International Training Programs for Seismic Design of Building Structures

Hosted by National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering

Sponsored by Department of International Programs, National Science Council

Building Structural Types in Taiwan

Eric Chyng-Maw Su1
1

Introduction

Types of building structures in Taiwan on the basis of their architectural functions are
reviewed. Structural systems and forms of these buildings, along with materials of
construction are described. New directions in structural systems in Taiwan are also
discussed.

Types of Buildings

In order to include the historical background of buildings. The types of building

structures are categorized in terms of their architectural functions seems more appropriate for
discussion. These building types are divided into three main categories
(1) Residential Buildings
(2) Commercial Buildings
(3) School and Other Buildings
It should be noted that the residential buildings in Taiwan by no means limited to
dwelling use. They may mix with business activities to a certain degree due to the special
zoning regulations in Taiwan. The commercial buildings, however, are restricted to business
activities only. The government buildings built in early days are also discussed with
residential buildings.

Residential Buildings

Taiwan was once ruled by Japan for 50 years (1895-1945). Before that period, some
parts of the island was invaded by Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish, and British people during the
18th and 19th centuries. Some historical buildings built at the end of the 19th century by
British are still in good condition. British consulate adjacent to Fort San Domingo (knows in
Chinese as Red Body-Hair City) in Tamsui was built in 1891. It has now opened as a
museum.
Since Taiwan was ruled by Japan for half century, the Japanese influence was extensive
and even today many of older people speak Japanese. Although the Japanese ruled with an
iron fist, they were also efficient and contributed substantially to Taiwans economic
development. The Japanese built roads, railroads, schools, and hospitals. Some modern
architecture was developed during this period. The White House (Presidential Building) of
Taiwan, for example, was designed and built by Japanese in 1910s.
The building form of the Presidential Building belongs to a Victorian architectural style.
Other building examples having similar architectural style built in the same period are
National Taiwan University Hospital and Taichung Railway Station.
Most of the government buildings built in the 1920s used brick walls extensively as
bearing walls. The Greek columns were used mainly for decoration purpose. Reinforced
concrete was used for the horizontal components. It is not known whether these building did
any seismic design or not. However, they have been well preserved over these years.

Chief Engineer, Federal Engineering Consultants, Inc.

The majority of the residential building built before 1945 were Japanese style houses,
Chinese courtyard houses, or street houses (houses built right up to the front street). These
houses were all single story, some of the street houses were 2- or 3-story houses. Basically,
these houses were made of brick and wood, and most of them were demolished by now.
In the period of 1945 to 1960, Japanese-style houses, Chinese courtyard houses, and
street houses were built continuously with a decreasing rate. Japanese-style houses have
tatami rooms. A tatami room consists of straw mats or quilts laid out on the floor. You
need to take your shoes off before entering these places. Japanese-style houses usually were
built from wood or brick. The pitched roofs were generally tile or slate.
The courtyard houses are the most common dwelling type in the southeastern area of
China. The traditional Taiwanese house follows the design seen in mainland China. A
courtyard house or homestead is basically a one-story farmhouse , and is commonly built in a
U shape with a courtyard in front of the main entrance. In crowded urban areas you might
find a fully enclosed courtyard. Fig 1 shows a typical courtyard house plan. The courtyard
house can usually accommodate three generations in a family.

Fig.1

Traditional Taiwanese courtyard house

The early courtyard houses were built from clay tile, and a bit of timber may be used.
The clay tiles were either covered with faced bricks or white lime plaster. Modern courtyard
houses were built from brick finished with cement paste, and a bit of concrete was used.
The pitched roofs were generally reddish-brown terra-cotta type tiles. Nowadays we can
still see this type of houses in the rural area.
Street houses built prior to 1945 were usually one or two-story separate house. After
1945, these street houses started to build together and to form in a line. They had common
walls between them. The construction materials of street houses were essentially the same
as courtyard houses.
In the period of 1961 to 1975, the building forms underwent gradual changes, new
variety emerged to a style of its own. The most common type of residential building in this
period was the four-story apartment building . It was a two-family attached house in each
floor. Two families shared a stair which located in the middle of the duplex. Fig. 2 is a
typical four-story duplex apartment building plan.

