After a series of earthquakes in 1783 destroyed thousands of buildings in Calabria, the Bourbon government which ruled southern Italy introduced a system of construction designed to minimize future damage and to save lives. The building system, called la casa baraccata, was based on the sophisticated notion that structures must respond to seismic disturbances as units. The system was based on an internal framework of wood members embedded in the rubble construction which was common in Calabria. Height limitations, foundations, and special "x" bracing to counter lateral forces were also part of the system that was invented in Calabria and promulgated as the construction code in 1785. It represents one of the earliest concerted responses to earthquake danger and one which was lauded by early 20th-century engineers as a practical means of providing safe construction in earthquake country.

La Casa Baraccata: Earthquake-Resistant Construction in 18th-Century Calabria

On 15 June 1995, an earthquake of moment magnitude M w =6.4 occurred in the western part of Corinthiakos Gulf, Greece, causing the loss of 26 human lives and inflicting considerable damage mainly in the northern part of Peloponnessus. Particularly damaged was the town of Aigio with its environs. The only strong motion instrument in operation at the time of the mainshock in the town of Aigio recorded a horizontal acceleration as high as 0.54 g—the highest ever recorded in Greece—in the vicinity of a collapsed building. The main characteristic of the recorded strong ground motion is the pulse-like shape of its most intensive part, with a period of about 0.45 sec. The macroseismic observations are in good agreement with the distribution of the peak horizontal acceleration—recorded at epicentral distances from 18 km to 78 km, and both sets of data imply anisotropic radiation of seismic waves by the source. The tremor and its largest aftershock (M w =5.6), which followed about 15 minutes later, caused total or...

The aigio (greece) seismic sequence of june 1995: seismological, strong motion data and effects of the earthquakes on structures

Conditions of structural irregularity. Relationships with observed earthquake damage in Mexico City in 2017

Architects design building structures, although structural design is the profession of structural engineers. Thus, it is better for architects and structural engineers to collaborate starting from the initial phases of the architectural design. However, this is not very common because of the contradictory design processes and value systems held within the two professions. This article provides a platform upon which architects and structural engineers can resolve the value conflicts between them by analysing phases of the structural design of reinforced concrete frame systems in architecture, the criteria of the structural design for each phase and determining the conflicting values for each criterion. The results shown in the article demonstrate that the architectural design of structures is a complex process, which is based on contradictory values and value systems. Finally, the article suggests to architects and structural engineers to use Value Sensitive Design and to choose an appropriate team leader in order to resolve the unethical conflict between them and to avoid any unreasonable decision making.

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Ethical considerations for a better collaboration between architects and structural engineers: design of buildings with reinforced concrete frame systems in earthquake zones

Results and considerations are presented from a research aimed to point out the most appropriate configurations – taking into account the available innovative protection systems and to develop a methodology for building design based on the study of the main factors – architectural, technological and structural – which influence the response of buildings to environment actions. The research is structured in four phases: data collection, requirements definition, performance analysis, summary of results. The goal consists of an organic list of solutions allowing for minimising the environmental impact, optimising the use of materials and construction techniques, enhancing the recycling of materials, reducing the energy consumption, integrating the architecture with the innovative technological and structural systems. The research is currently being carried out and some results obtained at the intermediate stage are presented.

https://www.curee.org/architecture/docs/SHA057-Mezzi.pdf

R. Reitherman

Papers

Building configuration and seismic design: The architecture of earthquake resistance