Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright is among the most innovative
architects this country ever produced. But his fame wasn't
limited to the United States. About 70 years ago, Japan
asked Wright to design a hotel for Tokyo that would be
capable of surviving an earthquake.
When the architect visited Japan to see where the Imperial
Hotel was to be built, he was appalled to find only about
eight feet of earth on the site. Beneath that was 60 feet of
soft mud that slipped and shook like jelly. Every test hole
he dug filled up immediately with water. A lesser man
probably would have given up right there. But not Frank
Lloyd Wright.
Since the hotel was going to rest on fluid ground, Wright
decided to build it like a ship. Instead of trying to keep
the structure from moving during a quake, he incorporated
features that would allow the hotel to ride out the shock
without damage. Supports were sunk into the soft mud, and
sections of the foundation were cantilevered from the
supports. The rooms were built in sections like a train and
hinged together. Water pipes and electric lines, usually the
first to shear off in an earthquake, were hung in vertical
shafts where they could sway freely if necessary.
Wright knew that the major cause of destruction after an
earthquake was fire, because water lines are apt to be
broken in the ground and there is no way to put the fire
out. So he insisted on a large outdoor pool in the courtyard
of his hotel, "just in case."
On September 1, 1923, Tokyo had the greatest earthquake in
its history. There were fires all over the city, and 140,000
people died. Back in the U.S., news reports were slow coming
in. One newspaper wanted to print the story that the
Imperial Hotel had been destroyed, as rumor had it. But when
a reporter called Frank Lloyd Wright, he said that they
could print the story if they wished, but they would only
have to retract it later. He knew the hotel would not
collapse.
Shortly afterward, Wright got a telegram from Japan. The
Imperial Hotel was completely undamaged. Not only that - it
had provided a home for hundreds of people. And when fires
that raged all around the hotel threatened to spread, bucket
brigades kept the structure wetted down with water from the
hotel's pool.
The Imperial Hotel isn't there anymore. It was finally torn
down in the 1960's to be replaced by a more modern
structure.
Author unknown. If anyone has a proprietary interest in this story please authenticate and I will be happy to credit, or remove, as the circumstances dictate.
WIT and WISDOM - February 24, 1999