The hotel’s design focuses on zoned programmatic areas which separate and slide away from each other in the event of an earthquake.
The areas constructed from a lightweight aluminium frame with pre-cast concrete and recycled plastic polymer panels make it easier to move them away from each other and move through the tremor for easier displacement.
The entire scheme rests on a grid of seismic isolation rubber bearings which act as partly exposed foundations, this grid dislocates to ride out the tremors accommodate for the tremors.
The isolators are a stack of lead and rubber plates which allow for a maximum deflection in any direction which dampens the energy of the earthquake preventing the built elements from being displaced.
The rectangular seismic damper frames contain 4 shallow water trays which register any near-by reverberations as a possible warning sign for an approaching longitudinal and transverse wave/tremor.
The hotel incorporates an open aviary, the erratic movement of birds may show signs of an advancing earthquake.
The primary idea is to detach and isolate areas of the hotel using a similar construction used in ship launches, the entire scheme sits over a large pool which allows for the fragmented elements to keep their equilibrium when launched during the earthquake, the hotel is constructed on these large metal ramps leading to the flooded pools.
The steel frame parallelograms are choreographed by the earthquake moving and expanding, the seismic dampers attached to the corners absorb and dissipate the energy stabilising the building elements with minimum deflection. Source and images Courtesy of Margot Krasojevic.
