The characteristics of elasto-plastic responses of a gymnasium building which is a steel braced frame with membrane roof is discussed as a basic research on the performance based seismic design of large span structures, in this paper. Under the strong earthquake motions, the formation of plastic hinges on braces attached by the bottom frame make reduce down the stresses and displacements of upper structures, and vertical acceleration of the membrane is tend to increase but maximum response of strain and corresponding stresses are tend to be reduced.