As important as shearwalls are to architecture, it’s surprising how unappreciated they remain in the design process of most homes. F or the amount of work shearwalls do, they get very little time in the spotlight of design conversation. In fact, they’re usually only mentioned as a byproduct of where the windows can and cannot be located. A well-engineered shearwall resolves the lateral (wind and earthquake) forces on a house, and directs those forces to the foundation, where they are resisted by the concrete and the ground. Most people don’t realize that even in earthquake zones, wind forces tend to govern the design of shearwalls more often than seismic forces.
Read the entire article here: In Praise of Shearwalls