Hohbach-Lewin has provided structural engineering services for over 10 Million SF of retail space. For retail buildings, utilizing combinations of the appropriate global lateral force resisting systems will result in the lightest over all seismic demands on affected corollary systems (diaphragms, collectors, foundations, etc.) and reduce the overall cost of the structural system. It is important to consider all possibilities at the onset of the structural design to understand the collateral ramifications of those decisions – those ramifications are not always obvious. Architecture and structure need to be integrated as much and as early as possible in order to achieve optimized solutions that still allow for the architectural complications inherent in retail buildings.