‘Building’ Tag

Earthquake Retrofit of Parking Garage

Photo Credit: Alex Mead

The parking structure above is a perfect example of earthquake retrofitting a structure. The crisscrossed red members on the front of the structure were added after the completion of the building to increase the strength in the event of an earthquake. If you look closely the connections of the frame to the ground are pin connections. These pin connections literally are large plates with simple holes connected by a rod. These pin connections allow for rotation of the joint, but do not allow the frame to move up, down, or side to side apart from ground motion.

Wall Crack

Photo Credit: Nathan Shoemaker

Pictured above is a floor to ceiling crack in a masonry wall. Cracks like this can be seen in many buildings where differential settlement is occurring. Differential settlement is caused by a combination of weak or erodible soil, poor foundation design, and sometimes seismic loading of the sub-grade of the building.

Urban Cell Phone Antenna

Photo Credit: Alex Mead

So this may appear to be just another building, and it is. What’s unique about this picture, however, is the group of white vertical bars near the top of the building. Those vertical bars are actually antennas used for cell phones. Most people don’t notice them, but if you start to look around these antennas are on a surprising amount of buildings in urban environments.