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KPFF provides structural engineering services for projects that include:

Commercial and Retail Buildings

KPFF has provided civil and structural engineering services for the design of more than 50 major shopping mall and retail projects throughout the nation. These projects range in size from 50,000 to 2,000,000 square feet. We have also designed hundreds of smaller retail projects. Our broad experience with retail development has led to increased participation in the recent growth of remodeling work designed to upgrade or expand aging shopping malls.

A successful retail project requires a commitment to teamwork and communication, as well as a strong experience base on which to draw. KPFF provides all of these components as a proactive member of the design and construction team. The result is a site development plan or structural system which satisfies the client's goals and meets the requirements of the local jurisdiction.

Hotel Experience

KPFF Consulting Engineers has provided engineering services for all types of hotel and hospitality buildings including low-rise and high-rise buildings, as well as renovation of existing facilities. The breadth of our engineering expertise allows us to evaluate and compare alternative framing systems and construction materials for hotel projects. Our experience enables us to identify critical items early in the design process to help the design team develop a more efficient cost-effective project for our client. Key issues we identify early are interfaces between structural framing and mechanical, electrical, and plumbing requirements, as well as integration of mixed-use occupancy and parking requirements.

Hospitals and Healthcare Facilities

KPFF has provided structural engineering services for over 125 healthcare facilities in California, Washington, and Oregon. KPFF's healthcare design experience covers the full spectrum of building requirements for the healthcare industry, including replacement facilities, expansions, seismic evaluation, seismic upgrades and renovations, and medical office buildings for both privately and publicly financed facilities. Building types include hospitals, clinics, professional office buildings, critical care facilities, maternity wards, teaching centers, basic and applied research centers, laboratories, skilled nursing facilities, and parking garages.

Shopping Centers

KPFF has provided structural and/or civil design and construction services for more than 50 major shopping mall and retail projects located throughout the nation. We have extensive experience in the structural design of new retail projects ranging in size from 50,000-square feet to over 2 million square feet. KPFF's design experience with the retail development has allowed us to respond to the increase in remodeling work to upgrade aging shopping malls.

Higher Education Facilities

KPFF has provided structural and/or civil design and construction services for nearly 100 major building structures for universities and colleges throughout California, Oregon, and Washington. The types of buildings KPFF has engineered to service educational purposes include teaching and instructional buildings, laboratory facilities for basic and applied research, teaching hospitals, performing arts centers, libraries, museums, student union centers, student residence halls, athletic facilities, support service buildings, and parking structures.

Government and Correctional Facilities

KPFF has provided structural and/or civil design and construction services for many government projects in California, Oregon, and Washington. KPFF has designed more than 150 buildings occupied by local, state, regional, and federal government agencies. Our experience includes GSA projects, correctional facilities, courthouses, department of defense projects, city halls, police and fire stations, and parking facilities.

Industrial and High-Tech Facilities

KPFF has provided specialized structural engineering services for the design of a wide variety of facilities for laboratory and research use, including expansion and new construction of privately and publicly financed laboratories, clinics, basic and applied research facilities, hospital and medical facilities, and medical office buildings. In addition to primarily servicing applied and/or basic laboratory research and development needs, many of these structures were designed to accommodate special vibration isolation requirements, interstitial space and access flooring, hazardous material storage, incinerators, high-pressure air and gas requirements, special air handing facilities and fume hoods, and animal labs.

Justice Centers, Courthouses, and Government

KPFF has provided structural engineering services for more than 150 buildings occupied by local, state, regional, and federal government agencies. KPFF has designed over 2 million square feet of justice/courtroom/correctional facilities. These facilities include justice and courtroom facilities, administrative and office buildings, city halls, police precincts and fire stations, maximum- and minimum-security prisons and holding cells, public meeting rooms, and parking facilities. Our project experience ranges from large buildings such as the 560,000-square-foot Justice Center in Portland and the 480,000-square-foot correctional facility at Airway Heights, Washington, to smaller county courthouses, city halls, and police precincts.

