine
    Fall 1998 (3550KB PDF see note below!)

  • Performance-Based Seismic Upgrade of a 14-Story Suspended Slab Building Using State-of-the-Art Analysis and Construction Techniques
    by David Mar and Leo Panian
    The project consisted of a voluntary seismic upgrade of an existing fourteen-story building constructed in 1969. The gravity system of the existing structure includes a patented tension-hanger suspended floor system that is supported from the top of twin concrete tower cores.
    (1900KB PDF see note below!)

  • Capacity Design of a Seismic Retrofit for an Historic High-Rise Building Using Practical Analytical Methods
    by David Mar and Leo Panian
    The paper presents an overview of analysis methodologies used for a seismic rehabilitation of One Market Street, an historic high-rise building.
    (2020KB PDF see note below!)

  • Bayview Federal Bank: A Low-Impact Seismic Upgrade using Fiberglass Wraps and Pin Piles
    by Brendan Beazley and David Mar
    The paper describes a voluntary seismic upgrade for an unusual fifteen story office building with floors suspended from two concrete cores.
    (1190KB PDF see note below!)

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