
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The Westende building on the corner of Worcester and Manchester Streets is one of the first new buildings".
This paper describes the pounding damage sustained by buildings in the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake. Approximately 6% of buildings in Christchurch CBD were observed to have suffered some form of serious pounding damage. Typical and exceptional examples of building pounding damage are presented and discussed. Almost all building pounding damage occurred in unreinforced masonry buildings, highlighting their vulnerability to this phenomenon. Modern buildings were found to be vulnerable to pounding damage where overly stiff and strong ‘flashing’ components were installed in existing building separations. Soil variability is identified as a key aspect that amplifies the relative movement of buildings, and hence increases the likelihood of pounding damage. Building pounding damage is compared to the predicted critical pounding weaknesses that have been identified in previous analytical research.
This paper describes the pounding damage sustained by buildings in the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake. Approximately 6% of buildings in Christchurch CBD were observed to have suffered some form of serious pounding damage. Typical and exceptional examples of building pounding damage are presented and discussed. Almost all building pounding damage occurred in unreinforced masonry buildings, highlighting their vulnerability to this phenomenon. Modern buildings were found to be vulnerable to pounding damage where overly stiff and strong ‘flashing’ components were installed in existing building separations. Soil variability is identified as a key aspect that amplifies the relative movement of buildings, and hence increases the likelihood of pounding damage. Building pounding damage is compared to the predicted critical pounding weaknesses that have been identified in previous analytical research.
Deconstruction of the PriceWaterhouseCoopers building, with the Forsyth Barr building in the foreground.
A video of a tour of the Christchurch central city Red Zone. The video includes footage of Cambridge Terrace, the Copthorne Hotel on Colombo Street, Gloucester Street, the Government Life Building in Cathedral Square, the Grant Thornton Building in Cathedral Square, the ChristChurch Cathedral, the new Press Building on Gloucester Street, the Design and Arts College building on Worcester Street, the new Westende Jewellers Building, Hereford Street, the Westpac Trust Building, the BNZ Building, the Holiday Inn, Lichfield Street, High Street, and Cathedral Junction.
A photograph of the former TV3 building taken from Colombo Street, across the sites of several demolished buildings. In front of the building, two excavators are clearing away the rubble from a demolished building.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The new Westende Jewellers building on the corner of Manchester and Worcester Streets. The former building collapsed in the 4 September 2010 earthquake".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "A view of High Street from the top of Alice in Videoland".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Public Trust building, 152 Oxford Terrace".
A view through the cordon fence of a building damaged in the CBD. The building rubble is still inside the building.
A photograph taken from the top of the BNZ building. The photograph is captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The Grant Thornton Building in Cathedral Square. This building will be demolished".
Page 2 of Section A of the Christchurch Press, published on Friday 10 February 2012.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "PricewaterhouseCoopers building, Armagh Street".
An entry from Ruth Gardner's blog for 2 October 2012 entitled, "Building Brought to Light".
An entry from Ruth Gardner's blog for 29 May 2012 entitled, "Bye-bye Building".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Old Exchange building, former Telecom House, 95 Hereford Street".
Page 5 of Section A of the Christchurch edition of the Christchurch Press, published on Saturday 18 August 2012.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The south face of the Grant Thornton building".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The Grant Thornton building at 97 Cathedral Square".
A video of the demolition of the PricewaterhouseCoopers Building, recorded inside the building.
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Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Rubble in Cathedral Square being stockpiled to provide a high base platform for the giant nibbler to demolish the Grant Thornton building (upper left) and the Government Life building (right)".
The destruction of the Radio Network building in Christchurch has prompted hopes that explosive demolition could be used to bring down other earthquake-damaged buildings.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Cranes dominating the sky in the central city".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "View centered on the Millennium Hotel in Cathedral Square".
An aerial photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "CBD, New Regent Street (lower left), Cathedral Square (left centre) and Provincial Council Chambers (right centre)".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The BNZ building on Armagh Street with the PWC building under construction and Copthorne Hotel being demolished behind. The Forsyth Barr building can also be seen".
Page 3 of Section A of the Christchurch Press, published on Friday 7 September 2012.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Manchester Street car park building, which is a listed heritage site. Viewed from Manchester Street".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Looking across the demolition site of Brannigans towards Cathedral Square".