Structural evaluation is one the most important aspects of the structural engineering profession, providing the requisite information to building owners, tenants, and other stake holders such as lenders to make informed decisions about seismic risk and ultimately investment decisions.

Hohbach-Lewin has provided 1000’s of structural evaluations for buildings of all shapes, sizes and construction types. Utilizing many different evaluation methodologies including, ASCE 41, Thiel-Zsutty, FEMA P-58, and FEMA P-807 coupled with conducting different levels of seismic analyses, Hohbach-Lewin can provide seismic performance prediction in the form of Scenario Expected Losses (SEL), devise retrofit schemes to increase a buildings seismic performance, and generate the associated estimated retrofit costs.

Seismic retrofitting of vulnerable structures is critical to decreasing risk to the lives and assets of the building’s occupants, the continuity of their work, and the resiliency of the community including recovery time. Hohbach-Lewin has provided construction documents for innumerable seismic retrofits. Often more difficult than ground up construction projects, the process of designing a seismic retrofit for a building is a true art that requires creativity, ingenuity, and collaboration.

Hohbach-Lewin has provided structural engineering services to retrofit older steel office buildings, non-ductile concrete structures, unreinforced masonry buildings, concrete tilt-up structures, and many other building types. Addressing torsional and vertical irregularities, increasing in plane strength by the addition of new vertical lateral force resisting elements or strengthening existing ones, increasing insufficient diaphragm strengths, and increasing concrete ductility through the use of fiber reinforced polymers (FRP) are all solutions we have implemented in the past. These retrofits have to be woven into the existing framework of the buildings architecture to ensure the end product provides the required seismic performance level while not compromising the architecture of the structure which are often iconic or historic buildings.