The Commemoration Crawl: 1906 San Francisco Earthquake Guided Walking Tour

Tuesday, October 27, 2026
1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Financial District, San Francisco
30 registrants max

In honor of the 120-year anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, this guided walking tour through downtown San Francisco will visit a selection of buildings that survived the 1906 magnitude 7.9 earthquake and examine the structural systems, materials, and construction techniques that contributed to their performance. Guides will lead discussions on each building’s historical background alongside a broader look at how the disaster exposed critical vulnerabilities in building design and shaped the development of seismic codes in California and beyond. It’s a unique opportunity to walk the streets of San Francisco with fellow engineers and connect the hard lessons of 1906 to the ongoing challenges of designing for seismic resilience today.

If you’d like to explore these landmarks on your own time, you can go on a self-guided walking tour with this MAP!

Transbay Terminal Tour

Wednesday, October 28, 2026
1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Salesforce Transit Center
25 registrants max

Opened in 2018, Salesforce Transit Center is a regional transportation hub connecting seven Bay Area bus systems with local light rail. The planned Downtown Rail Extension (DTX) would extend Caltrain service to the below-grade train box, closing a critical gap in the region’s transportation network and supporting California’s high-speed rail system and a future second transbay crossing through Link 21. The center also features 100,000 square feet of retail, a 5.4-acre rooftop park, and public art. Designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, the sustainable, accessible facility anchors a new transit-friendly neighborhood. It is owned and operated by the Transbay Joint Powers Authority (TJPA).

Structural Engineer of Record Thornton Tomasetti used performance-based design for the 1,500-foot-long, two-story below-grade train box, including soil-structure interaction across multiple soil conditions. The steel-framed superstructure uses Special Moment Frames (SMF) transversely and unique Eccentrically Braced Frames (EBF) longitudinally, creating its distinctive canted, tree-like exterior with cast-steel nodes.

The tour will be led by representatives of TJPA and Thornton Tomasetti.

Site Tour of 100 McAllister

Thursday, October 29, 2026
8:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. | 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
100 McAllister, San Francisco
15 registrants max for each timeslot

The historic 100 McAllister Street 28-story tower is undergoing a seismic upgrade and interior improvements to further expand UC Law’s campus housing and academic spaces. The tower’s original dual use as a church and hotel forced a highly discontinuous structural system with numerous transfer girders, meaning very little of the original seismic force-resisting system runs continuously to the foundation. The building also relies on non-ductile concrete walls, historic wind-brace brackets, and unreinforced masonry for lateral resistance, with wind bracing omitted entirely above the 20th floor. The retrofit brings the building up to California state seismic standards under the CEBC, while respecting and preserving its historic character. The most significant construction challenge is building the new concrete core up through the center of the  tower, which requires self-climbing formwork, careful removal and re-support of existing transfer beams, and temporary lateral bracing with modified diaphragms during construction. In order to construct the concrete core efficiently, each floor of the tower has been partially demolished, forming a hollow core through the entire tower. Join the structural engineers from Holmes on a guided tour of this active construction site. 

*PPE: Hard hats, vests, and safety glasses provided. Please wear appropriate footwear (closed toe shoes, no athletic shoes)