The design of structures to protect occupants and operations in response to man-made extraordinary events requires attention to critical failure mechanisms and component behavior. Since the intensity and likelihood of these events are not well defined, performance based design approaches include the management of inelastic response and local failure. Design techniques that were developed for the ‘cold war’ are now adapted for Government and commercial construction. Applying these techniques to ‘design excellence’ architecture is a major challenge and the least impactful protective measures that achieve the required performance contribute to a project’s success. In many projects, the protective design engineer helps identify the risks associated with different design options and helps the owners to decide whether to mitigate or accept these risks.

Robert Smilowitz is a Senior Principal at Thornton Tomasetti