On Saturday, November 17th, SOM’s Abel Diaz spoke at the XXI National Conference on Structural Engineering in Campeche, Mexico. Attended by international researchers, practitioners, and professors, the conference is considered Mexico’s annual landmark engineering event.
Diaz delivered a Spanish-language presentation titled “Hacia una transición desde seguridad estructural a comunidades resilientes: una comparativa de tendencias en criterios de diseño a nivel internacional” (“From Structural Safety to Community Resilience: Trends in Design Criteria from an International Perspective”). He discussed state-of-the-art, performance-based design, and the practical application of seismic resilient criteria, calling on structural engineers to upgrade performance objectives in the international building standards in order to improve the resiliency of communities in areas at risk of seismic events.
Diaz, an Associate Director based in SOM’s Los Angeles office, presented various SOM projects as case studies. These included the New United States Courthouse in Los Angeles, 500 Folsom, Long Beach Civic Center, and the LACMA Building for the Permanent Collection.
Diaz’s participation in the conference is part of an ongoing mission to help communities affected by the 2017 Puebla-Morelos earthquake. The earthquake, which struck on September 19th, killed more than 200 people and led to the collapse of more than 50 structures in Mexico City. SOM sent a reconnaissance team to Mexico City immediately following the event, and has been involved in multiple conferences and symposia on the subject since then.