engineering

The Ziggurat

The Ziggurat is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The Ziggurat rather than just read about it. In short: The Ziggurat is a ten-story, stepped pyramidal office building and adjacent five-story concrete parking structure located at 707 3rd Street in West Sacramento, California, on the shore of the Sacramento River. Designed by Sacramento architect Edwin Kado to resemble the ancient Mesopotamian ziggurats, the building was built by The Money Store in 1997.

Key takeaways

The Ziggurat belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The Ziggurat to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The Ziggurat from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Ziggurat is a ten-story, stepped pyramidal office building and adjacent five-story concrete parking structure located at 707 3rd Street in West Sacramento, California, on the shore of the Sacramento River. Designed by Sacramento architect Edwin Kado to resemble the ancient Mesopotamian ziggurats, the building was built by The Money Store in 1997. Since 2001 it has been leased by the California Department of General Services (DGS) as its headquarters. Located on more than 7 acres (28,000 m2) adjacent to the Tower Bridge, the unusually designed office building contains more than 373,725 square feet (35,000 m2) of usable office area.

Architecture Architect Edwin Kado describes the building as follows:

"I originally designed a building that cantilevered toward the river, so it was like a pyramid upside down. It was 12 stories, and so when you got to the top floor, it was 120 feet [37 m] toward the river. When I presented it to the president of the Money Store, he thought it was interesting, but he wanted a symmetrical building... I [then] suggested this shape...because that shape connotes stability, and I thought it would be a good image for the Money Store."

Structure and exterior

The structure of the building is a standard column and beam steel superstructure, set upon a pre-stressed concrete, pile foundation system. The structural steel is designed to resist a seismic event of up to 6.9 on the Richter scale, an extremely high standard for the Sacramento area. The exterior skin of the building consists of Minnesota Gray Buff limestone panels. Each panel weighs over four tons. The building can be illuminated at night. Since the state has leased the building (since 2001), it turns these lights on only for certain events.

Technology Critical areas of the building have 75 kW emergency power back-up system and 300 kW UPS (uninterrupted power system). In addition, the building has a dual electric power feed from two separate electrical components. A centralized monitoring facility allows video security surveillance throughout the interior and exterior of the building. The communications center has a dual fiber feed from two local fiber communication companies (four separate fiber connections). In addition to dedicated telephone and computer equipment rooms on each floor, there is a 3,600-square-foot (330 m2) raised floor computer room with isolated Liebert units for controlled temperature and climatic conditions on the third floor. The building has five traction elevators serving all floors, as well as an additional hydraulic elevator that provides service between the basement parking area and the first floor.

Parking The on-site parking structure contains spaces for 1,649 vehicles. There are also accommodations for secured bicycle parking. All access into and out of the structure is controlled by card key access. The first floor is enclosed by a wrought iron fence. The parking structure is cast-in-place concrete with tensioned decks. It is designed to withstand a 6.8 seismic event. Two traction elevators serve each floor.

Amenities The building contains an employee fitness center equipped with exercise equipment, showers, and locker facilities.

See also The Chet Holifield Federal Building, another Californian "ziggurat", serves as federal offices.

References

External links Emporis building information on The Ziggurat

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Ziggurat

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Ziggurat claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The Ziggurat before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The Ziggurat ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The Ziggurat

In research: The Ziggurat appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The Ziggurat in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The Ziggurat is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1997 establishments in California, Buildings and structures completed in 1997, Buildings and structures in Yolo County, California, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Ziggurat outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study The Ziggurat in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Ziggurat means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The Ziggurat out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Ziggurat in simple terms?

Why does The Ziggurat matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The Ziggurat?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The Ziggurat.