Miyamoto designed an innovative seismic retrofit solution by adding 1,200,000 pounds of steel mass at the roof cavity supported by base isolators and dampers, creating a tuned-mass damper to reduce seismic demand. This design eliminated the need for a conventional seismic upgrade, preserved the historical fabric of the building, and allowed the internal restaurant to remain operational during the retrofit. Advanced analyses and the latest engineering technologies were used to implement a cost-effective and elegant seismic retrofit solution. This high-performance earthquake engineering approach saved the airport an estimated $4 million in construction costs, by not using traditional seismic retrofit solutions. Miyamoto was the expert structural consultant to VCA Engineers for this project.
