MFC
In Siddeburen in the province of Groningen, a new multi functional centre has been built, as an addition to the church along the Oudeweg. Since the church (and therefore also the MFC) are situated in an area prone to earthquakes, both the church and the MFC were made earthquake resistant. Recently, the magazine "Industriebouw" published an article dedicated entirely to the new MFC.
Merckt
Merckt is a project in the centre of Groningen city situated on the corner of Grote Markt. The building houses apartments and small restaurants. Because of its specific shape, the earthquake resistant engineering for the building was particularly complex. Through an NLTH-analyse, the behaviour of the structure during an earthquake was investigated, see our paper. Especially the lower levels are sensitive to earthquake loads. To make the building earthquake resistant in its present form, the apartments have been structurally 'separated' from the lower levels. This significantly reduces the forces from the apartments in case of an earthquake and enables the structure to absorb them within the present design.
We have made a short illustration with a comparison of an earthquake analysis of Merckt with and without base isolation.