Suzzallo retrofit will help hold it together if earthquake strikes

By Rob Harrill
News & Information

To get a mental grip on the massive construction effort under way at the Suzzallo Library, earthquake engineer Charles Roeder suggests an analogy.

Think of the historic structure as a giant paper clip.

“That’s a pretty good way to look at it,” said Roeder, a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering who toured the construction site last week for an inside peek at what’s being done. “You can bend a steel paper clip a lot, and while it’s not quite as strong as it was before, it holds together, it still holds its integrity. That’s roughly what they want Suzzallo to do that it can’t do now.”

The former computer lab in the west end of Suzzallo has been stripped to bare masonry in preparation for a seismic upgrade. The building’s masonry, which is not reinforced, is a major source of worry about how the library would fare during a large earthquake. To strengthen it, workers are building elements into the structure to protect the masonry by shielding it from the forces that could cause it to fracture and fail. Photo by Kathy Sauber

Seismic safety is the major thrust of the $42.6 million project, which began in earnest last summer when the older sections of the library were fenced in and access was closed. But that’s not the only work being done.

Archaic heating systems, electrical wiring and old plumbing are being upgraded. Sprinkler systems will be installed. Many of the architectural features that make the library one of the unique treasures of the Pacific Northwest are being repaired and reconditioned. And some changes are in store to make the facility more functional.

“To a large extent, the idea is that it will look the same - just restored,” said Paula Walker, assistant director of libraries at the UW. “As for the few visible changes, I think people will like those.”

Patrons will notice one of the major changes right away when they walk into Suzzallo’s west entrance, off Red Square. The large circulation desk is gone and will be replaced with a smaller version. Instead of filing through turnstiles, visitors will walk under arches, making the facility more accessible to those with disabilities.

Other alterations will be less immediately obvious, but significant. The Smith Room on the south end of the library has a spectacular floor-to-ceiling stained glass window covering most of its south wall and hand-painted historical wall murals, but it has seldom been used because it was hard to get to, Walker said.

“The only entrance to the room was through the Graduate Reading Room, one of the quietest areas in the library,” she said. “We couldn’t make it available as much as we would have liked because we didn’t want too much traffic through that area.”

Construction crews are in the process of building a new hallway through a section of the library behind the Smith Room. “We’ll have another entrance so the campus community will be able to use it more,” Walker said. “We’re very excited about that.”

All of that is still a ways off, however. The project is slated to be completed in summer 2002, Walker said. At the moment, gaping pits, mounds of earth, shattered concrete and the rumble of heavy machinery greet visitors to the older areas of the library.

Construction crews have burrowed into the foundation around the steel beams that make up “the octagon” area of the library to rework the footings. They will also install bracing to tie the large beams together in pairs. Photo by Kathy Sauber.

The sections being worked on - the original 1925 portion, which abuts Red Square, and the 1935 and 1947 additions - are shells of their former selves. Floors above the ground level have been torn out. Parts of the interior walls have been chiseled away, revealing bricks, masonry blocks and the library’s bare steel skeleton. Stained glass is covered and sections of the sandstone floor have been sawed out and removed.

All of the library materials moved out of the older sections during construction are still available in the 1963 wing, which will be seismically refitted toward the end of the project.

“It’s important for people to know that we’re still offering all of our services,” Walker said.

The impetus behind the current chaos is safety. A 1991 survey of campus buildings awarded the Suzzallo the dubious distinction of being among the top structures at risk of major structural damage and loss of life in the event of a big temblor. The Legislature funded the project for the 1999-2001 biennium.

The plan, according to officials, is to make the Suzzallo safer by tying together various building components - roofs, walls, foundations - and the different wings so that the library will act as a single, rigid structure in the event of an earthquake.

One of the Suzzallo’s major seismic vulnerabilities lies in the use of masonry that isn’t reinforced to help stiffen the structure’s steel frame - a common practice in the 1920s and ’30s, Roeder said. It does add stiffness, but it’s a stiffness that is easily lost because the masonry tends to crack under the deforming forces of an earthquake.

“The masonry is very stiff and fairly strong; however, it is unreinforced and relatively brittle, and it is very heavy,” Roeder said. “The masonry could be deadly if it broke and fell on people.”

To avoid that, workers are reinforcing the building with stiff walls near the ground and tying together steel columns with braces higher up. Steel trusses will reinforce the roof. Deep grooves are being cut into the concrete where foundations meet and steel struts are being used to knit the foundations together. Footings for the large steel beams that form “the octagon” - the area where the older wings come together - are being reworked and the beams are being connected in pairs with steel bracing.

“What they are doing is putting elements into the building that add a lot of strength and resistance,” Roeder said. “But they are very stiff elements, so they are going to develop the strength and resistance without going through too large of deformations.”

That, in turn will protect weaker elements, such as the masonry, by shielding them from the forces that could cause them to crack and fail.

So far, the upgrade is on schedule, Walker said. Library staffers, separated by one thin wall from the pounding equipment and buzzing saws, are looking forward to the project’s completion. Despite the inconvenience and disruption, they’ve all been great sports, Walker said.

“This is something we’ve waited a long time for, and when it’s done it will be more than worth it,” Walker said. “I think that’s something we’re all keeping in mind.”