Saiful Bouquet was the structural engineer of record for the Plaza Bonita Mall Expansion in Chula Vista, California. The full mall expansion consisted of a 320,000 sq. ft. addition of a retail anchor store. The project also included an elevated 14-screen AMC theater structure with stadium seating located above multiple large retail stores.
SB collaborated with the design team to design a structural system to meet the programmatic needs of the expansion, the financial needs of the project as well as minimize disruption to the mall’s daily operations. The structural design utilizes Eccentric Braced Frames (EBF) & Special Concentric Brace Frames (SCBF) Dual System & Shear Walls for different portions of the building. Several seismic separations are used to breakup the various portions of the mall including one primary seismic joint dividing the building into two structures and dividing the second level into four seismically separated areas over the podium.
