engleski

Earthquake Architecture in Earthquake Prone Areas

The questions that should be asked by every earthquake-prone area architect are: “Is the architecture of seismic regions different from that of seismically quiescent areas? Do the rules and recommendations regarding regularity, symmetry and so forth necessitated by seismicity, exercise a stultifying influence upon architecture and cause it to become less interesting and exciting?” (Charleson, 2012.). It seems that at first sight, most architectural structures are trying to hide seismic reinforcements that are necessary for the stability of buildings. Sometimes such structural systems are purposely visible, but in large cases, the intention is quite the opposite. However, we need to ask ourselves the question whether we desire to raise their role and visual appearance to the point of becoming a work of art or is our denial of possible earthquake occurrence and its consequences too strong. For instance, there is a problem of uncontrolled and illegal construction that leaves the question of seismic soundness of a good portion of Croatia’s building stock. Replacing walls with only vertical load-bearing elements e.g. huge shop windows or space remodelling, lateral resistance and stability of building in total are jeopardized. The best solutions, structural and architectural, are more likely when the fields of possibilities from both disciplines are well-known. For instance, brick-mortar buildings, with external perimeter walls and interior walls standing from the ground to the roof, are laterally stiff due to their "box-type" configuration, and with more advanced systems and materials such as steel or reinforced concrete, solutions of great soffistication are achievable. (Laghi, Palermo, Trombetti, and Schildkamp, 2017.).

earthquake architecture, seismic reinforcement, structural engineering, architecture

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