Multiple USC buildings may need earthquake retrofits
USC said four structures were retrofitted out of nine reported potentially unsafe.
By COLIN STILLMAN
The Daily Trojan looked into the earthquake preparedness of University Park Campus buildings using city and University documents and contacted USC after a Los Angeles Times article revealed that some campus buildings may not be earthquake-safe.
In a December 2023 L.A. Times article, nine buildings on the University Park Campus were listed as needing retrofitting — Bridge Hall, Dramatic Arts Building, Leventhal School of Accounting, Mudd Memorial Hall of Philosophy, Royal Street Structure, Taper Hall, USC Hotel, Phillips Hall and Webb Tower. The list of buildings included some heavily trafficked structures like Taper Hall and Webb Tower, along with buildings containing non-academic functions such as the Royal Street Structure and USC Hotel.
The L.A. Times removed L.A. city data in early August after reporters discovered the city had not adequately updated retrofit data. Many structures had been retrofitted despite the data saying they were not. The opposite was also true — many potentially unsafe structures were not listed for a recommended retrofit.
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All the listed buildings were built before 1980 — one as early as 1926 — and are non-ductile concrete buildings.
Non-ductile buildings may lack reinforced steel in their frames. This can cause the building to sway severely or even collapse in a large earthquake. The construction of non-ductile buildings stopped in the late 20th century when updated building codes were introduced.
Arnold Hom, who works in the Community Development Division at the City of Cupertino, said construction methods and earthquake testing have recently improved. This changes how analysts look at older buildings, and it also affects how new structures are designed.
“Seismic design has changed significantly in the past 20 years,” Hom said. “With the advent of modern testing and also the data that we gather from different earthquakes … that’s led us to prepare better models.”
USC, like all building owners, has a couple of options when it comes to older buildings. One option is to retrofit. The costs of this vary but could include reinforcements for walls, the replacement of aging materials and new connections between structural elements.
In some cases, the University has chosen to demolish the seismically unsafe structure instead. USC demolished Fluor Tower — an 11-story dormitory — in 2022.
The building was listed as seismically unsafe in a 2014 analysis conducted by UC Berkeley and partially flooded in 2019. Webb Tower, which was originally built in tandem with Fluor Tower, likely escaped demolition because it received an earthquake retrofit in 2016.
Nine USC buildings were listed as needing retrofitting in a Los Angeles Times article. Reporters removed the data for the City of L.A. from the article after they discovered the city had not adequately updated retrofit data. (Brooks Taylor / Daily Trojan)
USC also demolished residence halls Touton Hall and Harris Plaza in 1986, specifically because of earthquake concerns. The University had not notified students of their earthquake safety concerns prior to the demolition announcement, which forced students to leave the residence halls with little notice halfway through the year.
Demolitions of old buildings are a part of every expanding university, but not all demolitions are purely a result of safety concerns. The University often removes older buildings to make way for new ones. For example, Fertitta Hall and Annenberg Hall were built following the destruction of two other buildings on their plots.
A third option is to renovate and retrofit the structure at the same time. The Dramatic Arts Building and Bridge Hall interiors were completely renovated and seismically retrofitted in the past two decades. There were also plans from 2018 to renovate the Physical Education Building into a Dornsife student commons, although this did not come to fruition.
Hom said this strategy is beneficial when retrofits are recommended.
“A lot of retrofits are done as a result of remodel work,” Hom said. “It’s very common to see some people do a voluntary seismic retrofit [to] strengthen the anchorage of their house. But more so we see a lot of remodeling additions that result in retrofit.”
In a statement to the Daily Trojan, the University wrote it had studied its current buildings and retrofitted Mudd Hall, Webb Tower, Phillips Hall and the Dramatic Arts Building after 2003. However, it acknowledged that not all buildings were in line with the present recommended guidelines.
“We have a plan to bring other structures up to current standards,” the University wrote.
They did not comment further on what “other structures” still needed retrofits and what the retrofit plans were.
Of the original L.A. Times list, the status of four University Park Campus buildings is still uncertain. These buildings are the Leventhal School of Accounting, Royal Street Parking Structure, Taper Hall and USC Hotel.
Other USC buildings that were not on the L.A. Times list may also need retrofits, but these structures are unknown without additional university and city data. Despite this, certain structural flaws in some University buildings were exposed during the rainfall of Spring 2023.
Many students are aware of flooding and partial ceiling collapses that happened in some older USC structures during intense rainfall periods last year. Rainfall risk does not necessarily mean earthquake risk, but it does show that USC’s structures are not equal in their abilities to deal with some natural disasters.
Even when buildings are retrofitted or repaired, some students do not immediately notice any changes.
Saliha Choma-Severin, a sophomore majoring in environmental studies, thought the University was designed well overall but noted discrepancies between the quality of certain buildings.
“[Phillips] Hall or the environmental studies classrooms look a little older, but I would say Leavey Library or the communications areas … are a bit newer and remodeled,” Severin said.
While there are differences between the quality of buildings, USC has extensive earthquake response protocols. These protocols include a dedicated emergency response team for the entire campus and specific emergency personnel for each building. However, the available emergency protocols for each building on USC’s websites are mostly standardized, and do not typically account for differences in building layout and design features such as different chairs and tables.
Severin believes earthquake protocols are not very clear to students. She said the University should “spread [earthquake protocol information] to the students to … explain to students what they’re currently doing and what they can improve on.”
As the University’s buildings grow older, it remains to be seen how USC adjusts its earthquake protocols — and whether its aging buildings are retrofitted, renovated or outright demolished.
“Each building is like a person,” Hom said. “The solutions can be very unique from two buildings on the same block.”
