Serving the homeless and at-risk youth of Alaska since 1988.
Seismic Strength
Emerging technology use for the seismic bracing enhances the building’s earthquake resilience.
Helping solve a societal crisis. The Covenant House’s sole purpose is to be available to help youth in crisis 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.The new Covenant House facility is a 3-story, 41,560 SF facility serving up to 60 youth in crisis. It has 20 sleeping rooms, a full service kitchen, recreation areas, training rooms, computer labs, meeting rooms, and a chapel. The building structure is primarily steel tube columns and wide-flange beams, but the lateral system is fairly unique in Alaska. For the braced frames throughout the building, the emerging technology of Buckling Restrained Braced Frames (BRBF’s) were used. These braces are comprised of a steel tendon encased in concrete and confined by an outer steel tube. This assembly of materials creates a brace that is equally strong in tension and compression, but behaves with more ductility than traditional braced frames. The use of these specialized braces reduced the overall seismic load on the building, thereby reducing the overall tonnage of steel and cost for the project.
To learn more about The Covenant House mission, visit their website: https://ak.covenanthouse.org/
