INFLUENCE OF ARCHITECTURAL CONFIGURATION ON BUILDING SEISMIC PERFORMANCE

Abstract

The architect is often the only the professional with an overall view of all aspects of the design and construction. The architect serves the client, brings in the structural engineer and other engineering specialists. He works closely with the contractor and ideally, he orchestrates the project till end. That's why Architects are in a crucial position to influence the seismic safety of structures through their designs. In this context, Configuration is not mere shape or form of structure, but it comprises overall size and shape of building, as well as individual size and location of structural elements, and the nature of their joints. And it also includes size, location and nature of interaction of nonstructural elements that may affect structural performance. The nonstructural elements may include such as heavy nonstructural walls, staircases, hoardings and heavy equipment etc. Knowing these influential characteristics of buildings, an attempt has been made to understand configuration problems originated through design. Damage patterns observed in contemporary modern buildings, from recent earthquake reports assured relation between performance and configuration. Most commonly observed problems in our modem RC buildings are soft story, discontinuous load path, double height first stories and captive columns etc. These configuration irregularities can be avoid or at least minimized by architects easily in early design stages. For several reasons this potential is not always fully realized. In addition to that, Lack of collaboration between architects and other professionals related to structural design and construction is evident through the damaged buildings in many earthquakes. To overcome these - problems, all professionals involved in design and construction process should know their own strengths, roles and responsibilities to ensure the safety of structure against earthquake. But in - existing conditions, awareness and knowledge of Architects related to the importance of their Architectural design and corresponding final building configuration is low, which has significant effect on seismic performance. This is an attempt to compile configuration influences on seismic performance of buildings by pointing out problems and possible enhancements to make sure the buildings resist earthquake forces, thus ensuring life safety.