Key UC Contact
What We Did
In March 2016, Southbase and Lewis Bradford, the design and build team behind the city’s flagship five-storey central library, Tūranga, began mapping out how they would achieve a high level of earthquake resiliency. UC Prof Geoff Rodgers and Adjunct Prof Stefano Pampanin provided design input into developing a safe and cost-effective solution to absorb energy and provide high seismic performance. Twenty metallic extrusion dampers, each over a metre long and weighing nearly 200kg have been strategically bolted between key structural walls and the foundation, to absorb energy and control motion in the event of a large earthquake. The design team led by Lewis Bradford Engineers has received many national and international industry body awards, including the ‘Extreme Conditions’ award, from the Institution of Structural Engineers in the UK.
Who Was Involved
This project has built upon strong links with Lewis Bradford Consulting Engineers, Southbase Construction and funded projects with QuakeCoRE (a TEC-funded Centre of Research Excellence hosted at UC), MBIE, Royal Society Te Apārangi, EQC, and BRANZ, among many others.
Why It Matters
Tūranga, Christchurch’s new state-of-the-art central city library incorporates innovative UC engineering solutions designed to help it endure a large earthquake with minimal damage. As a key public space and an anchor project within the rebuild, it has become a focal point of the rebuilt Christchurch CBD and a fantastic asset to the people of Ōtautahi Christchurch.
Learn More
- Check out UC news articles about the new damper technology and Innovation Medal: https://www.canterbury.ac.nz/news/2019/two-uc-professors-win-medals-for-innovative-quake-damping-devices.html & https://www.canterbury.ac.nz/news/2020/us-engineer-designs-resilient-building-with-a-little-help-from-his-kiwi-friends.html
Awards that the building has won
- https://www.lewisbradford.com/projects/pblic/turanga-central-library-christchurch/
- https://www.istructe.org/structuralawards/previously-shortlisted/extreme-conditions/2019/turanga
- https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/117986780/christchurchs-tranga-is-a-library-that-rocks-on-the-world-stage
- https://newsline.ccc.govt.nz/news/story/trophies-keep-stacking-up-for-turanga
Photo Caption:
Prof Geoff Rodgers designed seismic dampers for Christchurch's Tūranga public library and also contributed his design expertise to Casa Adelante, a community housing project recently completed in San Francisco.
