Opening September 12, the Design Exchange in Downtown Toronto will be the site of the newest exhibit titled “Considering the Quake | Seismic Design on the Edge,” curated by Dr. Effie Bouras, postdoctoral fellow and Professor Ghyslaine McClure, P.Eng of the McGill University Department of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics. The exhibit, which runs through to November 9, will feature recent cutting edge building projects from some of the most innovative architects and engineers, as seen through the lens of earthquake engineering. More information on the exhibition after the break.
International in scope, projects are culled from throughout the world, with Architects and Engineers featured including Office for Metropolitan Architecture’s groundbreaking Taipei Performing Arts Center, and others; Daniel Libeskind’s Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco; Japan’s Studio SKLIM’s earthquake proof House; Arup Engineering, featuring their illustrious Olympic water cube, the site of an unprecedented collection of swimming records and venue for aquatic events of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, their York University subway project in Toronto with Foster and Partners Architects and other ARUP projects; a housing prototype in the Santa Monica mountains, by Los Angeles’ Predock Frane Architects; a house rebuilt on the site of a catastrophic earthquake by Chilean architects Pezo von Ellrichshausen and University of Toronto’s team of recent PhD graduates whose firm, Cast Connex, is now among the leaders of seismic technology, with projects including the World Trade Center 3 building and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. These, along with several other original projects will be accompanied by full scale seismic technology, architectural and structural models, renderings, computational animations and other multimedia platforms.
Many speak of architecture as both a science and art, but few ever truly witness the “science” part of architecture. Behind the building’s skin lies much of its initial premise, developed between the union of architect and engineer; an intersecting communication, creating unparalleled synchronicity when each profession just plainly gets it right. What if we could bring these two seemingly disparate elements under the roof of one comprehensive exhibit; and do this through the premise of earthquake engineering- a domain thought of most singularly under an engineer’s autonomous control?
Buildings, as we have been reminded by too many recent catastrophic earthquakes, are complex, dynamic systems. As an extension of their research on post critical disaster shelters, curators, Dr. Effie Bouras, Postdoctoral Fellow and Professor Ghyslaine McClure, P.Eng, of McGill University, Department of Civil Engineering, bring a ground-breaking perspective and architect’s rationale back into the traditionally engineering-dominated subject matter. During the months from September to December, the Design Exchange will house a sampling of the most celebrated projects, research and technology throughout the world that surpass conventional approaches to seismic design, and stand exemplary in thought, design and practical application.
This exhibit is generously supported by the Canadian Seismic Research Network, a network of 26 researchers from 8 universities that is funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada.
