The new three-story, 16,000-square-foot wellness center provides primary care services to low-income families and individuals. It also serves as a resource for residents who have experienced hardships, such as the 2017 wildfires and 2019 flood. The facility offers medical, psychiatric, and acupuncture services and features patient rooms, wellness offices, conference rooms, outdoor patios, and a parking garage. It also offers behavioral health services and specialty care, including prenatal care and women’s health services. A key component of the clinic is the Resiliency Center, a separate building designed as a gathering place, with a rooftop garden and a community room for events and classes.
ZFA was recommended to take over the structural engineering role on the project during the plan review. We provided new design calculations and structural drawings that included concrete columns and walls up to the second floor, interior and exterior metal stud walls for the upper three floors, structural steel beams and columns supporting concrete over metal deck floors, and wood-framed scissor truss roofs. Because of the complexity of the framing, ZFA was heavily involved in the construction administration process. Due to geotechnical challenges and flood zone requirements, ZFA collaborated with the foundation contractor prior to construction to develop an economical foundation solution that included augercast displacement piles.
The site is in a floodplain, which prompted concerns about soil settlement and potential flooding. The first floor therefore required flood-resilient construction, including rapidly deployable flood barriers at all entrances and elevators. The lateral system of the lower level was designed as concrete shear walls that would incur minimal damage and fewer repairs following a flood. The classification of this building as a wellness center did not require it to be reviewed by the Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI, formerly OSHPD), and therefore the jurisdiction was Sonoma County.
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