The Design Gesture

Tag: Disaster Relief Architecture

Incredible Approaches to Earthquake-Proof Structures
Beautiful cities and constructions have been built by mankind throughout history, only for them to be destroyed by natural forces. The mere mention of earthquakes, which are classified as natural disasters, does not give off a very positive impression. Earthquakes are one of the planet’s most destructive forces; seismic waves that travel through the ground have the power to damage structures, claim lives, cause enormous financial losses, and more.
The National Earthquake Information Center estimates that there are typically 20,000 earthquakes each year, 16 of which are major disasters. Similar to earthquakes, most damage is brought on by buildings collapsing while occupants are still inside, necessitating the construction of earthquake-proof structures.
However, in older eras, when the type of structures was usually closer to the ground and did not reach a very significant height, there would be opportunity to run to an open area for minimal harm. But given the current situation, where high-rise structures are crammed closely together, there is little choice but to design the structures so that they can survive seismic activity. Engineers have improved building earthquake resistance over the past few decades by introducing new building designs and materials. These kinds of buildings are referred to be earthquake-resistant structures.
Earthquake-resistant structures are those built to resist total collapse, protect life, and reduce damage in the event of an earthquake or tremor. Through a variety of techniques, earthquake-resistant structures absorb and dissipate seismically produced motion: damping reduces the amplitude of oscillations of a vibrating structure, and ductile materials (such as steel) can endure significant inelastic deformation.
The article will describe the various approaches to earthquake-proof building design.
Understanding Earthquake – Resistant Structures
Buildings are intended to be protected from earthquakes to some extent or completely by earthquake-resistant or aseismic construction. The aim of earthquake engineering is to build structures that perform better during seismic activity than their conventional counterparts, even though no construction can be completely resistant to earthquake damage. Building regulations state that earthquake-resistant constructions must be able to withstand the biggest earthquake with a specific probability that is expected to strike the area where they are located. This means that in the event of a rare earthquake, the death toll should be kept to a minimum by preventing building collapse, while in the event of a more regular earthquake, the functional loss should be kept to a minimum.
From the outside, buildings designed to resist earthquakes may not stand out. They are more resilient during these disasters, nevertheless, due to a number of factors.
How to Make a Building Earthquake-Proof
When experts plan and develop structures, they consider ways to lower dangers. Engineers labour to strengthen the structure and mitigate the effects of a prospective earthquake when creating an earthquake-proof building. Buildings are pushed in one direction by an earthquake’s discharge of energy; the approach entails having the building push in the opposite direction. These safeguards make sure that buildings can survive the effects of earthquakes. Here are a few techniques for making structures more earthquake-resistant.
Base Isolators
Base isolation is a technique used to “raise” the building’s foundation above the ground in order to withstand ground stresses. Base isolation entails erecting a structure on top of flexible steel, rubber, and lead pads. The isolators vibrate when the base shakes during an earthquake, but the building itself doesn’t move. As a result, seismic vibrations are successfully absorbed and kept from passing through the building.
Seismic Dampers
Photographer Unknown
Buildings that can withstand earthquakes must also include characteristics that can absorb shock. They are more frequently referred to as earthquake dampers by engineers. The shock absorbers used in automobiles are comparable to seismic dampers. Shock absorbers work similarly to how they do in automobiles i.e. they lessen the force of the shockwaves and lessen the strain on the structure. Pendulum power and vibrational control devices are used to achieve this.
The dampers are positioned between columns and beams on each level of a building. Each damper comprises of a cylinder containing silicone oil and piston heads. When there is an earthquake, the structure’s vibrational energy is transferred to the pistons, which press on the oil. The force of the vibrations is then dissipated as a result of the energy’s transformation into heat. By absorbing damaging energy, seismic dampers prevent the building from being damaged. Generally speaking, the damper can withstand higher stress the larger its diameter.
Photographer Unknown | Source: https://www.quaketek.com
Earthquake-Proof Structural Reinforcement
Different techniques are used by engineers and architects to fortify a building’s framework against potential earthquakes. Buildings must redistribute the seismic forces that pass through them in order to withstand collapse. For instance, the main components of a building’s reinforcement include shear walls, cross braces, diaphragms, and moment-resisting frames.
