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Seismic Architecture: The Architecture of Earthquake Resistant Structures

Seismic Architecture: The Architecture of Earthquake Resistant Structures
Mentor Llunji, 2016 (Internation...

Article  in  Earthquake Spectra · May 2017

DOI: 10.1193/8755-2930-33.2.803

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BOOK REVIEW
Seismic Architecture: The Architecture of Earthquake Resistant Structures
Mentor Llunji, 2016 (International Edition). MSPROJECT, Ulcinj, Montenegro,
495 pp., hardbound

Reviewed by Robert Reitherman,a) M.EERI

Books on seismic architecture are few, while books on seismic engineering are many.
That ratio does not reflect the relative importance of the two subjects, but rather the generally
low level of interest in seismic design among architects as compared to engineers. As Mentor
Llunji, a structural engineer in Montenego, points out, “It is necessary to pay more attention
to the conceptual design phase and better inform architects about seismic problems and basic
principles of seismic design, as well as work for better and closer collaboration between
structural engineers and architects” (p. 17). Similar to the way the past literature has
dealt with architectural aspects of seismic design, the book treats two basic roles of the
architect: (1) having the lead role in determining a building’s configuration and (2) being
responsible for the design of many of the nonstructural components in a building. Llunji
gives the most attention to the first of these topics, which is the one covered in this review.
In its first 200 pages, the book deals with earthquake effects on structures and seismic
force–resisting systems in a non-quantitative manner accessible to architects, while some
examples of Eurocode (EC 8), International Building Code, New Zealand, and Japanese
engineering provisions are provided as examples. The last half of the book deals with the
author’s prime interest, “to introduce architectural opportunities for earthquake-resistant build-
ings, treating seismic design as a central architectural issue” (p. 13). Those latter chapters are on
Architectural/Structural Configuration and Its Influence on Seismic Response, Contemporary
Architecture in Seismic Regions, Seismic Response of Non-Structural Elements, Seismic
Retrofit and Rehabilitation of Existing Buildings, and a concluding chapter on Seismic
Architecture. These chapters are extensively provided with simple, elegantly rendered engi-
neering diagrams and perspective sketches of building seismic response, as well as numerous
photographs of buildings. The figures total 520, but because many of these include two or three
images, the effective total number of illustrations is well over 1,000. Architecture being a visual
medium, the abundance of good photographs of current architecture sets this book apart from
others in the field. Two appendices provide the architect with short explanations of prevalent
seismic engineering analysis: capacity design, equivalent static lateral force method, nonlinear
static analysis, modal response spectrum, response history, and performance-based design.
There is no index.
Seismic Architecture can be recommended to architects and architectural faculty or
students, its primary audience, and it could also be useful to structural engineers who
may find its many illustrations and examples helpful in discussing seismic issues with
their architectural collaborators.
The key configuration issue identified by Llunji is irregularity. The 1988 Uniform
Building Code first introduced specific provisions to define irregularities with geometric

a)
Consultant, retired Executive Director, CUREE, 155 Great Circle Drive, Mill Valley, CA 94941

803
Earthquake Spectra, Volume 33, No. 2, pages 803–806, May 2017; © 2017, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute
804 R. REITHERMAN

metrics—for example, to define when an L-shaped plan is irregular or a hole in a diaphragm

is large enough to constitute an irregularity—and to define them with engineering metrics—
for example, story stiffness comparisons to determine if a soft story condition is present
(Reitherman 1989.) Those provisions, which included requirements for what to do about
an irregularity, were derived from the 1987 SEAOC Recommended Lateral Force
Requirements and Commentary, which in turn were derived from the 1978 ATC-3. Llunji
provides ample text on current code provisions and effective graphics to explain the problems
of irregular configurations with the aim of preventing them from occurring. The configuration
factors treated are: building proportions (slenderness), symmetry in plan, direct force transfers,
redundancy, shifted mass and volume irregularities, and diaphragms (penetrations in
diaphragms, plan shapes that reduce stiffness and strength).
He spotlights a dominant trend in high-profile architecture of recent years, configurations
that are not simple and symmetrical but rather take the form of “irrational and unusual
shapes” (p. 210) and “irregular and asymmetric forms” (p. 303). He observes: “Today’s
new developments and technologies regarding structural systems offer much more than
what was available a couple of decades ago, but on the other hand, ‘appetites’ for larger
architectural freedom have increased” (p. 329). With today’s architectural graphics software
and engineering analysis software, one might ask, what’s the problem? Llunji’s answer: “The
widely accepted strategy of ‘irregularity remedy’ by adopting advanced methods of analysis
is not the wisest or best approach to solving the problem of configuration irregularities”
(p. 217). While an unusually large engineering and construction budget can overcome
many design challenges, reliable seismic performance is best provided by recourse to proven
configurations. There is also the problem of architectural students and practicing architects
being influenced by the works of “star architects,” for example, Americans Frank Gehry and
Rem Koolhaas, Latin Americans Tatiana Bilbao and Fernando Romero, Japanese Sejima
Nishizawa and Arata Isozaki, and many others whose works are illustrated in the book,
works that have lavish budgets provided by clients who want “signature” icons. Older readers
who are more familiar with the works of Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, or Walter
Gropius must face the fact that today’s architects are more familiar with and more influenced
by architects who intentionally design irregular, often shocking or surprising, buildings.
Applied to the usual architectural job of designing ordinary buildings, with ordinary budgets,
without elaborate engineering analysis or physical testing, the influence of the star architects
can lead to unsafe seismic design, just as emulating race car drivers whose special machines
go 250 km/hr on the race track would be dangerous for us ordinary drivers in our ordinary
cars on ordinary highways.
Preceding publications on the subject of architectural aspects of seismic design are
referenced throughout the book. As an aid to the reader, the following brief list highlights
such works in reverse chronological order. Almost all of these, some of which are hard to
obtain, are accessible through the University of California Berkeley NISEE-PEER library
as. pdf files (NISEE 2017). Compared to Llunji’s book, the others on this selective list are
generally less well illustrated, though they all adequately cover the basic principles involved.
This reviewer, who has followed and contributed to this literature over the past 40 years,
opines that the basic messages to architects concerning building configuration and seismic
design have remained the same, while these messages have not yet been commonly
integrated into architectural practice. For brevity here, someone such as Andrew Charleson,
BOOK REVIEW: SEISMIC ARCHITECTURE: THE ARCHITECTURE OF EARTHQUAKE RESISTANT STRUCTURES 805

structural engineer and professor on the architecture faculty of Victoria University in

Wellington, New Zealand, who has written a number of works on this topic, is shown in
this list as connected only to a small number of publications. Although not comprehensive,
this short list includes most of the key writers in this field, all of whom produced more than
one publication on this subject. As such, it is an approximate “data point” proving how little
attention the architectural aspects of seismic design have received as compared to the
voluminous body of engineering works on seismic design. One can also note that some
of the original researchers on the subject of architecture and seismic design, such as Professor
Henry (Hank) Lagorio (1923–2013) of the architectural faculty of U.C. Berkeley, are no
longer with us, which can also lead to a pessimistic outlook. However, the entrance of
younger design professionals such as Llunji into this field, who understand and illustrate
current architectural stylistic trends in a manner that can appeal to today’s practicing
architects and architectural students, is a cause for optimism.

COMPARATIVE EXAMPLES OF OTHER WORKS IN THIS FIELD

Guevara-Perez, L., and Teresa, 2012. “Soft story” and “weak story” in earthquake resistant
design: A multidisciplinary approach, Proceedings 15th World Conference on Earthquake
Engineering, Lisbon, Portugal, paper # 0183, 10 pp.
Reitherman, R., 2012. Chapter 9, Earthquakes and Engineers: An International History, ASCE
Press, Reston, VA, 389–409.
Charleson, A. W., 2008. Seismic Design for Architects: Outwitting the Quake, Elsevier, Oxford,
UK, 281 pp.
Arnold, C., Bolt, B., Dreger, D., Elsesser, E., Eisner, R., Holmes, W., McGavin, G., and
Theodoropoulos, C., 2006. Design for Earthquakes: A Manual for Architects, FEMA 454,
Federal Emergency Management Agency, Washington, DC, 390 pp.
Taylor, M., Preston, J., and Charleson, A., Moments of Resistance, Archadia Press, Sydney,
Australia, 102 pp.
Scott, S., Arnold, C., Brandow, G., Elsesser, E., Eisner, R., Lagorio, H., Neel, P., and Welch, P.,
1992. A Report of the Committee on the Architect’s Role in Earthquake Hazard Mitigation,
California Seismic Safety Commission, Sacramento, CA, 28 pp.
Reitherman, R., 1985. Earthquake engineering and earthquake architecture, Proceedings,
Designing for Earthquakes in the Western United States: A Workshop for Architects and
Related Building Professionals, American Institute of Architects, Washington, DC, 8 pp.
Lagorio, H., 1983, The role of architectural practice in earthquake-resistant design, Workshop on
Continuing Actions to Reduce Potential Losses from Future Earthquakes in Arkansas and
Nearby States, U.S.G.S. Open-file Report 83-846, pp. 203–207.
Briscoe, J., Weir, P., and Peting, D., 1983. Earthquake Forces on Buildings: A Workbook-Primer
for Architects, Department of Architecture, University of Oregon, 275 pp.
Arnold, C., and Reitherman, R., 1982. Building Configuration and Seismic Design, John Wiley
and Sons, New York, NY, 296 pp.
Wang, M., 1981. Consequences of architectural style on earthquake resistance, P.R.C.-U.S. Joint
Workshop on Earthquake Disaster Mitigation through Architecture, Urban Planning and
Engineering, U.C. Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 150–181.
McCue, G., Skaff, A., and Boyce, J., 1978. Architectural Design of Building Components for
Earthquakes, MBT Associates, San Francisco, CA, 227 pp.
806 R. REITHERMAN

Botsai, E., 1977. The architect’s role in seismic design, Summer Seismic Institute for
Architectural Faculty, American Institute of Architects, Washington, D.C., 7–14.
Degenkolb, H., 1977, Seismic design: structural concepts, Summer Seismic Institute for
Architectural Faculty, American Institute of Architects, Washington, D.C., 65–124.
Botsai, E., Goldberg, A., Fisher, J., Lagorio, H., and Wosser, T., 1975. Architects and Earth-
quakes, American Institute of Architects, Washington, D.C., 94 pp.

REFERENCES
Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER), 2017. National Information Service for
Earthquake Engineering (NISEE), University of California, Berkeley, available at https://nisee.
berkeley.edu/elibrary/ (last accessed 18 March 2017).
Reitherman, R. 1989. Significant revisions in model seismic code, Architecture, October 1989,
106–110.
(Received 19 March 2017; accepted 26 March 2017)

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