Abstract
The widespread destruction from the February 2023 earthquake in Turkey focused attention once again on the design and construction of buildings to protect their occupants in an earthquake, following similar worldwide attention on the aftermath of the earlier Christchurch, Haiti and Chilean earthquakes.
This talk focuses on how seismic performance for buildings is approached in Canada, with reference to some of the observed deficiencies in the buildings which collapsed in Turkey. Our current standard practice is reviewed, as well as approaches to achieving seismic resilience. The talk also discusses recent innovations that go beyond the basic objective of “life safety”, such as the use of seismic friction dampers and feasibility of base isolation systems.
Bio
William Loasby, CEng, MEng
William is a structural engineer with twenty years’ international experience in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Australia and Canada. He moved to Vancouver and joined Fast + Epp in 2015, following many years at the Hong Kong office of Arup.
His career has focused on bringing together twin passions of structurally expressive building projects and fundamental technical research and development. Being based on the west coast, he has a particular interest in the seismic design and performance of buildings.
William is currently Director of Design at Fast + Epp, while also maintaining a role as engineer of record on many of the firm’s larger building projects. His notable projects include the restoration of the Central Police Station compound in Hong Kong, the expansion of National Arts Centre in Ottawa, the new Ottawa Public Library and the new Vancouver Art Gallery.
He is a chartered structural and civil engineer in both the United Kingdom and Hong Kong, and a designated structural engineer in Canada. In 2013, he was awarded the Innovation Grand Prize by the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers for his work on historical structures in Hong Kong. He currently sits on the Seismic and Dynamic Events panel at the Institution of Structural Engineers in the UK.
William has a degree in engineering science from Oxford University and a Master’s degree in structural engineering from The University of Hong Kong.
Venue
7pm, June 14th, 2023.