Photographer Unknown
Shear Walls
These wide beams, which are given for high strength and stiffness, are vertically orientated. While core walls are made up of channel sections that are best used without any gaps, these are either plane or flanged in section. In high rise buildings, their thickness typically ranges from 150 mm to 400 mm. These walls ought to have symmetrical plans on both axes.
Diaphragm
Another essential component of a building’s structure is its diaphragm, which transfers lateral stresses to the structure’s vertically resistant walls or framework. Diaphragms, which are made up of the building’s floors, roof, and decks atop them, assist in pushing forces to the building’s vertical supports and relieving floor strain. There are also frames that can withstand movement.
Bracing
Buildings are shaken from left to right by s-waves during an earthquake, therefore bracing keeps the shape and prevents the structure from becoming weaker. Different types of bracing, such as diagonal bracing, x-bracing, v-bracing, inverted v-bracing, and k-bracing, can be utilised. When diagonal supports in a building structure intersect, cross bracing is used to strengthen the structure.
Photographer Unknown
Materials
Shock absorbers, pendulums, and “invisibility cloaks” could, to some extent, assist in dispelling the energy, but the materials choose for a building are also in charge of its stability. High ductility materials can therefore take in a lot of energy without breaking. Brick and concrete are low-ductility materials, although structural steel is one of them. Structural steel, which comes in a variety of shapes and allows buildings to bend without breaking, is frequently used in the construction of modern buildings. Due to its considerable strength in comparison to its lightweight structure, wood is also an unexpectedly ductile material.
Conclusion
Each year, there are thousands of earthquakes worldwide. While some only cause slight or no harm, others result in building collapses, fatalities, and severe economic disruptions in the area. Because careful choices can save millions of lives every year, it is important to allow for some structural damage, resist lateral loads with stiffeners (diagonal sway bracing), and for different parts of the building to move independently.
October 29, 2024
Disaster Relief Architecture: An Effective Response to Post Disaster Damage
What is a Disaster?
Photo by National centres for Environmental Information
A disaster is a serious problem being over a short or long period that causes wide mortal, material, profitable, or environmental loss, which exceeds the capability of the affected community or society to manage using its own coffers.
Disasters are routinely divided into natural or man-made, although complex disasters, where there’s no single root cause, are more common in developing countries. A specific disaster may generate a secondary disaster that increases the impact. A classic example is an earthquake that causes a riffle, performing in littoral flooding. Some manufactured disasters have been credited to nature similar to gauze and acid rain.
Need Of Disaster Relief Architecture
Photo by Indesign Live
Disasters are getting the norm in this world, which also poses challenges to architects and engineers. Numerous requirements to make temporary structures may arise at the same time all around the world.
As stated in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), cities are getting more and more vulnerable to the impact of natural disasters, and their frequency, duration, and intensity are becoming increasingly extreme.
The COVID-19 epidemic that began in 2020 has verified this notion. Metropolitan cities and human society are facing unknown challenges. In order to fight the damage caused by the disaster, the world witnessed the Fangcang sanctum hospitals established in China within many days, the recyclable temporary sanctum units erected by Turkey at veritably low cost after the earthquake, and so on.
An Architect’s Role
After 1950, as high-rise buildings & skyscrapers became statements of style & necessity and population and its density remained a major concern, horizontal expansion was merely impossible. No building can be completely disaster-proof, therefore, architects need to study & analyze past data like soil conditions, context, and climatic conditions before executing the building
An architect must know the consequences after the disaster, judgment about the site context, the ability to make quick decisions with limited information about the site context, should be active, flexible, creative, and should incorporate the entire community.
Stages of Disaster Relief Architecture
Disaster preparedness or Stages of Disaster Relief Architecture has links with an effective response to post-disaster recovery. However, its influence on housing strategy is not much explored in literature.
Considering the lackluster disaster preparedness in India, it seems safe to assume that the post-disaster housing strategy is intuitive. It depends on the scale and damage intensity of the disaster.
