Sierra Engineering Group Now Licensed to Practice in Iowa and Minnesota

In our continuing effort to expand our services throughout the United States, Jesus Sierra, President at Sierra Engineering Group has obtained his license to practice structural engineering in the states of Iowa and Minnesota.  We are now able to provide structural engineering services in 29 states.  Please refer to our website for a complete map. 

 

Taking Small Steps Towards a Greener Practice

It is not secret that our business generates a lot of paper. After a numbers of years the sheer quantity of paper generated starts to encroach on our work space. It begins to expand to where the need for additional storage space becomes not only evident but imperative. For our office, that took the form of leasing offsite storage space to house our older files. Now even those spaces are filled and the content continues to grow, pushing the limits of the space. It became clear that we needed to adopt a different tact and we considered simply discarding the oldest files. Purging some of the old files is an obvious solution. But how many times have we thrown out an old project only to receive a call soon after regarding that very job. The client suddenly decides to revise the old design or any number of requests. We have to consider a different way.

In our office we have examined every one of our processes to try and come up with a way to minimize paper use. The industry currently will not stand the complete eradication of paper so the goal is to minimize it whenever possible. For example, we do not throw out old prints; we keep the paper and use the reverse side when making check plots. We do the same with old reports, calculations etc. Using both sides of the paper has reduced our consumption of new paper thereby also reducing costs.

Our most recent and most ambitious goal is to scan all the old drawings and project files, including those that are in storage so that eventually we are able to lease less offsite storage space or eliminate it altogether.

Given the state of the technology and all the on-going innovations, it won’t be long before paper becomes archaic. It won’t be long before construction documents are issued in digital form only. We may as well embrace the future of this technology now and position ourselves accordingly.

Besides, we like the idea of saving trees.

The Joys of a Structural Foodie

Perhaps it is my love of food that gives me such satisfaction when we are involved in restaurant design. Our work as structural engineers can contribute to make the restaurant a success by helping the client minimize construction costs, perhaps by devising clever structural solutions or working with the Architect to devise elegant solutions in order to realize their aesthetic vision, especially when the structure is exposed. Such is the case with Yardhouse Restaurants (nationwide), where much of the interior structure is exposed, including open steel and wood trellis elements, exposed concrete walls and patio enclosures. Our restaurant work has been as varied as my own eclectic tastes in food, from PF Chang’s (nationwide)Asian fare to the Rose Pistola’s (San Francisco) and Pasta Pomodoro’(Union City) delicious Italian food to Reposado’s (Palo Alto) savory Mexican cuisine. If you’ve travelled much, you might have seen our handiwork at the Vino Volo wine and tapas restaurant kiosks. It’s no coincidence that work was done in our office by our Associate Sicilian-American engineer, Frank Cozzitorto. I wonder if his own love of wine had anything to do with the firm securing that contract. Sometimes when I to catch that Giants at AT&T Park, I stop across the street to admire our work at Pedro’s Cantina (San Francisco) and of course enjoy a cocktail and perhaps some ceviche to go along with it. Along with a number of other restaurants, we have recently we begun work on a number of Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants in California and Washington. With the Superbowl coming up, I really don’t think that’s a coincidence. I know good food when I taste it and good service when I experience it. So when I find a restaurant I like, I tend to go back. I’d like to think that our client’s know good work when they see it. Maybe that’s why they keep coming back.

New Project! Leesburg Child Care Facilities

We are pleased to announce that Sierra Engineering Group’s Miami office has been selected as the Structural Engineer of Record for the Leesburg Regional Medical Center’s Child Care facilities. Offerle-Lerner, AIA, Architects and Planners of Miami, Florida will be the Architect of Record.

This project involves the conversion of a 1920’s era structure currently used as a document storage facility into a Child Care Center for accommodating the children of hospital employees. Prior to being a document storage facility, this building was also home to an automotive dealership; Leesburg’s Ford.

This is a 1-story building with timber truss roof framing and clay tile walls. The creative team will be adding a screened-in play area, new window and door openings as well as a new entry porch. In accordance with the design character of the existing building and out of respect for the structure’s history, framing for the new areas shall consist of pre-fabricated wood trusses and masonry columns. Since the original structure is unreinforced masonry, portions of the existing building will also have to be strengthened in order to comply with current codes.

Here's a sneak peek at the site plan, we'll post more updates throughout the design/building process.

Posted By: Sara

SEG is now licensed in New York!

Jesus F. Sierra was recently granted his Professional Engineering License in the state of New York. With the addition of New York, SEG has achieved licensure in 27 states and counting!

Posted by:
Sara

Art and Structural Engineering

Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, CA
Architect: Frank Gehry, FAIA
Structural: John A. Martin & Associates Inc.
Photo: by Carol M. Highsmith

Art is a form of self expression. Every painting, photograph, sculpture, poem, prose, song, dance, all forms of art, exposes something about the artist. The medium is simply the vehicle by which the artist renders his or her unique perspective. Even a painting depicting a particular moment in history offers in some way, the biased view of the artist, interjecting his own opinion in the piece, making it his and only his. However, most people tend not to think about structural engineering in the same way.
They consider structural engineering as having a set of rules to follow, allowing little room for self expression. Certainly our profession is based on scientific facts and the laws of physics, but those are merely our tools, our brushes, our scalpels, our musical instruments with which we are able to create our own vision.
Structural engineers may be labeled as conservative or liberal. As opposed to the normal political meanings of the terms, conservative in this case is associated with overly cautious design, an entirely subjective view normally related to the cost of the structure. Likewise when an engineer is labeled as too liberal, it is associated with carelessness, again a subjective observation usually associated to a previous experience on the part of the person passing judgment. Rarely is the engineer afforded the same latitude that an artist is granted when expressing his views through his art.
Structural engineering is our art, and simply because we need to work within certain parameters does not imply that our work lacks our unique perception when arriving at a given solution. Like all other art forms our answers are open to interpretation and diverging opinions as they our undeniably our own. Just like the Mona Lisa is not just a painting, just like the Temple of Sagrada Familia is not just a church or the Venus de Milo just a sculpture, neither is the Golden Gate Bridge just a bridge or the Eiffel Tower just a tower.
Our work is often misunderstood or dismissed as the obscure inner workings of an architectural vision, thus negating its contribution to the realization of that vision. But in truth it is no different than an Architect’s design, often described as creative and unique. The structural system used in the Disney Theater in Los Angeles is no less singular than Frank Gehry’s signature design. The lack of visibility of our work should not serve as an excuse to deny its own artistic contribution.
Creativity brings added value, especially in structural engineering. Our thinking is not bound by the rules but rather enabled by them. An artist is not limited by his medium but rather spurred to express himself through it. Those set of rules, the laws of physics, are our medium and using that medium we are able to express ourselves in unique ways. We don’t view these rules as limits but rather tools with which we can create solutions. They are the tools with which we are able to practice the art of structural engineering.

Posted by Jesus Sierra, S.E., President

Sierra Engineering Group welcomes a future engineer!

The SEG family is thrilled to welcome Nicolas Matteo Cozzitorto, brand new son of Frank and Patricia! Nicolas was born happy and healthy on Friday, March 26, exactly one week ahead of schedule. (And yes, we now expect Frank to meet ALL project ‘deliveries’ a week early!) Here are some photos from the office baby shower and Nicolas.












Posted by Sara Dunaway