Formation of Baikalsk living environment in transforming city structure under severe seismic conditions

Abstract

The Baikalsk city planning and development strategies are based on multilevel-structured concepts. Combined city-forming and city-serving factors underpin the priorities of functional transformation of the city. Unique natural, climatic, geographical and social conditions of the city, as well as the attractive character of Lake Baikal determine the conceptual trends in living environment architecture. Exploring the territory development of Baikalsk, the existing residential cluster and the impact of human activity on the ecosystem reveals some negative consequences, which must be avoided at the stage of post-industrial development of the city. In doing so, the specialists should refer to the experience of construction and operation of buildings in order to improve architecture quality under severe seismic conditions. This experience will identify the main directions of planning and shaping of buildings, the ways to establish balance between biosphere and technosphere in the context of optimal building development, and to determine architectural techniques that are perfectly blended with the unique natural landscape. The optimal formation of the architectural and planning structure of the living environment requires a progressive view on the quality of residential building architecture and on ensuring the seismic stability of residential buildings. Such an approach assumes not only architectural, planning and structural means, but also compliance with the terms that do not provoke disturbance of geosystem and worsening of seismic conditions.