Nabih Youssef, SE, PE, one of the country’s leading experts on seismic design and founder of the eponymous firm Nabih Youssef Associates, died on July 12 at the age of 80.
Youssef was well known for his groundbreaking work on performance-based design, base isolation, and the use of steel plate shear walls in areas of high seismic risk. In 2010, he earned an AISC Special Achievement Award for his work on the LA Live project, a 52-story structure that used an elegant steel shear wall system rather than bulky concrete shear walls to provide lateral strength. Youssef was a prolific designer and speaker and also earned the 2011 SEAoSC Barnes Award and the 2008 AIA (Los Angeles) Presidential Award for Professional Achievement.
“As a leader in implementing state-of-the-art technologies, NYA’s contributions to the development of earthquake engineering codes and standards and performance-based design has made possible numerous elegant, cost-effective and leading-edge structures,” wrote Richard G. Weingardt, PE, a well-known author of books about significant structural engineers, in a 2012 profile.
Youssef chaired the Seismic Safety Committee for the Governor’s California Building Standards Commission and the City of Los Angeles’ Mayor's Blue Ribbon Seismic Hazard Reduction Committee and taught classes at multiple universities. Additionally, he served on the University of California Seismic Advisory Board.
Among his significant projects were the pioneering use of base isolation of Los Angeles City Hall, The Broad Museum in Los Angeles, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, LA Live, the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills, UCSF New Hospital at Parnassus Heights, Calif., New Stanford Hospital, USC University Village, Long Beach Civic Center, the restorations and expansions of the Harold Examiner building in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Coliseum, Dodgers Stadium, and the Cleveland Museum of Art.
“Nabih was so accomplished and yet completely unassuming and gentlemanly,” said AISC President Charles J. Carter, SE, PE, PhD. “He gave generously of his knowledge and wisdom in his work with several AISC and related committees. We will miss him greatly.”