ERA2

= About **E**arthquake **R**esistant **A**rchitecture **(ERA)** =

Following the idea of ​​Vitrubio, architecture must rest on three concepts: Firmitas, Utilitas and Venustas. Firmness, utility and beauty are the three basic conditions that make a building into a work of architecture, being the motto of the Pritzker Prize every year, where you choose the best building and the best architect.

One such aspect that has developed exponentially is the firmness. Earthquakes have attacked the structures of the buildings along the years, and these events have led to a lot of studies on seismic architecture, with Japan the country's elite that largely dominates the seismic technology.

One of the issues of our e-zine is about the origins of earthquake architecture. As stated by Carlos Matallana in an article entitled

//"Japan and earthquake architecture"//: After the destruction of many more Europeans in the eighteenth century was when he began working on ways to prevent such catastrophes. A consequence of this came the foundation for building earthquake-resistant architecture, which was to make buildings strong enough to withstand major earthquakes, without affecting its structure or reach collapse. Zoning and building standards provisions were among the first theories of earthquake architecture, the space between the buildings, the calculation of building height (area and depth), parts and materials. In the twentieth century as a result of the violent earthquakes of San Francisco (1906), Messina (1908) and Tokyo (1923), there is a breakthrough in this type of architecture.

The Japanese earthquake architecture was the first to join this type of construction in the mid twentieth century due to high seismic risk in the country. It is with architect Frank Lloyd Wright, designer and builder of the Hotel Imperial, which is set to show the importance of earthquake-resistant architecture. This hotel reinforced concrete structure, discontinuous profile and stratification of the foundation in the building made it safer than the rest of the built in Japan that time.



This is a fragment of the origin of the research that lead to the development of structures for the fascinating architectural creations.