Technical

Earthquakes and Architecture: The Future of Structural Safety

Structural engineering approaches in the post-earthquake reconstruction process in Southern Turkey, and next-generation structural solutions.

The earthquakes of 6 February 2023 painfully revealed how fragile Turkey's building stock is. Yet this disaster also triggered a fundamental shift in mindset within the fields of architecture and engineering. A structural design approach that is no longer merely "code-compliant" but "performance-based" is now being adopted.

In the projects we carry out in earthquake zones, REACTO develops hybrid structural solutions that go beyond conventional reinforced-concrete frame systems. Steel-braced reinforced-concrete shear walls, energy-dissipating viscous dampers, and base isolation systems are the principal technologies we apply in both new buildings and retrofitting projects.

Seismic safety is not limited to structural engineering alone. The architectural plan layout directly affects a building's behavior during an earthquake. Half-height reinforced-concrete shear walls that create short columns, torsional irregularities caused by asymmetric layouts, soft-story irregularities — all of these architectural decisions are direct determinants of life safety.