Seismic retrofit of light-weight timber building with soft first story

It has been observed that building structures with the first story of relatively low stiffness compared to the upper stories has the potential to develop significant deformation at the first story during earthquakes. Engineers have been aware of the phenomenon since the 1920s (Nishkian 1927, Snyder 1927, Martel 1927). It has been generally accepted (Chopra 1973) that such arrangements should be avoided due to high ductility demand.