Evaluation of the role of architectural design in earthquake damages of RC buildings

The purpose of this study is to illustrate the effects of improper architectural design on the earthquake damages that many buildings have suffered during recent earthquake events. Irregularities both in plan and elevation, unsymmetrical structural systems, very long and heavy cantilevers, huge galleries within the buildings, soft or weak story occurrence depending on greater ground story heights, protruding building plan and different purpose of usage in different stories might be listed as some of the most encountered irregularities that end up with uncontrolled structural behavior. Herein, the choices of the actual structural system, as well as what might have been preferred as their alternatives are discussed considering real case studies after some disastrous earthquakes in Turkey. Detailed evaluation of a moderately damaged building having a structurally weak direction is also discussed.