The five-story PRESSS precast/prestressed concrete building tested at the University of California at San Diego was designed in accordance with a new seismic design procedure known as Direct Displacement- Based Design (DDBD). This procedure enables precast/prestressed concrete buildings (and other structures) to be designed to respond in the design-level earthquake to specified displacement limits, corresponding to acceptable damage limit states, while taking into account the special ductility and damping characteristics of the structural system. This paper outlines the fundamentals of this procedure as related to precast concrete buildings. A numerical design example is included to show the application of the DDBD method.