While sheltering refers to a place to stay during the immediate aftermath of the disaster suspending daily activities, housing denotes the return to household responsibilities and daily routine. Based on this distinction, the four stages are:
Emergency shelter
Emergency shelters include a place where survivors stay for a short period during the height of the emergency, which can be in the house of a friend or a public shelter. This kind of shelter rarely allows for the extensive preparation of food or prolonged medical services.
Temporary shelter
Used for an expected short stay, ideally only a few weeks after the disaster, this may be a tent, a public mass shelter, and so on.
Temporary housing
Temporary Housing is a place where the survivors can live temporarily, usually planned for six months to three years, returning to their normal daily activities, and can take the form of a prefabricated house, a rented house, and so on.
Thus, temporary housing can be defined as an object or physical structure where people live after a disaster, a part of the post-disaster re-housing program, and a place that serves to shelter people from the disaster until their resettlement in a permanent place.
Permanent housing
Return to the rebuilt house or resettle in a new one to live permanently.
Many times, the difference between housing and shelter is blurred. It is difficult to set an exact duration for such a shift from a shelter to a house, since housing is a physical element and a place that emotionally connects its inhabitants.
History
The origin of temporary buildings
Photo of Crystal Palace by Bureau International des Expositions
Temporary structures can be traced back to the portable tents of nomads. With the development of construction technology, temporary structures have begun to come to a new type of architecture. These types of structures are frequently accompanied by the need for rapid construction.
After World War II, the demand for a reconstruction of housing and other structures rose extremely in many countries.
For example, in 1851, it only took less than 9 months to complete the construction of the Crystal Palace at the London World Expo, which can also be disassembled and transported to another place for reassembly. In the 1960s, many simple structures composed of precast concrete boxes appeared in the United Kingdom and Europe.
Japan surfaced as “metabolism” engineers who promoted prefabricated structures and proposed that civic structures should be renewed like natural cell metabolism, an organic evolutionary process of constant extermination and creation. For illustration, Nakagin Capsule Tower, the world’s first capsule structure, is a masterpiece of this type of prefabricated assembly technology practice.
The enhancement of social productivity has brought about an unknown consumption period. The construction assiduity also showed some analogous characteristics after the 1960s. A large number of structures were demolished decades or indeed times after they were erected. Their update speed has been important faster than any former period.
The transition from fast to portable and from disposable to recyclable
Photo by Archdaily
In the past trends, designers and engineers have focussed to concentrate more on the “fastness” of construction; and at the same time, because of the constraints of objective conditions, non-recyclable materials such as concrete were used as the main body of numerous constructions.
After this surge of temporary structures, numerous scholars and designers called for a better design approach in response to numerous problems, like rigid structures, waste of materials and other resources, and so on.
By assessing the characteristics and trends of the rapid construction of temporary structures, the current focus has shifted from one-sided “fast” to “convenient” and from “disposable” use of materials to an “economically recyclable” trend.
Key Points To Consider while Planning a design Shelter
Planning shelters
The most effective strategies for emergency shelter consider the entire shelter cycle, including the root causes of emergency and interim shelter requirements; its accessibility; resources, and services required to construct and run it; and how they will transition into a long-term casing. Focusing solely on the provision of shelter can lead to hamstrung use of resources and inefficiency, especially when the situation leading to the need for shelter could be averted or eased.
Equal community participation
Those most likely to be affected should be involved in planning the shelters — rather long before a disaster occurs. Participation by original leaders, vulnerable populations, and communities is essential for any recovery plan to work. Communities recover as communities, not as individualities.
Prioritise the stakeholders
Plans should be designed to meet the requirements of the most vulnerable first. Emergency and interim sanctum should be designed to meet the requirements of those who need the most support. Aged grown-ups, people with disabilities and functional requirements, and women and girls come much more vulnerable when exigency and the interim shelter are needed.
Involvement of Private agencies
Even in developed nations, private philanthropy plays an essential part in the reconditioning of communities. Government backing and insurance only go so far in meeting requirements, particularly when there have been multiple major disasters, or the affected area is veritably large.