Fig.2

Typical duplex apartment plan

The four-story apartment buildings are cast-in-place reinforced concrete structures with
beam-and-column framing. The exterior walls are usually 12 cm thick RC walls, and
interior walls are normally infilled brick walls. Generally, the building has one level of
partial basement.
Another common residential type building evolved from the previous period was the
three-story street house (tow tien). Each unit of a street houses had one owner, and all units
were back-to-back connected together. The ground floor was usually a store, and the upper
floors were the living areas. Fig. 3 is a typical ground floor plan of a three-story (tow tien)
house cluster. The size of the cluster, or the number of house units may be expanded to 20,
or even 30 units depending on the length of the street block.

Fig.3

First floor plan of typical street houses

The width of each store is approximately 4.0 m to 4.5 m. There is an arcade or

passageway in front of the store. The arcade is the major feature of the street house. It is
the property of the individual store, and is also opened to public. The idea of the arcade is
quite suitable for the subtropical island weather. The climate of island varies considerably.
Winter is cool, occasionally chilly, and is characterized by heavy cloud cover and frequent
drizzle. Summer rain comes in short, torrential thunder showers mostly during the afternoon.
Summers are sticky and very hot. The arcade can ward off the rain and the heat. Most of
the modern buildings provide an arcade on the ground floor for pedestrians may rooted in the
street houses.
The common wall of street house is a 24 cm thick brick wall. It is the full width of a
brick. There are intermediate RC columns spaced approximately 4.0 m in the brick walls.
The size of the RC column in the wall is 2440 cm. Very light reinforcement, for example,
4-#4 bars were usually provided in the column, The columns in the front arcade are usually
a 3030 cm square column.
Fig.4 shows typical street house plans. The first floor is for the living room, kitchen
with dining room, and the master bedroom. The second floor may be used for childrens
room, guest room, old parents room, and bathroom. The third floor is for the shrine place.
The shrine room only takes the rear half of the third floor. The front half floor is usually an
open balcony. This type of the street house is sometimes called two and a half (2) story
street house. The 2-story tow tien house is probably the most popular dwelling type in the
70s and the 80s, especially in the midwest and southern areas of Taiwan.

Fig.4

Typical three-story street house plan

The structural system of the tow tien house is basically a bearing wall system (Fig.3).
Since the bearing brick walls are placed only in one direction (Y-direction). There is almost
no lateral load resisting system in the other direction (X-direction), especially when there is
only a single unit, or only a few units built together. The structure may survive a mild
earthquake, but it may cause a severs damage or even collapse during a strong earthquake.
Hundreds of tow tien houses failed during the 1999 Chi-Chi Earthquake may attribute to the
poor structural system.

In the 1980s, the volume of the four story apartment complex, and the tow tien houses
became smaller. New housing variations were developed in the period of 1976 to 1990.
This is the age of the high rise apartment, or the age of the elevator housing.
One form of the new dwelling type was the cluster of housing. It is a high rise
dwelling community, or a cluster of condominium buildings. The number of the buildings
varied from two to ten or so depending on the size of the lot. The stories of a building are in
the range of 7 to 16 stories. A 13-story condo, for example, may accommodate up to 50
families. It is not uncommon for 200 families live in a cluster of housing. The ground
floor of the building may be used for business depending whether it is allowed for business
activities or not. A typical floor plan of the high rise condominium is shown in Fig.5. It is
a four-family attached arrangement which was a popular choice in the late 80s.

Fig.5

Typical floor plan for four-family attached condominium

Fig. 5 shows a four bedroom housing with a living room, dining room, and a kitchen
attached. Two bathrooms are usually provided for the four bedrooms layout. Each family
would usually have a front balcony, and a rear balcony. The living area is approximately
120 m2 for a four bedroom family house. The area of each floor are in the range of 500 to
600 m2. There are usually two elevators, and each elevator serves two families. The high
rise condominiums built in the period of 1976 to 1990 were predominantly built from
cast-in-place reinforced concrete. Fig.6 is a typical RC structure framing for the plan in
Fig.5.

Fig.6

Structure framing of Fig.5 plan

For a 16-story condo, a typical size of columns in the lower levels may be 100100 cm,
and a typical girder size could be 6080 cm. A 15 cm thick two-way slab is a common floor
system for RC buildings. The RC walls in the centered service core can be used as shear
walls to assist moment frame resisting lateral loads. The design strength of concrete are
usually in the range of 3000 to 4000 psi. High strength concrete was rarely used in that
period.
Another new dwelling type developed in the period of 1976 to 1990 was the public
housing. It was also a housing cluster except it was built by the government rather than
private developers. A majority of public housing were built from the existing military
family houses. The existing military family houses were usually numerous of one-story
houses. The building lot, however, was usually quite huge.
Hundreds of old military family houses community had been rebuilt throughout the
years. The volume of the newly built military housing community is normally larger than a
private cluster of housing. It is not uncommon for a military housing community having 30
high rise buildings in a community. Other public housings were built using the land owned
by the government. The number of stories of public housing is similar to the private cluster
of housing. The public housing structure, including the exterior walls and the common wall
between adjacent family units, were usually built from cast-in-place reinforced concrete.
The interior partition walls, however, were usually brick walls.
Due to the new construction techniques, and the new construction materials, the structural
forms in the late 80s and 90s had evolved into new varieties. The high rise residential buildings
became taller. Twenty to thirty-story high rise condominiums sprouted throughout the urban
areas. The construction materials no longer restricted to RC, steel structure (SS) construction,
steel reinforced concrete (SRC) construction, or steel concrete (SC) construction became popular
during the economy booming. To facilitate the high housing demands, the precast construction
method was introduced. The precast construction first started from the precast wall panels, then
extended to the precast slabs, and precast beams. They were no really fully precast buildings.
Recently, however, a few fully precast residential buildings have been built. Fig.7 shows a
typical floor plan with a SRC framing system.

Fig.7

Typical floor plan of SRC structure

The cross section of a SRC column is usually a cruciform shape steel section as shown
in Fig.8a. The box type section has also been used (Fig.8b). Reinforced concrete is used to
enclose the steel section in a SRC construction. The reinforced concrete can enhance the
performance of steel members. The SRC framing has the advantage of providing higher
lateral stiffness. It is preferable to a slender building. Nevertheless, the construction time
of a SRC building is usually longer than a RC or SS building.
For a residential building structure which has a lack of lateral stiffness, a steel concrete
(SC) construction may be considered as an alternative scheme. A SC girder is a steel beam
encased in concrete with light reinforcement in concrete to hold the concrete, and to control
the cracking. Unlike the SRC construction, the reinforcement in the SC construction is not
for the strength purpose. They are essentially for the ease of construction and for the
serviceability purpose. The column in SC construction is usually a cast-in-place SRC
column.

Fig.8

Typical cross section of SRC column

The SC beam may either be a cast-in-place member or a precast member. Fig.9 shows
a typical detail of a precast SC beam.

(a) Cross H Column

(b) Box Column

Fig.9

Typical precast steel concrete (SC) beam

The slab system in SC construction may also have a choice of cast-in-place on metal
deck or precast slab construction. More often, a precast slab is usually the choice since it
would match the precast SC beam.
Fig.10 illustrates a typical precast slab system called KT truss slab system. A 60 mm
thick precast concrete slab panel, embedded with wire mesh and small steel truss, is ready to
be lifted to the floor slab location. The 120 mm thick pour-in-place topping is then casted on
the top of the precast panel afterward.

