Dr. Martijn Schildkamp, founder and director of Smart Shelter Research  gave an online  talk on Non-Engineered 2.0 – A Call to Action on 15 March for the IAStructE–IIIT Hyderabad student’s chapter of Earthquake Engineering Research Centre. The event was for  M. Tech and Ph.D. students, structural engineers, faculty, academic and research fraternity.  Dr. Martijn Schildkamp is an architect and engineer from the Netherlands with a passion for alternative materials and experimental building with low-tech earthquake-resistant principles. He gave an insight into the seismic deficiencies existing in stone masonry buildings and their damage patterns during seismic events. He has highlighted the errors and mistakes reported in many of the national and international guidelines that have been carried forward for a very long time. He educated the audience on the need for understanding the basic masonry structures design and earthquake-resistant construction techniques. He highlighted the importance and behaviour of reinforced concrete (RC) bands in the new stone masonry buildings against in-plane and out-of-plane seismic actions. He demonstrated the crucial deficiencies in Indian codes and the need to modify or develop accurate and cohesive codes for masonry structures. He also added a huge scope for work and innovations required for masonry construction and design with a special emphasis on the academic and research fraternity. Further, the discussion was concluded by showing the need for quality workmanship and material usage at the time of construction. A very insightful discussion was held at the end of the webinar with the participants.

The talk can be viewed at https://youtu.be/SCs-Fkp7LQ4

March 2023