The document discusses how building performance can enable operational resilience by being tailored to user needs before, during, and after threats. It identifies various threats like targeted attacks, weather extremes, seismic events, and fires. It provides examples of performance criteria for different building and user types, like structures performing prior to, during, and after events, and tenants being able to reoccupy buildings the next day. The conclusion is that resilience requires defining threats, understanding user needs, designing for performance levels and threat levels, enabling business continuity, and improving community resilience.

1. SANDFORD FLEMING FORUM
Structural Resilience: How Building
Systems Improve Operational Resilience

2. ENABLING CITY RESILIENCE
THROUGH BUILDING PERFORMANCE

3. The Issues
Enabling City Resilience Through Building Performance
The Issues
• Identify the threats
• Quantify building performance before, during and after
the event
• Who pays?
Takeaways
• Building performance can enable operational resilience
by being tailored to user specific needs and
requirements
• Resilience is fundamentally tied to the user, and
understanding what they need from the building in
terms of performance

4. Threats
Enabling City Resilience Through Building Performance
Targeted events Weather extremes
Seismic events Fire
Threats
Each threat exists along a spectrum, that may change with time, and has
different performance expectations along the range

5. Targeted Events
Enabling City Resilience Through Building Performance
Targeted Events
• Curb side or loading
dock event
• Parking garage event
• Carried event

6. Weather Extremes
Enabling City Resilience Through Building Performance
Weather Extremes
• Hurricanes or tornados
• Flooding
• Cold and hot weather
• Snow storms

7. Seismic Event
Enabling City Resilience Through Building Performance
Seismic Event
• Life safety and
evacuation
• Continued operation of
the facility perhaps
without municipal
infrastructure
A performance-based approach can ensure business continuity during
smaller events and better quantify the risk you’re exposed to

8. Fire
Enabling City Resilience Through Building Performance
Fire
• Life safety, property
protection
• Fire size, behaviour,
and location
• Active fire protection vs
passive protection

9. Fire
Enabling City Resilience Through Building Performance
Fire
• Life safety, property
protection
The building code addresses life safety and property protection with
prescriptive approaches that have historically proven satisfactory

10. Fire
Enabling City Resilience Through Building Performance
Fire
• Fire size, behaviour,
and location
Performance-based design can account for structurally significant,
large fires. The results: cost savings, increased robustness and
quantification of risk.

11. Fire
Enabling City Resilience Through Building Performance
Fire
• Active fire protection vs
passive protection
The structure should be generally designed to assume the active
fire protection (ie: sprinklers) have failed.

12. Design Event and Location
Enabling City Resilience Through Building Performance
Design Event and Location
• Client or another party determines the size and
location of the event for design purposes
• May use established criteria such as the New
York City Building Code Regulations or other
jurisdictions such as the Israeli Building Code
• Alternative may be guidelines by GSA, CTBUH or
Unified Facilities Guide Specifications (UFGS)

13. Determine what is to be designed
Enabling City Resilience Through Building Performance
Determine what is to
be designed
• Structure
• Exterior wall
including glazing
• Critical utility
infrastructure
• Tenants and public

14. Structural Performance Criteria
Enabling City Resilience Through Building Performance
Structural Performance
Criteria
• Prior to the event
• During the event
• Post-event continuity
of operation

15. Structural Performance Criteria
Enabling City Resilience Through Building Performance
Structural Performance
Criteria
• Prior to the event
• Day-to-day performance of the building. Occupant comfort and
well-being
• How quickly can the building be adapted to a changing threat
level ahead of the event?

16. Structural Performance Criteria
Enabling City Resilience Through Building Performance
Structural Performance
Criteria
• During the event
• Life safety and property protection
• Does the building need to remain operational during the event or
is it acceptable to temporarily relocate and evacuate?

17. Structural Performance Criteria
Enabling City Resilience Through Building Performance
Structural Performance
Criteria
• Post-event continuity
of operation
How quickly can people get back in and achieve their minimum,
sustainable operating capacity? Ideally, the tenant should be back
in the building the following day.

18. Lobby and Public Areas
Enabling City Resilience Through Building Performance
Lobby and Public Areas
• Assumed to be a relatively
high risk space
• Point of presence and
camera surveillance
• Assumed failure and
protection requirements
• No critical utility
infrastructure in the space
Architecture often drives large, unbraced columns
and glazing with large spans – neither of which is
ideal for mitigating the effects of a blast.

19. Tenant Spaces
Enabling City Resilience Through Building Performance
Tenant Spaces
• Who is the tenant?
• Performance requirement
before, during and after the
event
• Is the threat internal or
external
• Availability of points of
refuge, added stair towers,
added stair width for fire-
fighter access
Commercial tenants are able to have procedures
prepared in advance of events and can hold drills to
increase preparedness.

20. Loading Dock and Building Services areas
Enabling City Resilience Through Building Performance
Loading Dock and
Building Services Areas
• Control entry and potential
vulnerability
• Proximity to building
services
• Is the loading below the
tower area?
• Is there opportunity for vent
relief in case of an event?
Does the loading dock need to remain operational
during a flood or another event? Will surrounding
infrastructure enable or hinder that?

21. Parking Garages
Enabling City Resilience Through Building Performance
Parking garages
• Public or private parking
• Proximity of the parking
garage below the tower
• Effect of column or slab
removal

22. Healthcare
Enabling City Resilience Through Building Performance
Healthcare
• Highly vulnerable population
• Ample preparation time for
staff
• Trend towards a P3 delivery
for healthcare where
operation and maintenance
is accounted for ahead of
time. The owner has an
interest in enabling
resilience and mitigating risk
from threats.

23. Residential Towers
Enabling City Resilience Through Building Performance
Residential Towers
• Different financial
considerations
• Demographic of the tower
determines performance
expectations
• Market demand for
maximizing vision glass

24. Residential Towers
Enabling City Resilience Through Building Performance
Residential Towers
• Demographic of the tower
determines performance
expectations
• Needs will differ for young professionals –
typically not home during the day – or elderly,
who are.
• If some units are hotel suites, business
requirements come into play.

25. Data Centres
Enabling City Resilience Through Building Performance
Data Centres
• Zero down time permitted
• Highly visible, high value
target
• May be designed to be
expandable, which needs to
be accounted for in the
initial design
Resilient design makes use of natural environmental
protection when possible.

26. Who pays?
Enabling City Resilience Through Building Performance
Who pays?
• Public as a taxpayer
• Tenant
• Building Owner
• Insurance – but not every threat can be insured against

27. Conclusions
Enabling City Resilience Through Building Performance
1) Define the threat
2) Understand your client’s needs
3) Design for performance levels required and for different
threat levels
4) Enable business continuity of the organization
5) Improve the resilience of the organization and surrounding
community

28. We simplify the complex.
We are Entuitive.