Universitas Indonesia Student Chapter (EERI UISC) Earthquake Engineering Research Institute team successfully advanced to the prestigious competition, the 20th Annual Seismic Design Competition (SDC) 2023 which will be held in San Francisco, California. This competition is organized by the international organization EERI Student Leadership Council.
The team from EERI UISC consists of students from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, namely Devita Yoselyn Nashwa (Civil Engineering 2020), Noah Imanuel Joachim Purba (Civil Engineering 2020), Rubby Anistia Prasetyo (Civil Engineering 2020), Geraldi Othanius Hardymulia (Civil Engineering 2020), Taffi Hensan Kurniawan (Civil Engineering 2020), Bayu Dewanto (Civil Engineering 2020), Devon Yang (Civil Engineering 2021), and Isravani Valencia (Environmental Engineering 2020) as well as students from the Department of Architecture, namely Heidy Sekardini (Architecture 2020), Bimantyo Ganggas Fadhil (Architecture 2020), and Leonardo Dillon (Architecture 2020). This team was guided by FTUI lecturers and professor, Dr. -Eng. Josia Irwan Rastandi, S.T., M.T. and Prof. Ir. Widjojo A. Prakoso, M.Sc., PhD., G. Eng.
In participating in the SDC 2023 competition, the UISC EERI team was initially asked to propose to be selected to advance to the next stage in attending the conference in San Francisco California in April. After that, the team was also asked to send building models from balsa wood. In this year’s competition, the team was given a case study to analyze locations in the San Francisco area to find out the challenges of buildings designed to be built at that location. The team was asked to design an earthquake-resistant twin-tower building connected by a sky bridge.
According to Devita (Civil Engineering 2020), captain of the UISC EERI team, four things pose a challenge in designing earthquake-resistant high-rise buildings from this competition, namely in terms of structural strength, architecture, geotechnical, and construction management.
“In designing the twin towers, in terms of structural strength, the focus was more on frequency, period, and stiffness, how to design a building that is rigid but not too rigid. The twin towers will later be connected by a sky bridge. This Skybrige is a major concern because it is a weak point in the building we are designing. This year, the designed sky bridge must be strong to withstand earthquake loads. In addition, during the competition, we will also predict the displacement of the building. Not only does the building structure have to be strong and rigid, but we also have to predict the deviations that will occur,” said Rubby (Civil Engineering 2020).
In addition to the structure of the building design, the architecture of the building is also an equally important part of the twin tower design. In terms of architecture, Heidy (Architecture 2020) explained that in designing this building architectural technology was applied based on the existence of the building. San Francisco is a windy area, so the team tried to take advantage of the available wind and sunlight power and used it in the architectural design. From a cultural perspective, San Francisco is heavily influenced by Mexican culture. The team also took inspiration from the culture of the Astec tribe for the design of the twin tower facade technology.
“Because what we designed is an earthquake-resistant building, from a geotechnical perspective we emphasized analyzing the potential for an earthquake that can cause liquefaction. We also analyze the data provided by the EERI Student Leadership Council regarding the soil site, to see if it has high sustainability to liquefaction. In this case, the ASCE standard used for buildings is used. We also designed the foundation for the twin tower building to help mitigate high liquefaction impacts so that it fits the land site,” said Bayu (Civil Engineering 2020).
“After the structural, architectural, and geotechnical aspects, the construction management aspect is no less important. This competition assessed the winner from building income, apart from the design of the building model, we were also asked to calculate the construction costs and the income that would later be obtained from the building itself. So one of our main goals is to design buildings that generate as much income as possible,” said Devita (Civil Engineering 2020).
Dean of FTUI, Prof. Dr. Heri Hermansyah, ST., M.Eng., IPU., expressed his appreciation for the passing of the UISC EERI team as a team representative from FTUI at the SDC 2023 event. “Congratulations to the UISC EERI team for successfully advancing to the prestigious international competency stage 20th Annual Seismic Design. Competition (SDC) 2023 in San Francisco California. It is proven that through collaboration and cooperation, a team consisting of Civil Engineering and Architecture students succeeded in designing an earthquake-resistant high-rise building. The best support and prayers from FTUI will always accompany the UISC EERI team to get the best results in this international event. Hopefully, we can make FTUI, UI, and Indonesia proud.”
Apart from being designed as tall earthquake-resistant buildings, the twin towers are also a form of implementation in supporting the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) points set by the United Nations to realize development for the safety of humans and the planet, namely first point 11 sustainable cities and communities, because buildings are designed to withstand disasters. Second, point 9 industry, innovation, and infrastructure, because the building is tall. This design is a building that may have a return and from this return, it can become sustainable. Third, point 7 is affordable and clean energy, because this building is designed by utilizing the wind around it. Fourth, point 8 decent work and economic growth, because the twin towers are designed as decent buildings for living and working in the San Francisco area.
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Bureau of Public Communications
Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia