A collapsed building on Barbadoes Street.
A collapsed building on Barbadoes Street.
A collapsed building on Barbadoes Street.
Collapsed buildings on St Asaph Street.
A photograph of central city buildings.
Staff cleaning up the engineering building.
Base isolation is arguably the most reliable method for providing enhanced protection of buildings against earthquake-induced actions, by virtue of a physical separation between the structure and the ground through elements/devices with controlled force capacity, significant lateral deformation capacity and (often) enhanced energy dissipation. Such a design solution has shown its effectiveness in protecting both structural and non-structural components, hence preserving their functionality even in the aftermath of a major seismic event. Despite lead rubber bearings being invented in New Zealand almost forty years ago, the Christchurch Women's hospital was the only isolated building in Christchurch when the Canterbury earthquake sequence struck in 2010/11. Furthermore, a reference code for designing base-isolated buildings in New Zealand is still missing. The absence of a design standard or at least of a consensus on design guidelines is a potential source for a lack of uniformity in terms of performance criteria and compliance design approaches. It may also limit more widespread use of the technology in New Zealand. The present paper provides an overview of the major international codes (American, Japanese and European) for the design of base-isolated buildings. The design performance requirements, the analysis procedures, the design review process and approval/quality control of devices outlined in each code are discussed and their respective pros and cons are compared through a design application on a benchmark building in New Zealand. The results gathered from this comparison are intended to set the basis for the development of guidelines specific for the New Zealand environment.
The cartoon shows a monstrous machine with an enormous crushing ball attached to a giant crane. It moves past a signpost that points towards Christchurch. A man watches and tells his friend 'Gerry Brownlee borrowed it from Auckland! Context - Brownlee has caused a stir by suggesting that if he had his way some of Christchurch's older buildings would be "down tomorrow". He also said the price of saving some historic buildings badly damaged in the February 22 earthquake was too high. People had died in the quake because of attempts to save historic buildings badly damaged in the September 4 quake. Brownlee said he had no regrets despite the stir his comments caused - but he was annoyed by suggestions the Cathedral and Riccarton House were among buildings he thought should be bowled. He believed those buildings should be saved, and they would be. "I'm not a philistine; I was chairman of the trust that actually saved Riccarton House from the bulldozers in 1990. "I understand conservation architecture very well and I do have an appreciation of heritage buildings." Colour and black and white versions available Quantity: 2 digital cartoon(s).
Unreinforced masonry (URM) is a construction type that was commonly adopted in New Zealand between the 1880s and 1930s. URM construction is evidently vulnerable to high magnitude earthquakes, with the most recent New Zealand example being the 22 February 2011 Mw6.3 Christchurch earthquake. This earthquake caused significant damage to a majority of URM buildings in the Canterbury area and resulted in 185 fatalities. Many URM buildings still exist in various parts of New Zealand today, and due to their likely poor seismic performance, earthquake assessment and retrofit of the remaining URM building stock is necessary as these buildings have significant architectural heritage and occupy a significant proportion of the nation’s building stock. A collaborative research programme between the University of Auckland and Reid Construction Systems was conducted to investigate an economical yet effective solution for retrofitting New Zealand’s existing URM building stock. This solution adopts the shotcrete technique using an Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC), which is a polyvinyl alcohol fibre reinforced mortar that exhibits strain hardening characteristics. Collaborations have been formed with a number of consulting structural engineers throughout New Zealand to develop innovative and cost effective retrofit solutions for a number of buildings. Two such case studies are presented in this paper. http://www.concrete2013.com.au/technical-program/
An aerial photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Victoria Square is at the centre of this picture with its green lawns and trees. The bare patch of earth in front s the demolition sites of the Allan McLean building, the Oxford on Avon, and Plunket House. The contract to demolish the Crowne Plaza Hotel has been let, while the fate of the Town Hall is still undecided. The Convention Centre is coming down. On the very bottom, slightly to the right is the Medlab building which is also to be demolished. In the bottom left corner is the PWC building which is also to be demolished".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Looking from 223 Tuam Street across 3 blocks of clear land (Tuam-Ash-Lichfield-Bedford Row) to the IRD building on Cashel Street".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The new Press building on Gloucester Street at dusk. The central city red zone now has office workers and lights on".
A photograph of the earthquake damage to a block of buildings on Worcester Street. One of the buildings has also suffered damage from a fire caused by the 4 September 2010 earthquake.
A digital copy of a painting by Julia Holden. The painting is of building rubble and an excavator. In the background is the Forsyth Barr building.
Aerial image of the PGC Building site on Cambridge Terrace, taken by the Royal New Zealand Air Force for the Earthquake Commission.
A photograph of flowers and other items placed outside the site of the CTV Building on Madras Street in memorial of those who lost their lives in the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of earthquake-damaged buildings on Tuam Street. Buildings have been cordoned off with wire fencing and the entrance to Poplar Lane is barricaded with barbed wire and wooden frames.
A photograph of an earthquake-damaged building on the corner of Welles and Manchester Streets. Masonry from the top floor of the building has come away and windows have been broken.
A photograph of an earthquake-damaged building on Riccarton Road. The top storey has collapsed causing rubble to spill onto the footpath, crushing a car. The area surrounding the building has been cordoned off.
A photograph of an earthquake-damaged building on Riccarton Road. The top storey has collapsed causing rubble to spill onto the footpath, crushing a car. The area surrounding the building has been cordoned off.
Emergency personnel using a crane to find and evacuate people trapped by the collapsed Pyne Gould Corporation building in the aftermath of the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "A view of Real Groovy from the top of Alice in Videoland".
The MedLab building on Kilmore Street. Many of the windows are open or have been broken. Inside, ceiling tiles are missing and swaths of fabric hang from concrete beams.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "36-40 Cathedral Square and 103-105 Worcester Street with the new Press building in the background".
Emergency personnel using cranes to search for trapped people in the wreckage of the collapsed Pyne Gould Corporation building in the aftermath of the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
Emergency personnel using a crane to find and evacuate people trapped by the collapsed Pyne Gould Corporation building in the aftermath of the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
Photo inside ground floor of Records & Archives of Pegasus Building taken by James Thompson, 5 September 2010.
Photo inside ground floor of Records & Archives of Pegasus Building taken by James Thompson, 5 September 2010.
Slides from a presentation by Dr Bernard Walker at UC CEISMIC's Contestable Fund mini-conference. The presentation was titled, "Building Organisational Resilience: the role of HRM in post-disaster recovery".
Broken gutters on the Christ Church Cathedral where the roof has fallen away. Damage to the brickwork can also be seen to the right.