Seismic Design of Precast Concrete House


The design concept for the house was a series of four parallel precast walls, with an open space in between.
This design essentially formed two separate two-storey buildings linked by a two-storey atrium.

There were three major challenges in this project.

The long slender nature of the two buildings meant that their seismic strength was inherently low, exacerbated by cantilevering elements in the upper storeys.
The second challenge was that the land is reclaimed from landfill and so required shallow foundations in a potential liquefaction zone.
The third challenge was detailing the 65 unique precast concrete elements to fit precisely.

Images courtesy of Archaus Architects