RicodJour wrote:

Pretty cool idea on how to deal with all of the shear forces and
shaking.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...667119026.html

R

According to the article they reduced the mass of the building by using
steel slabs instead of concrete and they were able to incorporate hefty
steel columns in the architecture. Maybe the article missed relevant
details but that doesn't look very innovative. While the steel
orthotropic slab thing tends to be too cost-prohibitive and therefore used
mostly to bridges, the column thing tends to be avoided because architects
shy away from big, imposing columns in their projects. Other than that,
it appears to be a regular structure designed to widstand the expected
seismic action.

The earthquake video is very interesting, though.


Rui Maciel