MUNICIPAL SERVICES BUILDING OF THE CITY OF GLENDALE

In 2008, the Municipal Services Building of the City of Glendale, California was seismically
retrofitted using an innovative combined vibration control solution: the existing elevated building
foundation of the building was put on high damping rubber bearings.
RITZ-CARLTRON/JW MARRIOTT

The Ritz-Carlton/JW Marriott hotel building, a part of the LA Live development in Los Angeles,
California, is the first building in Los Angeles that uses an advanced steel plate shear wall system
to resist the lateral loads of strong earthquakes and winds.
TRANSAMERICA PYRAMID

The Transamerica Pyramid is an iconic 1970s structure hosted by the Californian city of San
Francisco which sits closely beside the San Andreas and Hayward faults. In 1989, the Loma Prieta
earthquake struck the structure at a magnitude of 6.9 Mw which caused the top story to sway, by
almost one foot from side to side, for more than a minute but the building stood tall and
undamaged. This earthquake resistance feat can be attributed to the 52-foot-deep steel and concrete
foundation that is designed to freely move with seismic loadings. Vertical and horizontal loadings
are supported by a unique truss system above the first level with interior frames extending up to
the 45th level. The complex combination of these structural systems makes the building resistant
to torsional movements and allows large horizontal base shear forces to be absorbed.
SABIHA GOKCEN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Sabiha Gökçen is one of the two international airports in Istanbul, Turkey, which is located near
the North Anatolian fault. It was designed by the engineering firm Ove Arup to have 300 base
isolator systems that can withstand up to a maximum of 8.0 Mw earthquake. The base isolators
can reduce lateral seismic loadings by 80% which makes it one of the largest seismically isolated
structure in the world.
SHANGHAI TOWER (SHANGHAI CHINA)

Standing more than 2,000 feet high, the Shanghai Tower is the second tallest building on the planet.
Unfortunately, Shanghai is located in a seismically active area and the site of the tower is
composed primarily of soft, clay-heavy soil. To boost the foundation and make it more of an
earthquake proof building, engineers incorporated 980 piles — some nearly 300 feet deep —
secured within 2.15 million cubic feet of reinforced concrete.

Like Taipei 101, the Shanghai Tower also utilizes a tuned mass damper to control sway during an
earthquake or high winds. Weighing in at 1,000 tons, the damper in the Shanghai Tower dwarfs
the device used in Taipei 101 by more than 200 tons. As the building sways, the inertia of the
weight counters this movement. For optimal counterbalancing, a series of shock absorbers keep
the pendulum from swinging too far or too quickly.
MORI TOWER (TOKYO JAPAN)

Japan sits in one of the most seismically active regions on the planet. Each year, the country
experiences more than 100,000 earthquakes, according to the Seismology Society of Japan. After
the catastrophic 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake — or Kobe earthquake is it more commonly
known — the country mandated new engineering standards and sweeping retrofitting overhauls to
prevent similar devastation in the future.

Mori Tower is one of the tallest buildings in Tokyo and per its official website, the tower was
designed to be a “a ‘city to escape into’ rather than a city from which people run away.” To fulfill
this ambitious goal, the Mori Tower features some of the most sophisticated motion-absorbing,
earthquake resistant building technology ever implemented.

Like Taipei 101, Mori Tower uses damper engineering for seismic resistance. However, rather
than implementing a massive tuned damper Mori Tower uses 192 of fluid-filled shock absorbers.
These semi-active dampers are filled with a thick oil, and as the tower begins to sway — as a result
of tremor or high winds — this oil is sloshed in the opposite direction to counter and/or minimize
this swaying
TAJ MAHAL

It might be hard to believe but the monumental Taj Mahal, built more than 400 years ago, is also
effectively resistant to the disastrous effects of earthquakes. The enormously advanced technique
used by the Mughal patron for its construction is truly worth commendation.
Making Indian Building Structures Earthquake Proof
India is prone to high magnitude earthquakes in almost all of its parts. With the high density of
population concentrated in large cities in buildings, there is a vital need to construct earthquake
resistant buildings in the country.
We need to implement strict measures against damage to buildings from earthquakes in India.
There are several effective options available for this. These are some salient points which instruct
on making earthquake resistant buildings in India:
Sandy soil
When constructing buildings on sandy soil, always ensure that the building being constructed is
supported through pile foundations which rest on hard strata. These can also be constructed by
improving the ground suitably.
Earthquake-Prone regions
Use special light-weight yet string materials when constructing buildings in areas that are
renowned for frequent earthquakes. Keep the height of the structures such that they are able to
resist the sideways drag successfully.
KOMATSU SEIREN (NOMI, JAPAN)