Special consideration for urban areas
In the time of a disaster, there may be further debris from affected structures, in addition to the damage to roads and other structures. Urban areas may also include a higher chance of vulnerable or resource-poor populations, with the lower capability to repel or recover from disaster on their own.
Efficient Planning
Improved, efficient planning and a smarter structure can act as mitigation. In Bangladesh, for illustration, a nation heavily impacted by periodic cataracts, communities have worked with non-governmental associations (NGOs) and others to raise houses above deluge situations; establish deluge harbours that can accommodate up to 300 families each; make raised- tube wells for clean water; ameliorate warning dispatches and keep deliverance boats ready.
Learn from history
A lot can be learned from one experience, both domestically and internationally. There are numerous openings not only for the study of stylish practices but also for working toward the perpetuation of those practices in vulnerable communities worldwide.
Inspiring Examples of Post Disaster Architecture
Paper Temporary Shelter
Photo by DesignBoom
Paper temporary shelters were constructed at Daanbantayan, Cebu, Philippines, following the devastation of Typhoon Haiyan (locally called Yolanda) in November 2013. The construction methods of previous paper log house projects (in Kobe, Turkey, and India) were very complicated and time-consuming to create in high volumes.
In this design, the connection system of the Paper Partition System, developed for making partitions within evacuation centers, made it possible to simplify the construction, thus shortening the construction period. The foundations were made up of beer crates crammed with sandbags, and floor panels were made up of coconut wood and plywood. A readily used woven bamboo sheet was applied to the paper tube structural frame, and therefore the roof may be thatching of Nypa palms laid over plastic sheets.
Temporary House By Shigeru Ban Architects
Photo by Shigeru Ban Architects
New Temporary House design is a low-cost casing action that is characterized as follows:
1) Perfecting casing condition of developing countries creating new employment.
2) Exporting units as relief casing to the countries after disasters.
3) FRP structural panel is easy to make indeed by non-skilled workers.
Hex-House
Photo by Dwell
The Hex House is a revolutionary system by which high end design of sustainable structures is made economically and physically accessible to the general public. By streamlining the construction processes to their bare rudiments, and allowing the end-users to be part of the process using well-designed, prefabricated elements, a quality structure can be realized at substantial cost savings.
The Hex House is conceived as a sustainable, fleetly deployable structure grounded on Structural Insulated Panel technology which can be packed flat-pack and fluently assembled. It has the inflexibility to be both an endless or a temporary structure.
The structure’s capability to be fluently modified with minimum dislocation gives families the capacity to expand their space over time. Sustainable features like solar panels, unresistant cooling, rainwater harvesting, and composting & biogas toilets give families more independence, minimize their carbon footmark, and add functional savings.
Weaving a Home
Photo by Trend tablet
Architect Abeer Seikaly’s abstract emergency shelter is composed of “high-strength plastic tubing that’s molded into a sine-wave curve and woven into a supple fabric membrane, a specialized, structural fabric that expands to enclose and contracts for mobility.
“The concave tubing allows for services similar as heat, electricity, or running water and are suitable to acclimatize to colorful climatic conditions. Seikaly poetically describes her design stating, “Deportees carry from their homes what they can and migrate in unknown lands, frequently starting with nothing but a roof to call home. In this space, the deportees find a place to break from their turbulent worlds, a place to weave the shade of their new lives.”
Just a Minute Shelter
Photo from Archdaily
The ‘Just A Minute shelter’ by Italian firm Barberio Colella was designed in response to the 2015 earthquake in Nepal. As similar, the engineers sought to use original Nepalese accoutrements to fashion a house that can be” erected snappily, featherlight and compact to transport, durable, and profitable.
The shelter combines an OSB central core with a deployable bamboo structure covered by recycled hair sequestration and a surface membrane of double white Juta. Atop that’s a leakproof membrane to further cover the structure from the rudiments. Energy tone- adequacy becomes possible with the addition of solar and photovoltaic panels to the roof.
