CoreFirst Sanctuaries

CoreFirst Sanctuaries provide protection for a school’s students, faculty and staff in the event of an earthquake—at a fraction of the cost of a full seismic upgrade. Here’s how they work.

PHASE I

Insert Safe Zones “Cartridge”-style Sanctuaries are built offsite and inserted into an existing school building. The Sanctuary provides complete protection in the event of a structural collapse of the building, and within each Sanctuary are robust communication devices (shortwave radio) and first aid.

Reinforce Exits In tandem with a CoreFirst installation, all of the exit ways will be strengthened (brickwork, soffits, cornices) to preclude injury while exiting the building.

PHASE II

Floor Diaphragms If further funding is acquired in the future, the building’s floor and roof diaphragms can be strengthened as well as the internal wall elements.

Connect Floors to Cores Once these diaphragms are strengthened, they can be connected to the CoreFirst structure via the use of drag struts and other forms of lateral collectors. CoreFirst Sanctuaries are designed to accept the lateral loads of the entire structure if need be.