Thirty seconds of terror on October 17, 1989--the Loma Prieta Earthquake--damaged thousands of buildings in San Francisco, including many of the City's historically significant structures in the Civic Center. The 83-year-old Beaux Arts City Hall developed cracks on every floor, and its 302-foot dome twisted on the steel frame like a cap on a bottle. Voters ultimately decided on a full scale restoration of the building, including a complete seismic retrofit, along with a long overdue technological upgrade.

Systems integrator Ceitronics, working with a team of architects, designers, and consultants, installed state of the art technology that transformed City Hall into a high-tech communications center. The $5 million systems integration project, fast tracked in a year, boosted public access to city government and was integrated within the building without impacting its historic structure.