Capitol Square Office Building and Parking Structure Renovation

Sacramento, CA

In downtown areas it is fairly commonplace to demolish existing buildings to make room for new high rise towers. In the case of the Capitol Square office building, rather than demolish an existing parking structure at the site, it was notched and a new 24-story tower was built adjacent to it. New shotcrete walls were added to stabilize the parking structure at the seismic separation between it and the new high-rise moment frame tower. To minimize beam depth and maximize openness at the perimeter, the tower frames were located one bay in from the perimeter essentially creating a rectangular “core” frame. Due to the variable depths of the gravel bearing strata that is used to support high rises in downtown Sacramento, ductile ties in the pile foundation system accommodate up to ten feet of cut-off. Power and data for the open office areas run through a metal electrified cellular deck with concrete topping to allow for maximum flexibility without the use of an access floor system.