Fig.10 Typical precast slab (KT truss slab)

Reinforced concrete structures, or structure has steel members encased in concrete is
usually a favorable choice for a residential building since structural members are usually
exposed in residential buildings. They are usually finished with paint at most. The living
room is perhaps the only place covered with ceilings. Steel structure (SS) construction is
usually used for office buildings or industrial buildings.
The basement construction is predominantly RC construction. When a SS, SRC, or
SC construction is adopted in the superstructure, then the first level in the basement (B1 Level)
is usually the transferred floor for transferring the steel construction into the RC construction.
A typical detail of a transferring column is shown in Fig.11. The steel column is terminated
at the B1 floor while the reinforcing bars are continued through to the foundation.

Fig.11

Typical transferring column in SRC construction

In the years of the 90s, the country continued to pursue for a better quality of living.
Developers started to pay attention to the environmental problems, and to seek a balance
among air, land, and water on Earth. Thus, the idea of Green Earth buildings were created.
After the Chi-Chi Earthquake in 1999, people began to have a renew look on the meaning of a
safe dwelling. Structural or non-structural members can not be removed arbitrarily for
remodeling purpose like many occupants usually did prior to the Chi-Chi Earthquake. More
and more inhabitants have reached a consensus on the significance of living safety.

4. Commercial Buildings
In the period prior to 1970, the economy of the country mainly relied on agriculture.
Only a few commercial buildings were built prior to that period, except for government
building as described in the previous section. Taiwan Cement Co. Building, built in 1960,
was one of the earliest commercial building example. The 1960 was approximately the year
as nationwide industries started to rise. After a ten-year industrial growth, people had
accumulated enough wealth, and were ready to welcome the consumers age.
During the years of 1970s, the business of department stores start booming. Many of
the first generation department stores were built during that period. Shin Kong Department
Store, Far Eastern Department Store, Today Department Store, First Department Store in
Simen(West Gate)area were all opened in the early 70s. Since the number of stories of the
department store are usually 10 stories or so, thus a RC structure was a favorable choice for
these department stores.
Another type of commercial buildings surged during the department store prosperous
period was the restaurant / hotel building. Ambassador Hotel, Leofoo Hotel, and Taipei
Hilton were all built in the early 70s. The common structural features of department stores
and restaurants compared to residential buildings are
(1) higher design live load due to public use
(2) deep basement excavation due to parking demand
(3) large column distance due to space demand
(4) large floor height due to space demand
New structural systems and methods of the construction were introduced because the
higher design demands. Taiwan Cement Co. Building built in 1960 was a milestone of RC
building structure. It was a seven-story RC building with one level of basement. Raft
foundation was first used in this building. Since there were two levels of parking within one
basement floor, flat slab was used to increase the floor clearance , and to reduce the
excavation depth. Taipei Hilton was probably the first high-rise building(20F) to use steel
construction(1973). Century Hotel (1973) was the first building to use rolled steel section
for the bracing system during the basement excavation. China International Commercial
Bank(1975) was the first building to use slurry wall for basement retaining walls. It was
also the first building to use top-down construction to facilitate the construction speed. Fig.
12 is a conceptual sketch of the top-down construction. To assist the progress of the
construction schedule, the glass curtain wall and the precast panel wall were brought into the
market at the end of 70s. Headquarter of the First Bank(22F), and the Taipower
Building(26F) were the first two buildings to use precast walls at that time. Light partition
wall such as gypsum stud wall was also adopted by the market during that period of time.

Fig.12

Conceptual sketch of top-down construction

In order to satisfy higher strength demand of RC members, local plants started to
manufacture 60 ksi reinforcing steel. Also, to resolve the deflection problem due to the large
span, prestressed steel was brought into building construction in the middle of 70s.
The 26-story Taipower Building, completed in 1982, was the first high-rise building to
exceed 100 m height, with a height of 114.5 m. The structure system was a ductile steel
moment resisting frame above the third floor. The first two levels and the basement used
SRC construction.
Fig. 13 shows the typical floor plan of the Taipower Building. This kind of plan is
quite common for an office building. Large open space often resulted in a long span
(approximately 13 m in this case) steel framing. Gypsum board partition walls were used for
the interior walls to reduce the building weight, and to speed up the construction.

