Sendai Mediatheque Shaking



I've been wondering if the 2001 building designed by Toyo Ito was damaged in Saturday's 9.0 earthquake. This footage from a patron apparently taking shelter under a desk shows how the floor plates ceiling moved independently of the tube lattice columns and the nearby walls. Based on the video and this photo it appears that the building resisted any significant damage.

(via Archinect, via LA Times)
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Comments

  1. roriTuesday, March 15, 2011 12:14:00 AM

    is the floor moving, or is the gwb ceiling assembly moving?

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  2. AnonymousTuesday, March 15, 2011 2:00:00 AM

    looks like the suspended ceiling to me

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  3. AnonymousTuesday, March 15, 2011 2:51:00 PM

    Japanese engineering is amazing.

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  4. -daTuesday, March 15, 2011 8:27:00 PM

    not to be myopic, but i've been wondering about this. Thanks for the post; my thoughts are with NE Japan

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  5. blassWednesday, March 16, 2011 9:46:00 AM

    amazing

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  6. varchiWednesday, March 16, 2011 10:28:00 AM

    It's a suspended ceiling that you see moving relative to a wall and the lattice column. I did an analytique on this a few years ago.
    The floor is significantly integrated into the lattice columns. The floor itself is composed of a web of steel members as it approaches/connects to the columns.

    Feel free to share this by the way. Please contact me for further info.
    jverser@gmail.com

    http://archfolio.org/portfolios/jodyverser/sendai_mediatheque/index.html?detectflash=false&

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  7. varchiWednesday, March 16, 2011 10:46:00 AM

    *If you check out that url i posted, note the multiple images viewable via the bottom left or the arrow keys.

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  8. rfsWednesday, March 16, 2011 10:50:00 AM

    But what about the tsunami, did it get there? Was that part of Sendai affected by the tsunami?

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  9. varchiWednesday, March 16, 2011 11:25:00 AM

    http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/49000/49634/Japan_amo_2011072_lrg.jpg

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  10. John HillWednesday, March 16, 2011 1:12:00 PM

    Thanks for the clarification JV/varchi. It wouldn't make sense for the floor construction to not be connected to the lattice columns for lateral support. Then the ceiling, as you point out, can move independently. A more thought out wording of my post would have been good. Regardless, somewhere I noticed that stabilization for earthquakes is in the basement. Did your analysis, by any chance, discuss that?

    rfs - I think downtown Sendai is far enough inland that the tsunami did not reach it. Of course I'm not 100% on that; I haven't read about the exact extent of it, outside numbers of 2-6 miles inland.

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  11. varchiWednesday, March 16, 2011 3:22:00 PM

    Alas, it did not. Most of my information came from a monograph and Ito's El Croquis issue.
    I could be wrong, but I don't think my sources had the detail desired to include in the analytique while maintaining consistency.

    I seem to remember the whole-building sections showing substantial systems at the the base of the lattice columns.

    I'd be interested in seeing if the expensive fire-rated glass set in the elevator/stair lattice columns popped out at all, which would indicate deformation in the column lattice itself.

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  12. varchiWednesday, March 16, 2011 3:46:00 PM

    I looked through some of my 3d models and sections.

    It appears that the tubes' lattice members continue below the ground floor in straight vertical lines. They continue through another floor slab (B!) and maintain being straight until dying into the bottom floor/foundation (B2)

    \ | / /
    --------------
    | | | |
    ----------
    | | | |
    ----------

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  13. rfsThursday, March 17, 2011 4:55:00 PM

    Hey John, thanks for the response. I hope everything is ok with this building cause is such a master piece. There´s a great documentary on that project here http://bit.ly/dWMIis and yes the tubes lattice continues bellow ground. We from Brasil send our best to the Japanese people.

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