KEY POINTS:
An international high-rise construction expert is at the University of Auckland for a six months.
Sang Yeon Kim, a structural engineer, works for the Korean Government's national tall-building research programme.
He is a senior research associate at the Housing and Urban Research Institutes at South Korea's National Housing Corporation.
The visiting scholar at Auckland's department of civil and environmental engineering is presenting seminars on various topics for students and staff.
The university reports a lot of interest in his visit and seminars from both the Faculty of Engineering and the School of Architecture and Planning.
Kim has expertise in the design of structural systems to support high-rise buildings of more than 100 stories. He is experienced in strengthening buildings against wind through techniques such as incorporating openings into building design, the use of local materials to satisfy building demands, cost demands and construction speed, improving human comfort levels in buildings which sway in a large storm and overcoming issues associated with superstructures, including column shortening and dealing with seismic issues.
A university spokesperson said seismic expertise was particularly relevant for Auckland's civil and environmental engineering department, which had expertise in earthquake engineering research such as strengthening buildings against earthquakes.
Korean high-rise experts have been involved in the design of some of the world's greatest superstructures such as the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Burj Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and Taipei 101 in Taiwan.