Fig.13

Typical floor plan of Taipower building

Steel structural system was predominantly moment-resisting frame(MRF) at the beginning

of high-rise steel construction in the middle of 1970s. Unlike MRF in the US where wide
flange columns are normally being used, a box sections are commonly used for steel columns
in Taiwan. The difference came from the design practice. The MRF in the US are
normally independent in each direction, only a few frames are used as a MRF. While all the
frames are MRF in local practice.
Some new systems were brought into the steel construction in the early 1980s. One of
the new structural systems was the eccentrically braced frame(EBF). The EBF has the
advantages of both MRF and CBF(concentrically braced frame).
The braced frames provide the required stiffness and the strength during a mild
earthquake. The shear link(ein Fig. 14) exists between eccentrically braces(EB), or
between EB and column, would then serve as a fuse to dissipate the earthquake input energy
during a strong earthquake.

(a)

(b)

(c)

Fig.14

Typical EBF frames

The EBF system is especially effective for a building more than 30-story high. Many
30-to 50-story commercial buildings built in early 1990s had used the EBF. For example,
the 85-story TC tower in Kaohsiung, completed in the mid 1990s used EBF system combined
with MRF system.
Since the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, many new moment connection designs have
been developed for seismic resistant steel frames.. Among these is the Reduced Beam
Section(RBS) moment connection, also known as the dogbone connection[1]. The RBS
connection has shown good performance in laboratory testing and is being used on a number
of building construction projects. The 47-story Taichung Tower was one of the early
example to use RBS moment connection. Fig. 15 illustrates a radius cut RBS connection.

Fig.15

Radius cut RBS moment connection

Research data have shown that the RBS connection can develop at least 3% plastic
rotation. Nonetheless, Pre-Northridge moment connections can only develop on the order
of 1% plastic rotation or better. Other variation of RBS connection, by trimming the beam
flanges according to the moments gradient has also been used on many building
projects(Fig.16b). The 101-story Taipei Financial Center currently under construction has
used RBS connection(Fig. 16b) for seismic resistant frames.

Fig.16

Various forms of RBS moment connection

The idea of the RBS connection is to move the plastic hinge away from the highly
stressed column face, and to enhance the rotational capacity of the moment connection. A
variety of reduced beam section had been developed either by drilling holes through the
flanges, by widening the beam flanges at column face, or by adding wing plates to the beam
flanges at column face. The other way to alleviate the stress concentration at the column
face is to strengthen the joint by either welding the beam web to the column, or by adding a
cover plate to the beam flanges. In general, both the strengthening (cover plates) and
weakening(drilling holes) schemes have relocated the plastic hinge away from the
beam-to-column junctures[2]. Fig. 17 illustrates some of these moment connection types.

Fig.17

Typical modified moment connections

The seismic provisions of the AISC Code specifies that one needs to demonstrate the
connection can withstand an inelastic rotation of at least 0.03 radians(3 percent), in order to
qualify as a Special Moment Frames(SMF) [3]. In this regard, the RBS moment connection
is probably a favorable choice for the qualification of a SMF.
The design philosophy of developing ductility-enhanced members or connections may
not be adequate from the building performance point of view. Since a more ductile frame
means more deformation of the frame, and it would result in more damage of nonstructural
elements in the buildings. One way to achieve a better performance of building is to reduce
the ductility demands imposed on structural elements[2]. Increase the damping of a
structural framing is a simple way of reducing the ductility demands of structural elements.
Among these is the steel triangular-plate added damping and stiffness(TADAS) energy
dissipation device. It consists of several triangular plates welded to a common base plate as
shown in Fig.18. This device has been used in the newly opened Core Pacific Shopping City
in Taipei.

