Quake-ready structures enhance tenant safety

MANILA, Philippines - With the current earthquake scare that’s currently making the rounds of the news and social media, the main thing that’s on every building tenant’s mind right now is the question: “How safe is our building when a strong earthquake hits?”

Many high-rise commercial and residential buildings continue to rise in highly urbanized metropolitan centers, like Metro Manila. This is a natural course for a country’s infrastructure development. However, amid the scare of a “big one” hitting Metro Manila, there now exists a need for property developers to ensure their buildings’ earthquake resilience and to communicate this to their stakeholders, particularly current and future tenants.

Eric Manuel, vice president for business development of Daiichi Properties, said: “It is critical for developers to implement an effective way of evaluating their projects in terms of disaster resilience at the start of the design and construction process.”

He said their own seismic testing methods, in collaboration with leading structural engineering firms, are performance-based, which are more effective in determining a project’s ability to withstand seismic activity and strong winds.

“We tested the structural integrity of our upcoming buildings through a performance-based design approach using a computer model that measures optimal efficiency. This means that the shape and design of our buildings are also dependent on the results of the performance-based testing. More important than the aesthetics of our buildings, are the safety of our tenants.,” he adds.

Daiichi’s award-winning 32-story One World Place in Bonifacio Global City has already achieved above-standard structural performance and reliability, engaging AIT Consulting to implement this performance-based evaluation, with special emphasis on the effects of earthquakes and wind.

Similarly, the company’s World Plaza, which won the Asia Pacific Award for best office development in the Philippines for 2015, has also achieved above-standard structural performance and reliability in performance-based seismic and wind evaluations. The tests were done by Magnusson Klemencic Associates (MKA), an international award-winning structural and civil engineering firm, and Sy^2 and Associates, one of the leading structural engineering companies in the Philippines.

Performance-based seismic design (PBSD), particularly of high-rise buildings, is a new methodology that was pioneered by MKA. The system has greatly transformed the structural design of tall buildings in regions of high seismicity. PBSD uses advanced design methods that meet, and in most instances, exceeds the intent and performance objectives of the Building Code.

“Through the application of sophisticated analytical methods, Daiichi’s partner structural engineers are able to more reliably and directly predict building response during a maximum ground-shaking event. Our buildings’ designs are then tuned and optimized to respond in the most efficient way possible,” said Reynaldo Fuentez, vice president for the project management group.