At its recent annual meeting in Victoria, British Columbia, the Western States Seismic Policy Council awarded the California Seismic Safety Commission its Overall Excellence and New Technology Award for the recently released ATC-40 report, SEISMIC EVALUATION AND RETROFIT OF CONCRETE BUILDINGS. Prepared by the Applied Technology Council under the Commission's Proposition 122 Retrofit Practices Improvement Program, the 2-volume, 612-page, report provides a state-of-the-art methodology for the seismic evaluation and retrofit of concrete buildings.

Accepting the award on behalf of the Commission and the Applied Technology Council (ATC) was Mr. Craig Comartin, ATC Senior Structural Consultant and ATC-40 Project Principal Investigator (PI). In his brief acceptance speech, Mr. Comartin commended the Commission, its staff, and the 18-person consulting team who produced the report for ATC: Richard Niewiarowski (Co-PI and Project Director), Christopher Rojahn (Senior Advisor), Sigmund Freeman, Sunil Gupta, Thomas Hale, Ronald Hamburger, William Holmes, Charles Kircher, Marshall Lew, Gregory Luth, Geoffrey Martin, Lelio Mehia, Jack Moehle, Yoshi Moriwaki, Maurice Power, Wendy Rule, Thomas Sabol, Gail Shea, and Nabih Youssef.

The report was recognized for its clear, concise, and beautifully formatted and illustrated descriptions of new and emerging technologies for evaluation and retrofit of older concrete buildings. Making the report doubly valuable is the fact that the methods are applicable to most building types (i.e., not only concrete buildings). Specific guidance is provided on performance objectives, seismic hazard, determination of deficiencies, retrofit strategies, quality assurance procedures, nonlinear static analysis procedures, modeling rules, foundation effects, response limits, and nonstructural components.
Copies of the report can be obtained from the Applied Technology Council (555 Twin Dolphin Drive, Suite 550, Redwood City, California 94065; Telephone, 650/595-1542; Fax, 650/593-2320).; E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The Applied Technology Council (ATC) is pleased to announce that the preliminary program has been set for the upcoming ATC-29-1 Seminar on Seismic Design, Retrofit, and Performance of Nonstructural Components, to be held January 22-23, 1998 in San Francisco. The seminar program has been developed for design professionals, regulators, researchers, manufacturers and contractors, insurers, owners, and facility managers. More than 40 papers will be presented on the following topics:

• Observed performance in recent earthquakes;
• Seismic design codes, standards, and procedures for commercial and institutional buildings;
• Seismic design issues relating to industrial and hazardous building facilities;
• Design, analysis, and testing; and
• Seismic evaluation and rehabilitation of conventional, hospital, and other essential facilities

Location. The Seminar will be held at the Radisson Miyako Hotel in the Japan Center, 1625 Post Street, San Francisco, California.

Proceedings. Papers presented at the seminar will be published in the seminar Proceedings, which will be available at the start of the seminar.

Registration Information. The seminar registration fee is $160 ($128 for ATC Subscribers) and includes the seminar Proceedings, luncheons, and coffee breaks. A late fee of $20 will be imposed on registrations postmarked after January 15, 1998. Persons interested in registering for the seminar should contact the Applied Technology Council, 555 Twin Dolphin Drive, Suite 550, Redwood City, California 94065 (Phone: 650/595-1542; Fax: 650/593-2320). Seminar information and registration materials are also available on ATC's web site: www.atcouncil.org.

Accommodation Information. A block of sleeping rooms will be held at the Radisson Miyako Hotel until January 2, 1998 at a special negotiated rate of $149.00 per night (single or double occupancy). To reserve a room, contact the reservations department at 800/333-3333 and identify yourself as a member of the "Applied Technology Council" group to guarantee the special rate. Reservations made after January 2 cannot be guaranteed the negotiated rate.

Parking is available below the hotel at a rate of $10.00 per day.

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The Applied Technology Council (ATC) is pleased to announce the ATC-29-1 Seminar on Seismic Design, Retrofit, and Performance of Nonstructural Components, the second in a series of seminars on this subject first held in October 1990. The Seminar will focus on architectural, electrical, and mechanical components and their supports in buildings, hospitals and other essential facilities, and hazardous material and industrial facilities. It will be held January 22-23, 1998 in San Francisco at a site to be announced later. The purpose of the 2-day Seminar is to present current research, practice, and informed thinking pertinent to seismic design, retrofit, and performance of nonstructural components.

The Seminar program has been developed for design professionals, regulators, researchers, manufacturers and contractors, insurers, owners, and facility managers. The following sessions are planned: (1) Current and Proposed Codes and Regulations; (2) Commercial and Institutional Buildings; (3) Hospitals and Other Essential Facilities; and (4) Hazardous Material and Industrial Facilities. Themes and topics to be addressed include:

• Code implementation issues, including qualification
• Observed or expected performance
• Analytical and experimental investigations
• Evaluation and retrofit strategies and guidelines
• Case studies / examples for new or retrofit design.

The Seminar Steering Committee is seeking papers pertaining to the above themes, sessions, and topics. Verbal presentations are planned but the Steering Committee is also considering the possibility of including poster papers. Persons wishing to present a paper at the Seminar are requested to submit an abstract of their paper to ATC on or before September 15, 1997. Abstracts should be one page, typewritten (single spaced) and not more than 250 words in length. Please indicate in the upper right corner of the abstract the format of presentation preferred (verbal or poster). Abstracts should be submitted to: ATC-29-1 Project, Applied Technology Council, 555 Twin Dolphin Drive, Suite 550, Redwood City, CA 94065; Fax: 415/593-2320.

Authors of accepted abstracts will be notified by October 1, 1997. Written versions of papers presented at the Seminar, not to exceed 14 pages in length, will be due December 15, 1997 in order to publish the Seminar Proceedings for the opening day of the Seminar.

An exhibition space is planned and exhibits are encouraged.

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