An Innovative Approach to Retrofitting Soft/Weak-Story Buildings

Engineers recognize that multi-unit, wood-framed apartment buildings with soft/weak stories are vulnerable to side-sway collapse from earthquakes. The risk was illustrated by the 6.7-magnitude 1994 Northridge quake and the 6.9-magnitude 1989 Loma Prieta quake (Figure 1). In the Northridge quake, for example, roughly 200 such buildings, containing thousands of units, suffered severe damage or collapse. …