The 48hr Design Challenge, run by the Christchurch City Council and held at Lincoln University, provided an opportunity for Council to gain inspiration from the design and architecture industry, while testing the draft Central City Plan currently being developed. The Challenge was a response to the recent earthquakes in Christchurch and brought together local and international talent. A total of 15 teams took part in the Challenge, with seven people in each including engineers, planners, urban designers, architects and landscape architects, as well as one student on each team. The four sites within the Red Zone included the Cathedral Square and BNZ Building; 160 Gloucester Street; the Orion NZ Building at 203 Gloucester Street; and 90 Armagh Street, including the Avon River and Victoria Square. The fifth site, which sits outside the Red Zone, is the former Christchurch Women’s Hospital at 885 Colombo Street. This is team SoLA's entry for 160 Gloucester Street.
Modern methods of seismic design (since the 1970s) allow structural engineers to design new buildings with the aim of predictable and ductile behaviour in severe earthquakes, in order to prevent collapse and loss of life. However some controlled damage is expected, which may result in the building being damaged beyond economic repair after severe shaking. Seismic protection of structures has seen significant advances in recent decades, due to the development of new technologies and advanced materials. It has only been recently recognised world-wide that it is possible to design economical structures which can resist severe earthquakes with limited or negligible structural damage. There are two alternative ways of designing buildings to avoid permanent damage in severe earthquakes; base isolation and damage-resistant design. Base isolation requires the building to be separated from the ground by isolation devices which can dissipate energy. This is proven technology which may add a little to the initial cost of the building, but will prove to be less expensive in the long term. Damage-resistant design is developing rapidly, in several different forms. These include rocking walls or rocking frames, with or without post-tensioning, and a variety of energy dissipating devices attached to the building in different ways. If not already the case, damage-resistant design will soon become no more expensive than conventional design for new buildings.