Fig.18

Schematics of a TADAS device

As the design trend moves toward the performance-based design in the 1990s, seismic
isolation and energy dissipation systems became viable design strategies for seismic resistant
buildings. These ststems include devices that enhance building performance primarily by
modifying building response characteristics[5, 6].
Typical isolation systems reduce forces transmitted to the superstructure by lengthening
the period of the building and adding certain amount of damping. Passive energy dissipation
devices add damping (and sometimes stiffness) to the buildings structure. A wide variety of
passive energy dissipation devices are available, including fluid viscous dampers(FVD),
viscoelastic materials (VE dampers), and hysteretic devices. Under favorable conditions,
energy dissipation devices would not only reduce drift of the structure, but also reduce force
in the structure [6].
The strategy of selecting the best device to achieve the performance level specified by
the owner is sometimes a mind-boggling process for engineers. Table 1 provides some
simple guidance on the Performance Levels for which isolation and energy dissipation
systems should be considered as possible design strategies for seismic design of buildings.

  
        

Table 1 Applicability of isolation and energy dissipation systems[6].

Performance Level Performance Range
Isolation
Energy Dissipation
Operational
Immediate
Occupancy
Life
Safety
Collapse
Prevention

Damage
Control
Limited
Safety

Very
Likely

Limited

Likely

Likely

Limited

Likely

Not
Practical

Limited

Table 1 suggests that isolation systems may be considered for achieving the Immediate
Occupancy Structural Performance Level and the Operational Nonstructural Performance
Level. On the other hand, isolation may not be an appropriate design strategy for achieving
the Collapse Prevention Performance Level.
In general, isolation systems provide
significant protection to the building structure and nonstructural components, but at a cost
beyond practical application when the budget is limited. The Tzu Chi General Hospital
currently under construction in Taipei has used isolation system for seismic resistant design.
Energy dissipation systems may be considered in a somewhat broader contents than
isolation systems. For the taller buildings where isolation systems may not be feasible,
energy dissipation systems may be considered as a design strategy when performance goals
include the Damage Control Performance Range. One the other hand, certain energy
dissipation devices are quite economical and may be practical for performance goals that
address only Limited Safety. In general, energy dissipation systems are more likely to be an
appropriate design strategy when the desired Performance Level is Life Safety or Immediate
Occupancy.
Many construction projects have used energy dissipation systems for seismic or wind
resistant design. The Taipei MRT(1996) Chientan Station has used VE dampers to control
the vibration caused by wind. Taishin Bank(2001) at Neihu was the first commercial
building to use FVD seismic dampers. Fig.19 illustrates a typical FVD damper and its
framing elevation.

Fig.19

Typical FVD damper system

  
        

A few buildings constructed with ductile bracing, also known as unbonded brace from(UBF)
system, are currently also under construction. Typical UBF systems can dissipate large
amount of the input earthquake energy through hysteretic yielding of low-yield strength steel
bracings. Fig. 20 illustrates a typical UBF frame elevation.
The advent of seismic isolation, and energy dissipation systems has moved the design
philosophy from ductility-based toward performance-based design. As the researchers
continue to pursue a better performance of building structures, other special seismic
systems-includng active control, hybrid combinations of active and passive energy devices,
and liquid dampers-are being developed and may provide practical solutions in the near future.
It would be a new era and challenge for the structural engineers.

Fig.20

Typical UBF system

In summary, changes of the structure types in the last 30 years can be tabulated as
shown in Table 2.
Table 2 Changes of structure types in last 30 years
Years Number of Story
Material and System
1970s

10F

1980s

20F

1990

> 30F

RC
MRF, Shear wall
RC, SS , SC, SRC
MRF, Shear Wall
RC, SS, SRC
Precast
SMRF, EBF, Shear Wall
Base Isolation
Energy Dissipation

  
        

School and Other Buildings

School buildings play an important role in public buildings as far as the number of
buildings, and the extent of the area are concerned. Unlike commercial or residential
buildings, school buildings are usually low-rise concrete building, and the typical plan layout
for elementary or the middle school classrooms is usually a long, narrow plan. Fig. 21 is a
typical classroom plan of an elementary school or a middle school building.

