Next month, the AIA Center for Architecture will debut Considering the Quake: Seismic Design on the Edge. The exhibition will address how the specifics of structural design are often merged with contemporary architectural forms, through the lens of earthquake engineering. New buildings like OMA's Taipei Performing Arts Center, Libeskind's Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, and Singapore/Tokyo-based Studio SKLIM’s earthquake-resistant Hansha Reflection house will be examined to see how different contemporary building methods and structural systems can provide new structures with protection from earthquake activity. Building destroyed during the 2010 Chilean Earthquake. Photo via Wikimedia Commons Indeed, inciting a larger dialogue about the ways in which engineering and architecture can be employed to provide a buffer from seismic events couldn't come at a better time. In 2010, two catastrophic earthquakes devastated large sections of Haiti and Chile, with many of the structures lacking the necessary resistance to natural disasters. Not to mention, some of the world's largest metro areas, like Tokyo, Jakarta, Shanghai, and Los Angeles, are all located within highly active seismic regions, with the potential to cause destruction to millions. The principles of seismic design and structural engineering for earthquakes include base-isolating structures, tuned-mass ...
Next month, the AIA Center for Architecture will debut Considering the Quake: Seismic Design on the Edge. The exhibition will address how the specifics of structural design are often merged with contemporary architectural forms, through the lens of earthquake engineering. New buildings like OMA's Taipei Performing Arts Center, Libeskind's Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, and Singapore/Tokyo-based Studio SKLIM’s earthquake-resistant Hansha Reflection house will be examined to see how different contemporary building methods and structural systems can provide new structures with protection from earthquake activity. Building destroyed during the 2010 Chilean Earthquake. Photo via Wikimedia Commons Indeed, inciting a larger dialogue about the ways in which engineering and architecture can be employed to provide a buffer from seismic events couldn't come at a better time. In 2010, two catastrophic earthquakes devastated large sections of Haiti and Chile, with many of the structures lacking the necessary resistance to natural disasters. Not to mention, some of the world's largest metro areas, like Tokyo, Jakarta, Shanghai, and Los Angeles, are all located within highly active seismic regions, with the potential to cause destruction to millions. The principles of seismic design and structural engineering for earthquakes include base-isolating structures, tuned-mass ...