It is well known that structural shear walls provide an excellent strategy for improving the seismic response of buildings. This paper discusses two buildings recently constructed in Adelaide that contain high aspect ratio shear walls. In both buildings, the inter-storey drift capacity of glazed curtain wall facade systems was exceeded by shear wall design solutions based on strength alone. In order to prevent a life safety hazard from falling glass, design changes were required to ensure inter-storey drifts were reduced to values that could be accommodated by the drift intolerant facade systems. These examples raise concern regarding the adequacy of the blanket "deemed to be satisfied" shear wall drift provisions of the 2005 Draft Standard for Earthquake Actions, in which the simple adoption of shear walls removes the requirement for the designer to estimate drift.
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