Modular Cores Elevator shafts and stairs cores are often used as lateral load resisting elements.  These elements transfer the lateral load from the diaphragm to the foundation.  They could be designed as four separate shear-walls and connected as the corners with welded connections or as segmental cores, thus emulating monolithic behavior as cast-in-place concrete cores.  Splice sleeves connectors are used to transfer tension forces from element to element at the horizontal joint.