Tipping Structural

08/31/2026

at the Connie & Kevin Chou Hall at the UC BerkeleyBerkeley, a uniquely configured state-of-the-art learning laboratory. Part of the Haas School of Business’ master planning project, this six-story, 80,000-square-foot building—with a total of 858 classroom seats—supports the expansion of the school’s MBA program.

Given challenging site constraints, programmatic requirements, and seismic factors, a conventional structural design would have failed to achieve project goals. Allowing those constraints to guide innovative design solutions and taking a performance-based approach, the Tipping team was able to deliver a state-of-the art learning laboratory serving students of Berkeley-Haas for years to come. The new building increased the school’s space by a third, accommodating large tiered lecture halls, flexible teaching spaces, and breakout spaces for small group collaboration, as well as a ground-floor café and a rooftop event space for fundraising and other functions. The east wing is embedded two stories into the hillside, incorporating an auditorium and mechanical basement.

Learn more about UC Berkeley Chou Hall here: https://tippingstructural.com/projects/uc-berkeley-chou-hall/

Owner: University of California, Berkeley
Architect: Perkins&Will
Contractor: Vance Brown Builders
Developer: Partnership for Haas Preeminence
Structural: Tipping (Leo Panian, Joy Wei)
Photography: Blake Marvin

08/26/2026

Currently under construction is the new Classroom and Office Building 3 (COB3) at UC Merced. A with SCB and Otto Construction, COB3 will support the launch of 12 new undergraduate majors and minors and will include three major instructional venues: a large auditorium, a round lecture hall, and a medium case-style lecture hall.

COB3 will complete the Social Justice Quad, serving as a central hub for the School of Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts (SSHA), as well as provide academic, advising, and student tutoring services plus dedicated space for UC Merced’s new Honors Program. A prominent feature will be the CAPE (Center for Analytical Political Engagement) program, located on the first floor, designed to engage the campus community and visitors in active political discussions.

Targeting LEED Platinum, the all-electric 61,600-square-foot building aligns with ’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion by reducing unintentional bias, and fostering a sense of equity and belonging among occupants.

Architect: SCB
Contractor: Otto Construction
Structural: Tipping
Owner: University of California, Merced

Tipping team: Gina Carlson, SE (PIC), Jason Armes, S.E., Joy Wei, Isaac Williams, Beverly Xu, PE, and Susanna van de Graaf, PE

Renderings courtesy of SCB

08/18/2026

Want to see your work take shape in the real world?

Our engineers are on site at the 34th & San Pablo Affordable Family Housing project, checking construction progress and solving problems as the structure comes to life. At Tipping, we’re hiring structural engineers who want to design the structures that shape our communities.

Join our team! Learn more about open positions and apply here: https://tippingstructural.com/careers/

08/14/2026

08/14/2026

Spotlight on our summer intern extraordinaire, Christine Ting-Yu Chang, who wraps up her summer internship with Tipping today 🎉 Thank you, Christine, for an incredible summer. Reflecting on her experience, Christine shared:

"The summer internship at Tipping was truly a wonderful experience. I felt completely supported, and everyone shared their knowledge unreservedly. A major highlight was working on vibration control for the UCSF Bakar Ear and Hearing Institute (BEHI) lab project—troubleshooting our new program, exploring plan configurations, and bringing my own visualization ideas to the table was incredibly rewarding. Additionally, joining site visits and seeing the collaborative partnership between structural engineers and contractors was equally inspiring. Seeing the passion and collaboration of the engineers here made a lasting impression on me. I’m grateful for this experience and can’t wait to bring everything I’ve learned into my future career!"

Having completed an MS in Structural Engineering and currently pursuing an MS in Civil & Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley College of Engineering, we are lucky to welcome Christine back this fall as a part-time intern at Tipping!

Christine (second from right) pictured on a student housing project site visit.

08/14/2026

Presented by Council on Vertical Urbanism (CVU) California with AIA East Bay, it was great to welcome the community to Tipping to wrap up an afternoon focused on innovative design, engineering, and the future of the built environment!

Last Friday, the event began at the University of California, Berkeley with guided tours of the Grimes Engineering Center (designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) and the Bakar Gateway Building (designed by Gensler with WEISS/MANFREDI Architecture/Landscape/Urbanism). Tours were led by project team representatives, providing a unique opportunity to experience the spaces firsthand and learn from those directly involved in their development.

After the tours, Tipping hosted the group for a networking happy hour at our office in Berkeley, which included a brief presentation of each project toured earlier – with SOM presenting about Grimes and the facade consultant Heintges Consulting Architects & Engineers presenting about Baker Gateway. We thoroughly enjoyed continuing the conversation over drinks and snacks and hearing more about the vision, challenges, and solutions behind the projects.

Thank you to CVU California and everyone who joined us at Tipping last Friday!

08/06/2026

Check out new photos of the award-winning Samuel Merritt University Oakland City Center and learn more on the Tipping website: https://tippingstructural.com/projects/smu-oakland/

Located in downtown Oakland, this new high-rise building serves as the flagship campus for SMU, a leader in health science education. The 10-story, 250,000-square-foot campus allows the more than century-old organization to double its enrollment and directly address the Bay Area’s critical shortage of healthcare workers. An iterative design approach resulted in a novel and cost-effective structural system that provides an unobstructed floor plan and superior seismic performance, including an offset vertical circulation core that allows for large unobstructed classrooms and flexibility for lab planning. A variation of the conventional BRB frame, the structural system incorporates a vertical mast or strongback element.

Last week, the project received 'Outstanding Architectural Engineering Project' from the 2026 ASCE Golden Gate Branch Awards – congrats to the team!

Owner: Samuel Merritt University

Developer: Strada Investment Group

Architect: Perkins&Will

Contractor: Hathaway Dinwiddie

Steel Fabricator: The Herrick Corporation

Structural: Tipping (Leo Panian, Gina Carlson, SE, Jason Armes, Christopher Tiran)

Photos: Bruce Damonte

08/01/2026

07/21/2026

Under construction in Oakland is 34th & San Pablo Affordable Multifamily Housing! The project creates 60 new affordable units with a mix of studio, 1BR, and 2BR units. The building will rise 6 stories and 70 feet tall while comprising 57,780-square-feet of Type I construction, which was selected after a detailed comparison of life-cycle structural system costs incorporated recent and dramatic increases in insurance costs for wood-framed construction in Oakland.

Post-tensioned concrete floors throughout to provide a thin floor assembly that maximizes daylighting. The L-shaped floor plan cradles a landscaped ground-floor courtyard featuring stormwater treatment planters and community gathering spaces. Targeting GreenPoint Platinum, other building amenities will include a community room, rooftop PV, and residential services.

Architect: David Baker Architects
Developer East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation (EBALDC)
Contractor: Cahill Contractors
Structural: Tipping

Tipping team: Marc Steyer, Joy Wei, Fuko Tsuruta, Cheng-Hsuan Hsu (Shelly)

Imagery: Rendering courtesy of David Baker Architects; Construction photo from Cahill's superintendent Bart Fockler; Site visit with Tipping's Fuko and Shelly

07/14/2026

Today, July 14th, Tipping Associate & Project Director Abby Enscoe is presenting at the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute's 13th National Conference on Earthquake Engineering (13NCEE) taking place in Portland, Oregon. During 'Session 13: From Code to Policy: Seismic Retrofit Ordinance Development and Implementation in the U.S. and Abroad' which is moderated by Ayse Hortacsu, Abby will be presenting her paper titled "3130 Wilshire - An Innovative Approach to Non-Ductile Concrete."