High-Rise Buildings

KPFF has designed dozens of high-rise structures for both private and public owners. We also have been retained by other engineers to assist in optimizing their designs and for peer review. Our projects have included office structures, medical facilities, hotels, apartments and mixed-use facilities. We provide economical, buildable systems which respond to the owner's needs. Our projects are designed to meet the architect's design parameters as well as to provide space planning flexibility. In order to provide cost-efficient structural systems, we use advanced computer analyses, including our own internally developed programs. We often conduct wind tunnel and site specific seismic studies to determine the potential effects of wind and earthquakes on the structure and its components. We have developed many special framing concepts for both gravity and lateral force resisting systems. These include deep composite floor framing, shear link frames, eccentrically braced frames, and braced frames which elastically resist the seismic forces from the maximum credible earthquake. In addition to the design of the structural frame, we regularly design the structural cladding support, excavation shoring, and bracing of mechanical and electrical systems. We often find it economical to design and incorporate elements of the excavation shoring or cladding into the structural frame.

Low/Mid-Rise Office and Mixed-Use Projects

KPFF Consulting Engineers has provided engineering services for low and mid-rise office and mixed use projects in California, Oregon, and Washington. Our experience with all types of building materials and framing systems allows KPFF to present alternative framing schemes to our clients early in the design process, in order to achieve the best structural solution consistent with the architectural requirements of each project. KPFF's experience includes shear wall, ductile moment frame, and concentric and eccentric braced frame design. We understand key issues affecting the performance of architectural components in buildings and the integration of structural systems within mixed use projects.

Parking Garages

KPFF Consulting Engineers has provided engineering services for over 125 parking facilities in California, Oregon, and Washington. Our experience allows us to provide guidance in the layout of parking garage with particular attention to the integration of structural column layout where buildings are located above parking levels. KPFF's experience includes shear wall and moment frame design in reinforced, precast, and post-tensioned concrete. We also provide retrofit and rehabilitation of existing garages.

Residential Buildings

KPFF Consulting Engineers has provided engineering services for all types of residential buildings from custom single family homes to 40-story residential towers. The breadth of our engineering expertise allows us to evaluate and compare alternative framing systems and construction materials for residential projects. Our experience enables us to identify critical items early in the design process to help the design team develop a more efficient cost-effective project for our client. Key issues we identify early are interfaces between structural framing and mechanical, electrical, and plumbing requirements, as well as, integration of mixed-use occupancy and parking requirements.

Schools and Institutions

KPFF has provided structural engineering services in the design of more than 125 major building structures for universities and colleges throughout the West Coast. In addition to providing structural engineering design services under University open-end contracts, KPFF has designed libraries, laboratory facilities for basic and applied research, classroom and instructional laboratory buildings, lecture halls, student union centers, student residence halls, athletic facilities, museums, performing arts centers, and parking structures for both private and public institutions.

Seismic Evaluation/Renovation and Facilities Asses

Structural engineering services have been provided by KPFF for the seismic evaluation and renovation of a wide range of buildings, several of which are in the National Register of Historical Places. Projects range from Santa Monica's original City Hall, a 1-story, unreinforced brick structure built in 1875, to a 315,000-square-foot Federal office building built 60 years ago, to the preservation and restoration of three national landmark power plant buildings, built in 1895. Facilities assessment services are typically provided to upgrade deteriorating structures and buildings that must be renovated to comply with current codes, or to evaluate the feasibility of converting these facilities to alternate uses. This work has included the detailed evaluation of the projected seismic performance of a wide range of building types and sizes, and various seismic upgrade schemes have been utilized, including the addition of concrete shear walls, steel moment frames, and steel braced frame systems.

Seismic Isolation/Passive Energy Dissipation

KPFF has pioneered the practical design and construction of seismically isolated buildings in the U.S., with an experience base that includes the design of over 1.5 million square feet of facilities spread out over seven separate structures. KPFF was the first structural engineering firm in the world to design a seismically isolated hospital (the 350,000-sf USC University Hospital, Los Angeles, CA), and our firm has taken a leadership position in the technical, administrative, and code writing aspects of this unique and innovative technology. In addition to the design of new seismically isolated facilities, key KPFF personnel have been involved in numerous feasibility studies, peer review panels, and technical committee activities relating to the design of both new and retrofitted seismically isolated structures. KPFF's experience in the design of passive energy dissipation systems includes the application of high damping rubber systems, lead rubber systems, hydraulic viscous damping systems, and sliding systems to a wide variety of building applications.