Five More Buildings Closed on Campus : Long Beach: Inspectors studying the cave-in of a recital hall roof are concerned that the other structures could not withstand a major earthquake.

A team of experts investigating the recent collapse of a recital hall at Cal State Long Beach this week shut down five more buildings in the campus music complex amid concerns that the 8-year-old structures would not withstand a major earthquake.

The closure of the stucco and brick-veneer buildings means that nearly half of the music center--built in 1982 at a cost of $6.3 million--is either in rubble or cordoned off as unsafe.

Music professors were scrambling Wednesday to reserve space for classes when the fall semester begins Sept. 4. At least 500 students enrolled in eight courses still had no place to meet and the director of the music department said he was considering holding rehearsals in local churches.

The roof of the Gerald R. Daniel Recital Hall collapsed July 2, sending 120 tons of concrete and steel slamming down on 210 seats. Just hours before, a group of high school students cut short a rehearsal when instructors noticed half-inch cracks in the walls and falling plaster.

On Tuesday, engineers determined that five of the tallest structures in the complex surrounding the recital hall--including a 70-seat lecture hall--were unsound. Side walls of the five buildings were inadequately constructed to support the buildings’ 16-foot height, said Lynn Bockemohle, vice president of the Los Angeles structural engineering firm of Robert Englekirk Inc.

“It’s not going to fall on anyone’s head tomorrow,” Bockemohle said. “But in 1933 Long Beach experienced a severe earthquake that knocked down all the unreinforced masonry buildings. . . . And we’re concerned about that kind of event.”

The cause of the recital hall’s cave-in remains under study and the Legislature is planning to investigate why a concert hall acclaimed for its acoustical perfection collapsed and prompted the closure of a total of seven other music buildings.

The last known structural inspection of the complex was during construction in 1982 and at least two seismic safety inspections--in 1987 and 1989--failed to spot problems, officials said.

The chancellor’s office, which oversees the state university system’s 20 campuses, did not comment Wednesday on exactly how the five buildings managed to pass those inspections. Consultants now say that flaws in the buildings should have been discovered during a review of blueprints.

S.N. Choudhuri, assistant vice chancellor for physical planning, said his office is awaiting the completion of the investigation, probably after Labor Day, to determine whether the state’s routine inspection process somehow failed.

Immediately after the July 2 collapse, university officials shut down a musical storage building and a rehearsal hall because they were constructed in the same “tilt-up” style as the concert hall. In that style, concrete walls are poured and then hoisted into place.

At the time, however, the rest of the complex’s 22 buildings, built of more standard framed walls, had been considered safe.

The Englekirk firm, which investigated the concert hall cave-in, also was asked to assess the integrity of the entire music complex. The complex was designed and built by the same firms that erected the concert hall--Long Beach architects Hugh Gibbs & Donald Gibbs, structural engineer Donald Erb and Shirley Bros. Inc., a Pasadena general contractor.

Campus officials closed off the buildings late Tuesday pending further study. The investigation team was expected to recommend in a report to be presented to the university today that the buildings remain closed until the walls are strengthened, which could take several months, Bockemohle said.

“Again, with safety as our highest priority, the only prudent decision is to close these five buildings until further analysis is completed and any necessary corrections are made,” a statement released by the campus public affairs office read.

Meanwhile, professors struggled to manage with their latest losses: the lecture hall, several classrooms, an electronic music studio, two restrooms and several faculty offices.

“Has it been difficult for us? Yes,” said Donald Para, the department chairman. “Our first reaction was: How will we give the piano lessons? Where will we put the classes?. . . . But the important thing is no one was killed. All of this is terrible, but it is not a tragedy.”

Arrangements have already been made to place students enrolled in 30 courses into buildings in other departments around the campus, officials said.

Para said the faculty’s aim is to maintain the quality of education while the department stands in physical disarray.

He said he expected that choral and instrumental ensemble performances, which bring in about $30,000 a year in ticket sales, might suffer if rehearsals have to be held in churches and other buildings off campus. But he was confident that the other musical studies could continue unfettered.

“If you have the right faculty and the right students making the right kind of music, you can do it in a tent and it doesn’t matter,” he said.

Campus Buildings Shut Down Eight buildings in the Cal State Long Beach music education complex are shut down in the wake of an investigation into the roof collapse of a recital hall. Officials say they are concerned about the building’s safety. 1) Gerald R. Daniel Recital Hall, where roof collapsed July 2. 2) Faculty offices and storage building for musical instruments, closed July 2. 3) Electronic music studio, closed August 7. 4) Rehearsal hall, closed July 2. 5) Voice and piano lessons building and faculty offices, closed August 7. 6) Three faculty offices, closed August 7. 7) Restroom facilities, closed August 7. 8) 70-seat lecture and recital hall, closed August 7.