LAX Theme Building shakes as UCLA engineers test for quakes
Dr. Robert Nigbor, UCLA Professor of Earthquake Engineering on the Rooftop of the Theme Building at LAX. Scaffolding covers arches of Theme Building in September 2007.
The Theme Building in the middle of Los Angeles International Airport shook for a few moments Tuesday as engineers tested the space-age structure’s earthquake readiness.
As his earthquake simulator – or “shaker” - revved up, UCLA professor of earthquake engineering Bob Nigbor stood on the Theme Building's observation deck at a lectern and waited for both to shake.
"In deference to this beautiful structure, we’ve only brought Mighty Mouse our little shaker - out today, and not Popeye, our big shaker," joked Nigbor.
Deference to the structure has been key. It may look like a prop from the Jetsons, but it’s a Los Angeles historic landmark. Amir Gilani of the structural engineering firm Miyamoto knew that when designing the earthquake retrofit.
"We didn’t want go ahead and put concrete all over the building and cover it up and everything," he explained. "So what we have done is what’s called a mass-damper that’s on top."
That’s right, on top.
Above the famous Encounter restaurant, Miyamoto engineers have placed 600 tons of steel designed to absorb a quake’s energy. It’s one of the last phases of a $12.3 million renovation to the theme building that’s taken the last three years.
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