This commercial office building was constructed after the Christchurch earthquake sequence of 2010/2011.  At that time there was a shift to steel structures from reinforced concrete moment frames.  RCMFs had performed well from a “collapse prevention” standpoint, but were damaged with many being unrepairable and ultimately were demolished. 

A cost study of the building showed that the reduction in structural response and base shear demand resulted in overall cost savings compared to a BRB (Buckling Restrained Brace) option.  The piled foundation savings alone were almost 50% over a traditional steel braced structure.  These were presented in a paper “Seismic and financial performance of fluid viscous dampers relative to BRBs: A case study” make this a link to the paper by the designer Opus International at the 2016 NZSEE Conference.

OPUS has since become part of WSP and is a tenant in the building.  Their conference room features exposed dampers as shown below.