The Long Beach Civic Center City Hall & Port Headquarters has received the 2021 Award of Excellence in New Construction from the Structural Engineers Association of Southern California (SEAOSC). The annual program recognizes outstanding achievement and excellence in structural engineering design.
The Long Beach City Hall and Port Headquarters building are the defining elements of the Long Beach Civic Center Master Plan. SOM designed the master plan to revitalize 22 acres of the city’s downtown area by creating a vibrant, mixed-use district and reactivating the historic Lincoln Park. The new City Hall and Port Headquarters are designed to symbolize transparency and accessibility in both form and function. The project replaced seismically non-compliant structures with new civic buildings.
The vision for the new City Hall and Port Headquarters focuses on the community and the role that civic buildings play in cities. The unique challenge was to deliver a resilient project that not only serves as a catalyst for the redevelopment of downtown Long Beach but would also continue to operate at maximum cost efficiency and under extreme events. To address these challenges, the Structural Engineer of Record for the project comprised of Nabih Youssef Associates and SOM, with ARUP providing structural and business continuity peer review and Haselton Baker Risk Group providing consulting for business continuity. As a result of this approach and the team structure, an enhanced seismic performance—including forward-thinking re-occupancy and functionality goals—was cleverly engineered and designed for the two buildings.
The City Hall and Port Headquarters among other recipients were honored during the 2021 Virtual Safer Cities & EiSE Awards Program ceremony on June 2nd. All award winners will be considered as candidates for the Structural Engineers Association of California’s statewide competition.