[GSBN] earthquake footings

Tue Nov 11 16:22:29 UTC 2014

In our area of Ontario, clay deposits in the soil can offer a similar 
problem as "mud".

Jorge, I may be too simple a guy to speak with engineering authority. 
I'll speak anyway.

My motto: Driven-in-place steel columns, or cast-in-place reinforced 
concrete piers, if it's mud or clay.
My other motto: Rubble trench will work, only if the trench ever gets 
down to solid ground.

Frank Tettemer
Living Sol ~ Building and Design
www.livingsol.com
613 756 3884

On 11/11/2014 9:02 AM, Van Krieken wrote:
> I am quite confused by Bob explanation about the rubble strench and 
> the notion that the building "floats".
> The rubble strench is suppose to support a continuous armed slab, were 
> the structure (and building) will be constructed. This makes the 
> building (integrated with this armed slab foundation) to be 
> "floating". Under, we have the rubber strench. On the perimetral, (or 
> even under the all area), stones are placed in order to avoid the 
> sinking dur to the mud effec.
> I thought that this is exactly the same method used by FLW in the 
> Imperial Hotel. The building had sinking problems because of the mud, 
> so the problem was the soil preparation (wet mud).
> Any comments?
>
> All the best
>
> Jorge Van Krieken
> Portugal
>
>
>
> On Mon, Nov 10, 2014 at 7:21 AM, Bob Theis <bob at bobtheis.net 
> <mailto:bob at bobtheis.net>> wrote:
>
>     FLW's Imperial Hotel was built on wet mud, and used an entirely
>     different foundation system than his famous rubble trench. His
>     notion was to " float " the building on the mud. Didn't work all
>     that well in reality. A decent summary of it - that also dispels
>     many of the myths surrounding the project's performance in the big
>     Tokyo earthquake of 1923 -are in this paper:
>
>     http://www.iitk.ac.in/nicee/wcee/article/7_vol4_145.pdf
>
>     Bob Theis
>
>
>
>     On Nov 9, 2014, at 2:02 PM, valentina maini wrote:
>
>>     Thank you very very much Jorge! Great!
>>
>>
>>     El 09/11/2014, a las 22:57, Van Krieken escribió:
>>
>>>     Valentina, you may see a interesting article about F.L.Wright's
>>>     Rubble -Trench Foundations, A simple, effective foundation
>>>     system for residential structures - by Elias Velonis, Fine
>>>     Homebulding magazine, December 1983 / January 1984, pag. 66-68.
>>>
>>>     'All those footings at Taliesin have been perfectly static.
>>>     Eversince I discovered the dry wall footing—about 1902—I have
>>>     been building houses that way.' —Frank Lloyd Wright
>>>
>>>     tell me if you neeed some more info about this.
>>>
>>>     All the best
>>>
>>>     Jorge Van Krieken
>>>     Portugal
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>     On Sun, Nov 9, 2014 at 3:44 PM, Valentina Maini <vmaini at mac.com
>>>     <mailto:vmaini at mac.com>> wrote:
>>>
>>>         Kyle,
>>>         Maybe you have seen the foundation details that F.L.Wright
>>>         made for his hotel project in Japan? Heard a lot about this
>>>         detail but never saw a good drawing of it (or the original)
>>>         or a good reference in books about F.L.Wright.
>>>         ....is suposed to be made with tire and "train" rail beam to
>>>         allow sliding of the building..
>>>
>>>         Warm wishes, valentina
>>>
>>>         El 09/11/2014, a las 15:20, Kyle Holzhueter
>>>         <nihondaigaku.kairu at gmail.com
>>>         <mailto:nihondaigaku.kairu at gmail.com>> escribió:
>>>
>>>>         Traditionally in Japan, buildings were not secured to their
>>>>         foundations for this same reason, and could be repositioned
>>>>         after an earthquake. The weight of the roof and walls held
>>>>         the building down during typhoons.
>>>>
>>>>         Kyle
>>>>
>>>>         *************************************************
>>>>         Kyle Holzhueter PhD (Bioresource Sciences), Research Associate
>>>>         Nihon University, Graduate School of Bioresource Sciences
>>>>         Architectural and Regional Ecological Design Studio
>>>>         1866 Kameino Fujisawa Kanagawa 252-0880 Japan
>>>>
>>>>         カイル・ホルツヒューター　博 士（生物資源科学）　研究員
>>>>         日本大学大学院　生物資源科学 研究科
>>>>         建築・地域共生デザイン研究室
>>>>         〒252-0880 神奈川県藤沢市亀井野1866
>>>>
>>>>         TEL/FAX: 0466-84-3364
>>>>         Mobile: 080-3477-9841
>>>>         http://japaneseplastering.com <http://japaneseplastering.com/>
>>>>         http://holzhueter.blogspot.com/
>>>>         http://hp.brs.nihon-u.ac.jp/~cnes/index0.html
>>>>         <http://hp.brs.nihon-u.ac.jp/%7Ecnes/index0.html>
>>>>         *************************************************
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