Considering the quake

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If you are curious about what lies beneath the skin of contemporary buildings, you might want to pay the exhibition Considering the Quake: Seismic Design on the Edge a visit.

The two curators, Dr Effie Bouras and Professor Ghyslaine McClure from McGill University Department of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics, invite us on a journey to discover how architecture is much more than just the creation of fancy facades and elaborate geometrics, but in fact often considered with designing highly complex structures.

Focusing on how buildings are made to be resilient to earthquakes, this exhibition emerged from Bouras and McClure’s research into the resiliency of emergency shelters and civil protection buildings such as schools and hospitals in earthquake zones worldwide and presents us with a new perspective into a traditionally engineering-dominated subject matter.  And maybe it is in this intersection between architecture and engineering, that these fascinating  buildings featured in the exhibition, are created.

The exhibition which is “ ”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 utilised in buildings, architectural and structural models, seismic testing videos, including clips from Tomas Koolhaas’ new documentary titled REM, and a 500N shake table from North American Wave Spectrum Science and Trade Inc.

The exhibition also includes  an exhibition installation by SOFTlab in consultation with ARUP, OMA’s Taipei Performing Arts Center and CCTV, Daniel Liebeskind’s Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco as well as projects from Singapore/Tokyo based Studio SKLIM and Star Seismic, an innovative seismic technology firm, plus many more.

by Runa Mathiesen

Visit Considering the Quake: Seismic Design on the Edge at American Institute of Architects, Center for Architecture, New York City from February 13, 2014 to May 26, 2014