Top Bay Area Engineer Joins Degenkolb as Associate Principal of Oakland Office
Extensive Experience in Hospital and Education Facilities
OAKLAND, CA (July 16, 2007) —Licensed structural engineer, Chih-Hung Cheng joined Degenkolb Engineers earlier this month as the newest Associate Principal in the Oakland office. With fifteen years of engineering experience, Cheng will serve as one of the technical leaders in the firm, providing expert guidance, mentoring to engineers, and reviewing applications of quality management.
“Mr. Cheng’s extensive portfolio and diverse project work in the higher education sector as well as the biotechnology, healthcare, and commercial markets make him an impressive and formidable addition to our Oakland team,” said Degenkolb President and CEO Chris Poland. “His understanding of complex structural design will prove to be very beneficial to the City of Oakland and the entire Bay Area.”
Cheng has already established a strong presence on a number of Bay Area projects. His comprehensive knowledge of building construction and design in the region can be seen from San Francisco to the central valley and from Sacramento to San Jose. Specializing in design and analysis of new facilities and retrofit of existing ones, his most recent Bay Area projects include: the McCandless Tower #2, an eleven-story steel moment-resisting frame office building at Santa Clara, the Education Center at Vallejo Campus of Solano Community College, and the Science II Building at CSU Stanislaus.
Cheng is now assisting the teams on the California Pacific Medical Center Cathedral Hill project and the Kaiser Oakland Replacement Hospital project. CPMC occupies an entire city block in San Francisco and includes a twenty-story steel frame structure with braced frames at the building’s core and outrigger braced frames at mechanical levels to distribute overturning forces generated by the hospital tower. Measuring in at 1,300,000 square feet, the current design under review calls for a seismic isolation system to ensure continuity of operations following a sizeable earthquake. The Kaiser Oakland project consists of an eleven-story tall hospital, a nine-level parking garage with pedestrian bridge to the hospital, a medical office building and a central utility plant.
About Degenkolb
Established in 1940, Degenkolb Engineers is one of the nation’s leading structural engineering firms in the design and seismic strengthening of buildings. Degenkolb offers comprehensive design, rehabilitation, and consulting services to architects, building owners, hospitals, educational institutions, corporations and government agencies. The firm has offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland, San Diego, Portland and Seattle.
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