Title: This Skyscraper’s Innovative Structure is Changing the Game for Earthquake Design
Originally published on www.metropolismag.com
Posted: July 20, 2018

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The most remarkable thing about 181 Fremont—San Francisco’s third-tallest tower, designed by Heller Manus Architects—is not the penthouse’s asking price ($42 million). Rather, it’s an innovative yet unglamorous structural detail: a viscous damper system that far exceeds California Code earthquake-performance objectives for buildings of 181 Fremont’s class, allowing immediate reoccupation after a seismic event.

Taylor Devices’ viscous damper system requires extensive analysis and modeling, but the advantage is that it more effectively redistributes seismic forces—increasing the resilience of the building and offering greater safety for its occupants. Photo courtesy of Arup

When Arup engineers first evaluated Heller Manus’s design, the steel superstructure was excessively heavy—as heavy as OMA’s CCTV headquarters in Beijing, with its gravity-defying cantilever. That weight had negative implications for the skyscraper’s ability to weather seismic forces. Arup’s engineers, led by Ibbi Almufti, who heads the firm’s risk and resilience practice, set about reducing the amount of steel to create a lighter (and therefore more flexible) structure.

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