Development and Realization of Base Isolation System for High-Rise Buildings

High-rise buildings with a base isolation system have been realized by investigating the aspect of practical applicability through the identification and addressing of the difficulties involved in actual design applications. Among the base-isolated buildings we have designed so far, the Sendai MT Building is the first base-isolated building with a height exceeding 60 m in Japan, and the Thousand Tower was the tallest base-isolated residential Tower in Japan when completed. These examples show that the appropriate utilization of the base isolation system with high-strength materials and a long-span structure system makes it possible to endow high-rise buildings not only with strong seismic performance but also architectural design flexibility. This paper provides empirical evidence that the base isolation system can properly work for high-rise buildings. According to the seismic data obtained from the seismographs in the Sendai MT Building when the Off-Miyagi earthquake struck on May 26, 2003, the base isolation system of this high-rise building performed as effectively as designed.