Enabling City Resilience through Building Performance

SANDFORD FLEMING FORUM

Structural Resilience: How Building Systems Improve Operational Resilience

ENABLING CITY RESILIENCE THROUGH BUILDING PERFORMANCE

The IssuesEnabling City Resilience Through Building Performance

The Issues• Identify the threats • Quantify building performance before, during and after

the event• Who pays?Takeaways• Building performance can enable operational resilience

by being tailored to user specific needs and requirements

• Resilience is fundamentally tied to the user, and understanding what they need from the building in terms of performance

ThreatsEnabling City Resilience Through Building Performance

Targeted events Weather extremesSeismic events Fire

Threats

Each threat exists along a spectrum, that may change with time, and has different performance expectations along the range

Targeted EventsEnabling City Resilience Through Building Performance

Targeted Events• Curb side or loading

dock event

• Parking garage event

• Carried event

Weather ExtremesEnabling City Resilience Through Building Performance

Weather Extremes• Hurricanes or tornados

• Flooding

• Cold and hot weather

• Snow storms

Seismic EventEnabling City Resilience Through Building Performance

Seismic Event• Life safety and

evacuation

• Continued operation of the facility perhaps without municipal infrastructure

A performance-based approach can ensure business continuity during smaller events and better quantify the risk you’re exposed to

FireEnabling City Resilience Through Building Performance

Fire• Life safety, property

protection

• Fire size, behaviour, and location

• Active fire protection vs passive protection


Fire• Life safety, property

protection

The building code addresses life safety and property protection with prescriptive approaches that have historically proven satisfactory


Fire

• Fire size, behaviour, and location

Performance-based design can account for structurally significant, large fires. The results: cost savings, increased robustness and quantification of risk.


Fire

• Active fire protection vs passive protection

The structure should be generally designed to assume the active fire protection (ie: sprinklers) have failed.

Design Event and LocationEnabling City Resilience Through Building Performance

Design Event and Location• Client or another party determines the size and

location of the event for design purposes

• May use established criteria such as the New York City Building Code Regulations or other jurisdictions such as the Israeli Building Code

• Alternative may be guidelines by GSA, CTBUH or Unified Facilities Guide Specifications (UFGS)

Determine what is to be designedEnabling City Resilience Through Building Performance

Determine what is to be designed• Structure• Exterior wall

including glazing• Critical utility

infrastructure• Tenants and public

Structural Performance CriteriaEnabling City Resilience Through Building Performance

Structural Performance Criteria• Prior to the event

• During the event

• Post-event continuity of operation


Structural Performance Criteria• Prior to the event

• Day-to-day performance of the building. Occupant comfort and well-being

• How quickly can the building be adapted to a changing threat level ahead of the event?


Structural Performance Criteria

• During the event

• Life safety and property protection

• Does the building need to remain operational during the event or is it acceptable to temporarily relocate and evacuate?


Structural Performance Criteria

• Post-event continuity of operation

How quickly can people get back in and achieve their minimum, sustainable operating capacity? Ideally, the tenant should be back in the building the following day.

Lobby and Public AreasEnabling City Resilience Through Building Performance

Lobby and Public Areas• Assumed to be a relatively

high risk space

• Point of presence and camera surveillance

• Assumed failure and protection requirements

• No critical utility infrastructure in the spaceArchitecture often drives large, unbraced columns

and glazing with large spans – neither of which is ideal for mitigating the effects of a blast.

Tenant SpacesEnabling City Resilience Through Building Performance

Tenant Spaces• Who is the tenant?

• Performance requirement before, during and after the event

• Is the threat internal or external

• Availability of points of refuge, added stair towers, added stair width for fire-fighter access

Commercial tenants are able to have procedures prepared in advance of events and can hold drills to increase preparedness.

Loading Dock and Building Services areasEnabling City Resilience Through Building Performance

Loading Dock and Building Services Areas• Control entry and potential

vulnerability

• Proximity to building services

• Is the loading below the tower area?

• Is there opportunity for vent relief in case of an event?Does the loading dock need to remain operational

during a flood or another event? Will surrounding infrastructure enable or hinder that?

Parking GaragesEnabling City Resilience Through Building Performance

Parking garages• Public or private parking

• Proximity of the parking garage below the tower

• Effect of column or slab removal

HealthcareEnabling City Resilience Through Building Performance

Healthcare• Highly vulnerable population

• Ample preparation time for staff

• Trend towards a P3 delivery for healthcare where operation and maintenance is accounted for ahead of time. The owner has an interest in enabling resilience and mitigating risk from threats.

Residential TowersEnabling City Resilience Through Building Performance

Residential Towers• Different financial

considerations

• Demographic of the tower determines performance expectations

• Market demand for maximizing vision glass

Residential TowersEnabling City Resilience Through Building Performance

Residential Towers

• Demographic of the tower determines performance expectations

• Needs will differ for young professionals – typically not home during the day – or elderly, who are.

• If some units are hotel suites, business requirements come into play.

Data CentresEnabling City Resilience Through Building Performance

Data Centres• Zero down time permitted

• Highly visible, high value target

• May be designed to be expandable, which needs to be accounted for in the initial design

Resilient design makes use of natural environmental protection when possible.

Who pays?Enabling City Resilience Through Building Performance

Who pays?• Public as a taxpayer• Tenant• Building Owner• Insurance – but not every threat can be insured against

ConclusionsEnabling City Resilience Through Building Performance

1) Define the threat

2) Understand your client’s needs

3) Design for performance levels required and for different threat levels

4) Enable business continuity of the organization

5) Improve the resilience of the organization and surrounding

community

We simplify the complex.We are Entuitive.

Engineering

Enabling City Resilience through Building Performance