Tentative
Photo by Design Indaba
The idea behind Tentative by Designnobis is a compact, each-by-one emergency shelter suitable for any terrain or climate. Conforming of a rainfall-resistant cloth that’s crocheted together, Tentative holds separating perlite squeezed between layers and held by an aluminium frame.
The roof collects water, as well as furnishing lighting and ventilation, while the bottom is made up of heat- separating recyclable compound balconies. When compacted, the sanctum is fluently transmittable at 4 measures long, 2 measures wide, and only 30 centimeters altitudinous, growing to 2.5 measures altitudinous when at its full size.
Pop-Up Places Of Worship
Photo by LakaReacts
Scholars Lucas Boyd and Chad Greenlee designed an offer of pop-up churches, bethels, and kirks for those fleeing conflict in exile camps. They believe that, “While places of deification don’t give an introductory need for an existent’s natural survival, they do represent an abecedarian aspect of not only an existent’s life beyond mileage, but an identity within the collaborative, a familiar place of being — and this is a commodity that we consider synonymous with being mortal — a demand for the continuity of culture.
By distilling the iconography of sacred spaces, Boyd and Greenlee have created minimum yet fluently recognizable sacred spaces. Pop-Up Places of Worship embody the significance of fastening on the emotional requirements of those displaced, rather than simply a physical sanctum.
Conclusion
The best way to achieve long-term resilience is through development phases that create needed resources and establish sustainable construction techniques in disaster hit areas. The goal is to reach the disaster area and quickly and efficiently establish the necessary shelter and infrastructure.
October 29, 2024
Housing in Natural Calamities
Housing in Volcanic Zones
The first thing that people think about volcanic damage is fire damage because of lava. Mudslide damage, floods, and ashes are the most damaging in buildings. Volcanic eruptions of one of the most potent and damaging natural calamities. It also triggers a Domino effect of other disasters. Dust and ashes in the sky can collapse on the roofs. One of the most important things to do is to protect the roof from ash compilation. Flat roofs are usually avoided because it leads to a buildup of ashes. Similarly, heavily stooped roofs are also avoided because ash is corrosive.
Photo by MauliNow
Building Design in Volcano Zones
The roof is meant to be smooth with a slick surface so the Ash slides from it. Reinforcing the structure with titanium makes it durable, robust, and is used for lateral support. The house is supported on stilts. These design solutions do not offer entire volcanic resistance. Volcanoes instigate earthquakes and tsunamis. These solutions do not complete protection, but protect the home on some level. Experts suggest the use of extra roof support and avoiding flat roofs or roofs with complicated designs. Concrete reinforced buildings are protected from storms and other disasters. Use of timber is supposed to be avoided.
Effect of Volcanoes on Buildings
Volcanoes result in slow-moving Lava whose temperature goes up to 1292 °F to 2192 °F (700 °C to 1200 °C). Volcanic eruption leads to poisonous gases and strong storms. The distance of a building from a volcano doesn’t determine the degree of damage that it does. A building’s proximity to lava and the pyroclastic flow zones determines the level of damage a volcano might inflict on the building.
According to national geographic, pyroclastic is the rapid flow of lava, volcanic ash, and gasses running down in fickle ways. They’re hazardous because they can’t be stopped, even by water, and consume everything that comes in their way. Lava moves at a slow speed which buys people the time to escape, but, pyroclastic flows are rapid and go up to 200 miles per second.
Usually, buildings with stilts can withstand lava. Since ash is heavier than snow, it can damage the paint, flooring, drainage systems, and other structural support systems of the building, like HVAC. If the interiors aren’t maintained, it increases health risks. Volcanic eruptions also give rise to extreme storms and fierce winds that may fling boulders through the air and crush buildings that aren’t constructed properly. Fire, earthquakes, tsunamis, mudslides are some of the after-effects of the eruption.
Photo by KitingField
Use of Lava Rocks
Using lava rocks for building construction makes it durable towards the lava. The downside to this is the complicated technicality and cost of construction. Buildings in Hawaii historically used lava locks for construction. Although this can be a great technique, the difference in composition of these rocks can be a hurdle in accomplishing quality construction. Some rocks are heavy and robust, while some are flimsy and quite crushable. This technique is not cost-efficient. Reinforced cement would be the best option for buildings in volcanic regions.
