This project consisted of taking over two floors in an existing 18-story steel moment frame building to be used as a telecom switch facility. The tenant and building owner elected to explore ways to mitigate building damage resulting from a local seismic event for both improved performance of the overall building and improved performance of the floors possessing the switch equipment. Additionally, an interstitial space was added between the second and third floors to support electrical conduits and UPS systems. 

PARADIGM introduced the concept of passive energy dissipation to mitigate torsional and horizontal irregularities in the building, reduce building displacement and therefore reducing demands on the upper floors. This solution offered the building owner a retrofit scheme, which had minimal structural impacts on the upper floors, no impact on the foundation and allowed the building to meet the performance objectives desired by the client.