E4tW

Projects

Retrofitting of historical buildings
Arg-e Bam: Reconstruction of Bam’s old citadel
Related links:
Quake destroys historic Silk Road city Bam, Iran - December 26 2003, 5:27 AM
http://www.farsinet.com/bam
Human tragedy, cultural carnage in Iran quake
http://www.mmorning.com/article.asp?Article=6047
Bam citadel aerial picture
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=16414
Bam: Jewel of Iranian Heritage
http://www.tavoosmag.com/news/2004/jan/other/index.htm
Pictures of Bam's earthquake
http://www.javoona.com/bam
Centuries of beauty now lie in ruins
http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news/publish/article_1120.shtml

Low-cost base isolator
It is known that, depending on its height and stiffness a structure will be most vulnerable by a specific frequency of the wide range of the waves released during an earthquake. A large majority of the low-cost building stock is some type of masonry and does not exceed two stories in height. This fact indicates that low-cost housing will be mainly be affected by the high frequency earthquake waves. The goal of this research project is to isolate the structure from high frequency waves by mixing rubber pieces (from old tires and other rubber products) in the gravel at the foundation level.

Urban Hazard Awareness
In the last fifty years countless urban agglomerations have mushroomed all over the globe. In the developed countries this urban growth has been mostly planed and monitored for compliance with adequate building codes. However, this is not the case of a large number of cities in underdeveloped and developing countries. In many of these countries cities have grown at the pace of the need of housing for massive migrations into industrial regions. Buildings are more often than not constructed without any engineered structure or supervision. A corrupted social and political network allows corrupt contractors to cut costs ignoring the structural integrity of the buildings. It is an ethical must to promote awareness among the scientific community, the population, and the political body. Some of the urban disasters waiting to happen in seismically active regions are Istanbul, Tehran, and New Delhi.

El Bawadi Co - Egypt (Video file size: 160 MB!)
El Bawadi Co is an investment company that owns two luxury hotels in Egypt and currently is involved in several large construction projects in Cairo and Alexandria. This video (160 MB) presents El Bawadi Co investments in Egypt.
In July 2003 Patrik Meyer conducted an initial visual inspection to assess the structural integrity of the Roudschdy Building in Alexandria. A short report (pdf) can be downloaded here: RoudschdyInspect1