Not all earthquake proof building designs utilize the most sophisticated dampers or seismic
isolators to protect buildings during major seismic shifts. A Japanese textile firm, Komatsu Seiren,
recently used high-tensile twine developed from carbon fiber to reinforce its facility in Nomi,
Japan. Architects Kengo Kuma and Associates then attached more than 1,000 of these high-tensile
rods to the roof of the facility. Inside the showroom, another “curtain” of nearly 3,000 additional
rods add further structural reinforcement. Together these systems help minimize the horizontal
forces exerted during an earthquake.
U.S BANK TOWER (LIBRARY TOWER)

U.S. Bank Tower, the tower was called First Interstate Bank World Center before 2004, when US
Bank Corp rent a large portion of floors in the tower and bought the name rights, changed the name
to U.S. Bank Tower, and installed the company's logo on the tower's crown at the peak after the
original logo of First Interstate was removed. However the local people prefer its common name
Library Tower, which comes out of its location being across the street from Central Library, and
it was built as part of the Central Library redevelopment.
Design and construction:
In 1986, two serious fires occurred at Central Library in Los Angeles, after that the city proposed
a plan for redevelopment of the disaster-affected area, U.S. Bank Tower was a project within that
redevelopment plan.
U.S. Bank Tower was designed by Henry N. Cobb from Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, a firm led by
starchitect IM Pei.
Like many other skyscrapers such as Willis Tower in Chicago and Bank of China Tower in Hong
Kong, the design of U.S. Bank Tower is all based on the footprint's shape.
The building was designed to be able to withstand a Ritcher 8.3 scale earthquake, it was once the
tallest building located in earthquake zone before the completion of Taipei 101.
WILSHIRE GRAND CENTER

Described as one of the most complicated skyscraper projects ever attempted, the 1,100 feet tall
New Wilshire Grand Center in Los Angeles will be the tallest building on the Pacific Coast when
it opens next year, outstripping the nearby US Bank Tower.
Designed by Architect AC Martin with a cigar box shape to meet the needs of a hotel, the billon-
dollar tower would be vulnerable to the extreme conditions of the region.
“This was the most complicated and the highest seismic-demand project I have been involved in,”
says engineer Leonard Joseph of Thornton Tomasetti, who managed structural requirements of the
Wilshire Grand, and previously worked on the Shanghai Tower and Petronas Towers of Kuala
Lumpur.
“A long and narrow building in an earthquake is quite stiff and strong in the long direction, but
more flexible in the crosswise direction, so that was the challenge here.”
The design team settled on a plan for a concrete core with a steel perimeter frame, connected by
braces known as outriggers at three levels of the tower. Joseph compares the latter elements to the
arms and poles of a skier, providing balance on the slopes.
BURJ KHALIFA

The structure is composed of mechanical floors where outrigger walls connect the perimeter
columns to the interior walling. By doing this, the perimeter columns are able to contribute support
for the lateral resistance of the structure and the verticality of the columns also help with carrying
the gravity loads. As a result, Burj Khalifa is exceptionally stiff in both lateral and torsional
directions. A complex system of base and foundation design was derived by conducting extensive
seismic and geotechnical studies which gave the skyscraper stringent structural measures against
earthquakes.
PETRONAS TOWER

Malaysia’s Petronas Towers in Kualampur were the world’s tallest building until 2004. The 452
meter high towers are built to resist earthquakes and stand to be the world’s tallest twin towers. A
two-story bridge connects the 41st and the 42nd floor of the towers which can slide in and out of
the building to prevent the wind from putting loads on the building.
UTAH STATE CAPITOL

The Utah State Capitol is the house of government for the state of Utah. The building has its own
base isolation system made up of a network of 280 isolators built with laminated rubber laying on
the foundation of the building. The lead-rubber isolators are attached with the foundation using
steel plates. In case an earthquake happens, the isolator bearings allow the building to rock back
and forth gently, moving only the foundation and not the rest of the structure.
YOKOHAMA LANDMARK TOWER

Situated in the Minato Mirai 21 district of Yokohama, Japan, the Yokohama Landmark Tower is
the second tallest building in Japan with a height of 972 feet. The islands of Japan are one of the
most earthquake prone areas on the planet. The Yokohama tower is placed on rollers, which
prevent the skyscraper from shaking even when the earth below moves it. It is built with flexible
materials that will cause the building to bend instead of breaking. A simple mass-damper system
keeps the vibrations from causing any damage.
 EARTHQUAKE
RESISTANT
TECHNIQUES ON
BUILDINGS

GAGUI, DANNIEL SEBASTIAN

GARCIA, HAZEL
GENEROSO, SHALYN
GUEVARRA, ARMIELYN
ISRAITA, RONALYN
LALU, ELLER NALD

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