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Earthquakes: The Latest Architecture and News

How Shoddily Constructed Buildings Become Weapons of Mass Destruction

Why is it that the Bay Area can suffer a 6.9 earthquake and lose just 63 people, while Haiti suffers a slightly stronger quake and loses about 100,000? The answer: shoddy construction. As Bryan Walsh of TIME points out, “We tend to focus on the size of an earthquake, but death toll has more to do with the quality of buildings. [...] Poverty — and even more, poor governance and corruption — is the multiplier of natural disasters. [...] That’s why one of the most vulnerable places in the world is south-central Asia.” Learn more about the dangers of poorly constructed buildings here and see what the "true value" of architecture is here.

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Call for Ideas: projectChristchurch

Call for Ideas: projectChristchurch - Featured Image

Kyle Lewis, an architecture student at CPIT in Christchurch, NZ, shared with us a call for design to help rebuilt Christchurch after last February’s earthquake. Here’s the message:

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Update: Ex-Container Project / Yasutaka Yoshimura Architects

Update: Ex-Container Project / Yasutaka Yoshimura Architects - Image 1 of 4
© Yasutaka Yoshimura Architects

Yasutaka Yoshimura Architects are continuing to move forward assisting those who have been displaced following the Japan earthquake and tsunami. The Ex-Container Project, which we featured just last week, is one affordable design solution offering easy transport and installation without compromising quality.

Yasutaka Yoshimura Architects are providing daily updates, via their Twitter account, about the reconstruction progress in the disaster areas.

Further details about the project and how you can offer support can be found here.

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Towards an Architecture of Open and Flexible Systems / Emilio Marin

Towards an Architecture of Open and Flexible Systems / Emilio Marin - Image 7 of 4
© Courtesy of Emilio Marin

The current need for housing in Chile after the earthquake is a unique opportunity to re-think architecture. It has generated an exceptional scenario that demands for new proposals and solutions.

Architecture usually responds to definite problems with specific, unique and unrepeatable responses. Projects are configured as rigid and closed systems that can hardly be replicated with success anywhere else. At the same time, these architectonic solutions are linked with an ‘elite’, they are luxurious commodities that are specific-individual-crafted, normally at a very high cost.

After the break you can see Emilio Marin’s proposal regarding this issue, including diagrams, renders and the complete text description.