Founded in 1936, SOM is renowned for its iconic buildings and is one of the largest architecture, interior design, engineering, and urban planning firms in the world.

The Pin-Fuse® Seismic System consists of moment connected joints and frames which are used in steel buildings in highly active seismic regions. The concept of the joints involves clamped surfaces coated with a frictional material designed to slide relative to each other allowing rotation or slip when pre-set friction clamping is overcome during a seismic event. Controlled frictional slip allows the dissipation of energy without the extensive material damage that usually occurs in joints that dissipate energy through material yielding. It is important that these devices develop consistent slip forces and sliding friction coefficients for several potential events separated by possibly years of inactivity.

In the early days of the system's development, Lucideon carried out literature searches and interrogated materials databases on behalf of SOM to seek suitable frictional materials for use in Pin-Fuse® joints.

Lucideon would like to congratulate the SOM San Francisco team on winning this prestigious award.