The new state-of-the-art central city library in Christchurch incorporates the University of Canterbury’s (UC) engineering innovation designed to ensure future seismic resilience.
According to the UC, the team behind the city’s flagship five-storey library, Tūranga, sought help from UC Mechanical Engineer Associate Professor Geoffrey Rodgers for an engineering plan that will prevent building collapse in the event of a large earthquake.
Rodgers said Tūranga structural engineering design includes large extrusion dampers that absorb energy in a big earthquake and prevent building damage. They are strategically bolted between key base walls and the foundation to act as motion restraints in the event of a large earthquake.
“Under a low level of shaking, this building will respond just like a fixed-base structure,” he noted. “Once you get beyond that low level of shaking, it has been designed to roll and move at the base but in a controlled way.”
