1San Francisco’s many piers are a big part of the city’s vibrant heritage. In this project, the original substructure and buildings were constructed around 1910 – with more than a hundred years of the harsh marine environment severely degrading the pier. Our work included the rehabilitation of the existing wharf and pier substructure and existing bulkhead buildings, with the final result including Class A commercial office space and new waterfront restaurants. The site was within a National Historic District, and the design needed to comply with the Secretary of the Interior’s standards for the rehabilitation of landmark structures.  This required the preservation of the primary contributing historic fabric, including the Embarcadero façade and terrazzo tiled interior floors.

2The substructure was significantly degraded from its exposure to the aggressive marine environment, requiring major repairs. Holmes Consulting undertook a full seismic retrofit of the pier wharf and building structures using non-linear time history analysis, isolating the key points of weakness. Then, applying performance based design, we were able to minimise the impact on the historic fabric by locating the strengthening elements in the less historic and noticeable parts of the structure.