Builders must build future highrises out of timber and not concrete, according to Brent Toderian, Vancouver’s former chief planner, who told Canada’s Broadcast Corporation (CBC) that city planners must embrace “the continuous transition to more sustainable building materials.”
It comes after researchers from the University of British Columbia have been instrumental in developed a new shock aborption system that could hold the key to making concrete buildings safer during earthquakes – testing the still-standing model at the International Joint Research Laboratory of Earthquake Engineering in Shanghai, where a “shake table” simulated 100 full-scale under nine-magnitude earthquake conditions.
Led by Dr Tony Yang, a structural engineer at UBC’s Faculty of Applied Science who has been instrumental in designing 20-story buildings out of mass timber, the system is part of a project to prepare cities like Vancouver for the “big one.” “We are expected to have very large earthquakes,” Dr Yang told the CBC overnight.
Traditionally, high rises have relied on a rigid concrete core, which typically places elevators and stairwells inside the core. However, Dr Yang said the new system allows buildings to move and absorb energy through dampers, outriggers, and rocking foundations.
“(But) these are like the shock absorbers in your car,” he said. “The design philosophy for the traditional system is to protect the people who live inside, but not the status of the building afterwards. [With the new system] the owner can feel confident that the building, its occupants and contents are protected during and after shaking.”
Dr Yang said the system allows for lighter construction and more usable space inside the building, making it more resilient and cost-effective: “In traditional construction, [builders] put a lot of reinforcement inside central concrete, putting money and labour into it,” he said, explaining that the new design philosophy puts less stress on the concrete core and foundation: “In the long term, it may offer long-term savings by reducing the need for large foundations or post-quake repairs, making the new design “much cheaper” to use.”
- To learn more about Dr Yang’s work with the “Next Gen Construction Initiative,” a research programme that aims to make mass timber highrises economically and technically feasible, click here for Wood Central’s special report from July 2023.
