Ray and Dagmar Dolby Regeneration Medicine Building - San Francisco, CA
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member DougK
N 37° 45.717 W 122° 27.553
10S E 547632 N 4179541
The Ray and Dagmar Dolby Regeneration Medicine Building was awarded the outstanding project for new buildings over $100 million in 2011 by the NCSEA. It is a research facility that is part of UC San Francisco, located on the hillside of Mt. Sutro.
Waymark Code: WMFWC1
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 12/07/2012
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member lumbricus
Views: 7

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]

Visit Instructions:
Submit a photo you have taken of the building or an interesting detail of the building. (No GPS photos wanted) If you have additional information about the building please add it to your visit log.
Search for...
Geocaching.com Google Map
Google Maps
MapQuest
Bing Maps
Nearest Waymarks
Nearest Great Buildings of the World
Nearest Geocaches
Create a scavenger hunt using this waymark as the center point
Recent Visits/Logs:
There are no logs for this waymark yet.