Fig.21

Typical classroom plan of elementary and middle school

The common wall between the classrooms is usually made of brick. There are more
walls in Y-direction than in X-direction, and there is a 3.0 m overhanging slab along the
corridor. The long overhung or cantilevered slab becomes vulnerable to an earthquake
loading which contains significant vertical components like the Chi-Chi Earthquake in 1999.
The window walls on both sides of the classroom are even more detrimental to an
earthquake loading(Fig. 22). The short concrete or brick wall built against column will
result in a so call short-column phenomenon, and cause a brittle shear failure of the column.
This was one of the main reasons that many school buildings failed during the Chi-Chi
Earthquake.

Fig.22

Typical short-column elevation in school classroom

To avoid a short-column effect, one way is to separate the short wall from the column
with a gap, and fill the gap with flexible filler materials. For existing short walls, the best
way is to create a saw-cut joint between the short walls and the column.

  
        

Buildings in the university contain a variety forms, and are often a good place for an
architect to express his or her design talent. The libraries, student unions, and other
institutional buildings all have different space and loading requirements, thus results in
various forms. Like elementary school or middle school buildings, the buildings in
universities are usually not tall buildings, and concrete structure is the most common
construction material for buildings in the university. For place having long spans such as
performing art centers or sports stadiums, prestressed girders, or steel girders may be used.
One of the striking features of local buildings is the temples. There are probably over
5000 temples in Taiwan, ranging in size from a back-alley hut to a monumental, multistoryed
structure that wound make a European cathedral look like a dwarf. The temple structures are
predominantly concrete structure, and sometimes built with a bit timber. Taoist temple roofs
are complicated detailed with colorful figures such as dragons and phoenix. Lungshan
Temple and Hsingtiengon Temple are two of the most popular temples in Taipei. By contrast,
Buddhist temples are relatively sedate. Buddhist pagoda is essentially a building to house
the ashes of the deceased.

Closing Remarks

The building structure types of Taiwan inherited Japanese style and Chinese style in the
early stage, and followed the western types after the industrialization of the country in 1970s.
The unique tow tien street houses are still popular in some area, and temples are pervasive in
the rural area.
Concrete (RC) buildings with ceramic tiles faade are still the most popular building
structure type for residential buildings. The SRC, SC, and precast constructions are other
variation of residential buildings. The RC and SS constructions are usually the favorable
choice of an office building.
During the last decade, concern for the effects of buildings on people became deeper.
More stringent regulations for fire safety were set forth. Requirements were established that
prevented construction of a building until its full environmental impact could be assessed.
Furthermore, the need for energy conservation in building operation to conserve natural
resources became apparent. These requirements placed additional constraints on building
design. Both design and construction became even more complex.
As the design philosophy has gradually been shifting from ductility-based to
performance-based design, the isolation systems and energy dissipation systems may become
a more favorable choice for building design. We might say that the building structural
engineering has become a combination of art and science, and there would always be
challenges ahead for the Structural Engineers.

References
1. MD Engelhardt, Design Recommedations for Radius Cut Reduced Beam Section
Moment Connections Workshop on Design Technologies of Earthquake-Resistant
Moment-Resisting Connections in Steel Buildings, Taipei, May 1999.
2. KC Tsai, Seismic Energy Dissipation in Steel Frame Buildings, Asia-Pacific
Workshop on Seismic Design & Retrofit of Structures, Taipei, Aug. 1998.
3. Seismic Provisions for Structural Steel Buildings, AISC, April 1997.
4. SJ Chen, Ductile Steel Beam-to-Column Connections, Asia-Pacific Workshop on
Seismic Design & Retrofit of Structures, Taipei, Aug. 1998.

  
        

5. NEHRP Guidelines for the Seismic Rehabilitation of Building, FEMA-273, Oct.

1997.
6. NEHRP Commentary on the Guidelines for the Seismic Rehabilitation of Building,
Oct. 1997.
7. VISION 2000-Performance Based Seismic Engineering of Buildings, Structural
Engineers Association of California (SEAOC), April 1995.