Base isolated hospital in North Italy

For the new "ALFA blocks" of the hospital "Santa Maria degli Angeli" in Pordenone, Numeria proposed the use of base isolation for the integral protection of the structure and its content.

Numeria worked in close cooperation with the design team and was responsible for the design of the base isolation system.

The seismic protection system, made of 241 High Damping Rubber Bearings and 42 flat surface sliders, is installed at the top of the underground parking columns. The two blocks are built on a unique isolated slab having plan dimension of 95 x 110 m.

There has been much emphasis on the suitability of base isolation for critically important structures such as hospitals. For such buildings where protection of contents is critical, either because of their value or because of the need to maintain serviceability after an earthquake, seismic isolation has been proven to be an attractive option both technically and economically.

in addition to the abovementioned benefits, and as far as the mere structural aspects are concerned, significant cost savings can be achieved in base isolated buildings thanks to a structural configuration that fully exploit the advantages offered by seismic isolation leading to either a new layout of the superstructure resisting elements with less ductile detailing and to a simpler and more economic foundation scheme with respect to the original fixed-based structure. This can easily be achieved provided that, starting from the conceptual design phase, the structural engineer experienced in base isolation works jointly with the team drafting the initial building layout.