As a building originally designed before the revised Building Standards Act in 1971, this structure posed a risk of collapsing if a major earthquake caused shear failure on the second floor, where there are fewer walls. For this reason, it earned a seismic index of 0.26 lengthwise, far short of the target value of 0.7. Conventional seismic retrofitting that involves adding structural frames often has a negative impact on building appearance. Instead, this structural design project also involved adding an integrated fa_ade to give the building a new look.

Mention seismic strengthening, and people imagine reinforcing buildings to bring their structural performance up to an acceptable level. In this project, we thought proactive renovation for better structural performance and a fresh appearance would help revitalize the campus as a whole. Although campus planning at privatized national universities such as ours must account for projections of fewer children in Japan, efforts to make school architecture more appealing remain important.

This building has been transformed from a rather ordinary, 40-year-old school building with little apparent value. Under a limited budget for seismic strengthening, it has been reborn as an institution that will serve future generations of students well. Its striking appearance is the result of interdisciplinary collaboration here at Tokyo Institute of Technology, with departments involved in design and structural and environmental engineering each contributing advanced technology. Planners sought the best solution for the project as a whole considering many factors, including cost, and unbonded braces were installed for damping. Additionally, fixed louvers were developed applying innovative shapes and materials, in an attempt to incorporate a semi-open, double-skin structure reminiscent of concepts in "bow physics" (a kind of environmental physics), which is effective in areas subject to monsoons. Architectural awards from various organizations often recognize achievements that rival works of art in their ability to touch people deeply. In our G-Mark architectural screening committee, we have attempted to establish an evaluative framework in the spirit of the G-Mark system as a whole. The efforts in this particular retrofitting project would probably go unrecognized if not for the G-Mark system. Although it is certainly not a dramatic project, the work has a very pertinent message for our society today. [Koh Kitayama, B01 unit leader]