Considering the Quake: Seismic Design on the Edge

"Considering the Quake," a new exhibit, which brashly fuses the worlds of architectural storytelling and the practicality of building, through a technological lens, will make its US debut at the American Institute of Architects', Center for Architecture in New York City, on February 13, 2014. Opened to a full house last year, at the Design Exchange in downtown Toronto, Canada, Considering the Quake explores the boundaries between architecture and earthquake engineering. Curated by Professor Ghyslaine McClure, P.Eng and founded/curated by Dr. Effie Bouras, of the McGill University Department of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics, the exhibit emerged from their research on the resiliency of emergency shelters and civil protection buildings, such as schools and hospitals, in earthquake zones throughout the world. Envisioned, as a "science center" for design, the exhibit is tailored not only for the architecture and engineering communities, but an invested public as well, and will feature full-sized seismic technology utilized in buildings, architectural and structural models, seismic testing videos, including clips from Tomas Koolhaas’ new documentary titled REM, and a 500N earthquake shake table from North American Wave Spectrum Science and Trade Inc. International in scope, projects include, the Office for Metropolitan Architecture’s (OMA) ground-breaking Taipei Performing Arts Center, CCTV and Shenzhen Stock Exchange; a house rebuilt on the site of a catastrophic earthquake, by Chilean architects Pezo von Ellrichshausen; The Regional Emergency Management Center in Italy; Daniel Libeskind’s Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco with OLMM Consulting Engineers; Singapore/Tokyo based, Studio SKLIM’s, Earthquake resistant Hansha Reflection house, work by California-based Tipping Mar Engineers and Degenkolb Engineering- the oldest seismic engineering firm in the USA; Star Seismic, an innovative seismic technology, firm based in Utah that has pioneered the engineering and design of buckling restrained braces (BRBs). Other original projects are also featured. Exhibition Installation by SOFTlab in consultation with engineers from ARUP website: cfa.aiany.org