History

The Los Angeles Tall Buildings Structural Design Council (LATBSDC) was formed in 1988 with the inspiration and leadership of Dr. Gary Hart, principals of Los Angeles based structural engineering firms, and building officials from the City of Los Angeles. The founding members had a common interest in advancing the seismic designs of tall buildings, improving the Los Angeles Building Department’s seismic requirements for tall buildings, incorporating university research in the design process, and recognizing significant designs of tall buildings.

Starting in 1989, the LATBSDC has organized an annual meeting with a program focused on all aspects of the design and construction of tall buildings including geotechnical, architectural, and structural. The development of design requirements, research, and case studies provided the audience with topics of emerging importance. Through reconnaissance and research, the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, the 1999 Chi-Chi Taiwan Earthquake, the 2010 Chile Earthquake, and the 2011 Christchurch New Zealand Earthquakes were presented as learning exercises for the performance of tall buildings.

With the need for performance-based design requirements for tall buildings, the LATBSDC, under the guidance and leadership of Dr. Farzad Naeim, developed “An Alternate Procedure for Seismic Analysis and Design of Tall Buildings Located in the Los Angeles Region” in 2005. This guideline is updated yearly and re-issued in a three-year cycle. Later editions were adopted by the Department of Building and Safety, City of Los Angeles, as an alternate to the building code. The LATBSDC is currently working on a similar guidelines for the evaluation and seismic retrofits for existing tall buildings.