Palo Alto Visa Building Eccentric BRB
Palo Alto, CA · Commercial · Client: Visa
Project details
Design of the first-ever eccentric buckling-restrained brace frame to meet architectural and structural performance goals.
ZFA Structural Engineers
The best solutions begin with the right people asking the right questions.
About the firm
With nearly 100 professionals across five offices, ZFA delivers structural engineering for new construction, renovation, seismic evaluation, historic structural rehabilitation, and post-disaster assessment. ZFA Structural Engineers serves school districts, municipal jurisdictions, and state institutions, holding professional engineering licenses across 20 states.
- Established
- 1974
- Team
- Small
- Firm type
- Structural Engineering · Forensic Engineering
People
Kevin ZuccoExecutive Principal
Mark A. MooreExecutive Principal
Capabilities
Structural Design
Service websiteComprehensive structural design for diverse building materials and complex structural geometries.
- Standard Materials Structural Design
Structural design for steel, concrete, wood, and masonry structures.
- Innovative Materials Design
Engineering for mass timber (CLT, NLT), rammed earth, ICF, and glass.
- Complex Geometries & Specialty Structures
Design for sculptures, solar arrays, and fabric tension structures.
Seismic Engineering & Advanced Analysis
Service websiteSophisticated analysis and engineering to ensure structures are resilient to seismic demands.
- Seismic Evaluation & Retrofit
Assessment and retrofitting of existing buildings to meet current seismic standards.
- Advanced Structural Analysis
Nonlinear static (pushover) and nonlinear dynamic analysis for complex engineering challenges.
Conceptual Design & Feasibility
Service websiteEarly stage services that help guide project development and optimize budgets.
- Early Project Guidance
Providing conceptual structural options during early design phases.
- Value Engineering & Feasibility Studies
Analyzing structural viability and identifying cost-efficiency opportunities.
Historic Structural Rehabilitation
Service websitePreserving and strengthening historic assets while analyzing historical construction materials.
Post-Disaster & Emergency Structural Assessment
Service websiteRapid structural damage evaluation and safety screening following earthquakes and other hazard events.
Peer Review & Plan Check
Service websiteThird-party technical verification and regulatory compliance reviews, including OSHPD and DSA services.
Industries
Education · Government · Healthcare · Historic Preservation · Justice & Corrections · Commercial · Religious · Residential
Projects
85 Bluxome Resilient Design
San Francisco, CA · Commercial
Project details
Structural engineering and seismic design for San Francisco's first USRC-rated commercial building, maximizing leasable area and resilience.
Cathedral Parish of Saint Eugene Baldacchino Sculpture Preservation
Santa Rosa, CA · Religious · 2014 · Client: Cathedral Parish of Saint Eugene
Project details
Preserving a century-old, 80,000-pound antique Baldacchino marble sculpture in a high-seismic zone using an innovative small-scale base isolation technique.
Proof Load Testing of Historic Wood Framing
Historic Preservation
Project details
Structural assessment and unconventional proof load testing of existing wood framing to preserve historic materials in a century-old Naval building.