Techniques and Materials for Earthquake Resistant Homes
Earthquakes are one of the most dangerous, impactful, and damaging disasters of all time. The aftershocks are sustained by the neighboring places. Structures built with stacked bricks and mortar and weak. In such houses, the weight is carried from the roof to the walls, all the way to the foundation. When such houses are subjected to seismic forces, it is very easy for them to crumble down. Concrete blocks or unreinforced bricks put the structure in a great degree of danger. Concrete and wood are earthquake resistant.
Base isolation techniques permit the foundation to move without moving the entire structure. In this technique, isolation pads made from lead, steel, and rubber reduce the damage. Another technique is called damping, which involves the installation of shock absorbers that reduce the magnitude of earthquake vibrations. The most popular technique is called Base Isolation Technique. In this, the structure floats on a lead rubber bearing. A structural engineer ensures the seismic improvements in the buildings. The impact of the earthquake is beyond control. The necessary measures can be taken to ensure minimal damage. The walls, partitions, and slabs are thin and light.
Photo by MSB
Housing in Flood Prone Areas
Floods have been the reason for loss of human lives, loss of cattle lives, degradation of public utilities, damage of crops, and migration of the inhabitants. According to the National Commission of Floods, around 400 lakh hectares of land in India are under the flood-prone zone. Around 320 lakh hectares can be provided protection, which constitutes 80% of the total flood-prone zone. Structural measures can be taken to prohibit water from entering the habitations.
Photo from Earth bound
Categories Of Damage
According to an export group appointed by the Ministry of Urban Development, the government of India, there are five categories of flood damage. G1 stands for very low damage, where there are fine cracks in the plaster and about 10% of the total surface of walls is subjected to falling. G2 stands for Low damage, where the cracks are around 6m wide and about 50% of the total surface area of the walls is subjected to fall.
G3 stands for moderate damage where there are large and deep cracks in the walls. This leads to damage to the walls, electrical fittings, and loss of belongings. G4 stands for high damage where there is significant damage and loss of property. The property may experience collapse, sinking, and the lighter parts of the buildings may even float away. G5 stands for very high damage.
Photo by Down to Earth
Curbing Effects of Flood
Embankments near river channels, river damming, raising the level of villages above flood level can n all help in the prevention of floods. Proper planning of stormwater drainage system and including it in the master plans reduces the chances of urban flooding. Soil testing matters in determining the soil’s capacity to absorb water.
Houses built by filling small water bodies with sand have more chances of sinking. Houses built on slopes by removing the soil have higher chances of landslides during months. Houses are built away from any source of water, or away from areas where the course of water bodies has changed during previous floods.
Before constructing buildings in the flood-prone zones, maps are produced which show the flood-prone zones and contours at an interval of 0.3m or 0.5m. The frequencies of flooding in each area are also mentioned in these maps. The degree of submersion or accumulation of water is also marked on these maps.
Photo from Flood List
Precautions through Construction such Natural Calamities
Houses are raised and built on elevated platforms to avoid floods. Houses are built on stilts. Kutcha houses made of mud, clay, or brick or stone walls with mud mortar are very easily damaged by rain. Water seeps into them through roofs or directly through walls. The upper surface of the roofs can be plastered with water-proof mud plaster and also can be made fire-resistant if applied on the internal side.
150-200 mm thick black polythene of heavy gauge sheets can be laid at mid-thickness or upper quarter thickness of the clay layer as an alternative. The drainage of the roof should be ensured, and the lower portion of the wall next to the fall of water should be made a pucca. Water-proof mud, lime, or cement plaster is used for plastering the top of parapets. 500 mm of roof projection protects the wall from saturation.
Another method to protect walls is using burnt bricks externally and sundried bricks internally. This wall will be one and a half brick thick. The minimum plinth should be 450 mm above ground level, and a DPC (Damp Proof Course) should be laid at the plinth level on all the walls.
October 29, 2024