Constructing a Building That Can Withstand Mother Nature

Understanding the Area & Environment

Disaster resilience is the enhanced understanding and anticipation of disasters leading to better planning and as a result, a reduction of disaster losses. 

Now more than ever, builders, structural engineers, architects, and designers need to create structures that can withstand the forces of nature AND be able to recover quickly should a disaster strike. 

While disaster resilience can be complex and expensive, studies show that emergency relief and recovery expenses are more costly than resilient construction. Disaster resilience allows for engineers and others to plan accordingly in areas prone to certain types of disasters. For example, materials, processes, and structure shape/size will differ from the earthquake and fire prone areas such as California versus the hurricane zones in the south.

As part of disaster resilience is understanding that the following weather conditions will affect the construction of a building:

• Humidity: Repeated wetting and drying associated with condensation can lead to an accelerated rate of corrosion or loosening of building materials, thus compromising the structural integrity.
• Snow loads: Conditions such as snowfall, drift patterns from surrounding buildings, exposure to high winds, building positioning, and surrounding trees must be considered.
• Exterior temperature: The typical frost depth can have an impact on the building’s foundation.
• Wind: High winds are considered the leading cause of damage in tornadoes and hurricanes, and damage can be devastating when wind speeds exceed 100 miles per hour.

Materials Matter

To withstand Mother Nature, engineers must use building materials with known strength and durability such as concrete, steel, and timber. 

There’s a reason why structures built 1,500 years ago in China have survived multiple earthquakes and have even resisted demolition by modern construction equipment. Ancient scientists developed a nearly indestructible material by mixing sticky rice soup with heated limestone and then exposing it to water. In doing so, they created the world’s first composite mortar, which was used to bind and fill spaces between bricks, stone blocks and other construction materials. To this day, experts maintain that it remains the best available material for restoring ancient buildings. 

Right here in the U.S., take a look at the design and construction of One World Trade in New York City. At 1,776 feet and the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, it needed to be strong enough to withstand powerful winds and any pressure from potential terrorist attacks. Using a fortress-like reinforced concrete base, the tower’s entire façade consists of steel panels and blast-resistant glass. 

Put simply, the right materials give buildings a better chance of fighting the forces of Mother Nature.

Strong Foundations are Critical

While it may seem obvious, buildings that can handle dangerous weather conditions and natural disasters are strong from the ground up.

Structural failure can be progressive, where one element can trigger the collapse of another. This means that it’s crucial for engineers to create strong connections between the structure and foundation. 

Even during the construction phase, a building must be braced, a construction technique used to improve the structural performance by evenly distributing loads and increasing safety. Bracing not only helps maintain the proper position of building elements, but can resist wind forces and other inclement weather conditions until everything is attached. 

To combat lateral loads, load path continuity from the roof all the way through to the foundation is critical. Proper roof framing attachment to the main structure is critical in coastal hurricane prone areas.