Ray and Dagmar Dolby Regeneration Medicine Building - San Francisco, CA - Great Buildings of the World on Waymarking.com

The research center is tucked behind UCSF’s hospital on a sliver of ground so steep that constructing anything on it seems like impossible folly. The location was chosen because it was the last piece of available land on the dense urban campus. With the awareness that San Francisco can sustain some severe earthquakes, it is hard to look at this building and wonder about it's seismic worthiness. This 600 foot long steel space frame platform stretches ribbon-like up the hillside of Mt Sutro.

Cast-in-place concrete piers are sunk 45 to 80 feet deep into the earth. They are organized in two linear rows and act as the building’s foundation. Eight uplift restraints are located on top of piers on the uphill side, and the steel frame is supported by friction pendulum seismic isolators and held down by tension isolators.

From the NCSEA award description (PDF):

This new 70,000 square-foot facility, located on a steep hillside, houses 25 Principal Investigators and their teams studying tissue development and cell-based approaches to treating disease. The design-build team was challenged to design and construct this serpentine building supported on a triangular space frame, perched on a steep, unstable hill. The structure, which is supported on “Triple” Friction Pendulum isolation bearings capable of translating up to 26 inches, was analyzed using non-linear response history analyses to verify that the superstructure would remain essentially elastic during an MCE event, and to assess the tendency of the structure to uplift at the uphill edge. Through the use of Integrated Project Delivery techniques, the building was completed in the fall of 2010, just two-and- one-half years after the design-build contract was awarded. Forell/Elsesser Engineers was the engineer of record utilizing a design based on the “bridging” concept drawings developed by Nabih Youssef & Associates. The bridging team served as Peer reviewers during the design-build process.

City, State or City, Country: San Francisco, California Year Built: 2010 Architect: Rafael Viñoly Webpage from GreatBuildings.com or other approved listing: [Web Link] Other website with more information about building: [Web Link]

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