BP 12

     When I read the prompt for this week's blog post, I thought back to when that massive earthquake hit Japan a month ago.  At the time, I saw a video someone had posted online of the buildings in the Shinjuku district.  During the earthquake, the structures did sway in an unnerving fashion but the fact remains that the buildings all withstood a 9.0 quake, the biggest to hit Japan in recorded history! 

     I believe that for any building, interior aesthetics or even pragmatism should be secondary architectural concerns.  There is no point of such design if the structure cannot weather the elements it will inevitably be subjected to.  In this case, Japanese engineers were building in an area that attracts one-fifth of the world's earthquakes.  They prepared by cementing their structures with deep foundations and shock absorbers to negate seismic tremors.  These precautions saved thousands of lives, perhaps more.  This is, without a doubt, "good design for all".