Indonesia is about to build its first green, earthquake-proof hospital as part of the University of Indonesia’s plan to redevelop its School of Medicine.
Henry Tsang, an architect with the Japanese firm Nikkon Sekkei, has been working with a team of architects and engineers to finalise building plans for the new school at the university’s Depok campus south of Jakarta.
“We are going to build the first ‘earthquake-proof’ hospital in Indonesia,” said Dr Tsang, who has a PhD in health care and faculty planning.
He said a technique called base isolation, designed by Japanese tire manufacturer Bridgestone, would be used to make the new teaching hospital earthquake-resistant.
Uraifah, an engineering graduate from the university who is working on the project, said base isolation was preferable to conventional seismic designs.
“With a conventional seismic design, buildings can be made strong enough to withstand major earthquakes, although the furniture inside will still fall,” she said.
Dr Tsang said the 13-story, 70-metre-tall hospital would be made to “float” on top of a base made out of the same material as tires.
No collapse
In the event of an earthquake, “the building would move with the base but would not crack or collapse,” he said, adding that it could get scary.
“You would feel it moving back and forth.”
He said base isolation worked best with shorter-duration tremors. A quake lasting longer than two minutes would shake the building so much it could potentially topple over.
However, he said that earthquakes generally lasted under a minute.
To illustrate the hospital’s strength, Dr Tsang used the Shindo scale, which measures shaking at a given location rather than the absolute magnitude of the earthquake itself.
“It would withstand a six [out of seven] on the Shindo scale,” he said. At this level, people would be unable to stand and less earthquake-resistant houses and buildings would collapse.
In comparison, the magnitude 9.0 quake that struck off the east coast of Japan on March 11 registered a seven on the Shindo scale in areas closest to the epicenter.
No quake codes
Dr Tsang said there were no building codes to ensure structures in Indonesia were quake-proof.
While some developers have invested in strengthening techniques, many of the skyscrapers in Jakarta “are not built to withstand earthquakes”.
Fortunately, though, “Jakarta isn’t prone to earthquakes,” Dr Tsang said.
In addition to being quake-proof, he said, the design of the hospital would also focus on environmental sustainability.
“The design would maximise the use of natural energy with solar power, rainwater and natural ventilation,” he said.
He said the University of Indonesia and the Health Ministry had applied to the Japan International Cooperation Agency to help fund the project.
Uraifah said the total cost of the project would be about 6.7 billion yen ($86.7 million), including the building equipment, furniture, satellite clinic and seismic isolation system.
Quality services
She added the new school would serve to “enhance the educational and research capacity of the university’s health faculties and help improve the quality of medical services in Indonesia”.
Agustin Indrachyani, a member of the Hospital Establishment Body, praised the project.
“The new hospital facilities would enable all sectors of the health sciences to integrate and provide better, evidence-based health care,” she said.
Dr Tsang said work on the project was due to begin next month, with the hospital construction to start early next year.
The university’s new School of Medicine will cover a total of 100,000 sq m. It will have six faculty buildings, one staff residence and the new teaching hospital.
Dr Tsang said he expected the hospital, which would take up half the space of the new school, to be completed by 2014.
Corazon Miller
