2024 Planet Positive Awards > Innovation > Best Design for Resilience > Winner

In 2017, LEVER joined the NHERI Tall Wood Project, an interdisciplinary research initiative funded by the National Science Foundation to study the seismic resilience of wood structures. As part of its continued research with NHERI, LEVER conducted seismic testing of a ten-story mass timber structure in May 2023. 

The 112-foot-tall building features a rocking wall system designed to shift seismic loads back and forth during an earthquake, dissipating energy and reducing the overall impact. Tested on a three-axis shake table, the structure is the tallest wood structure ever subjected to full-scale seismic testing, generating groundbreaking data. The NHERI Tall Wood Project’s findings lay the groundwork for new engineering design guidelines, particularly for incorporating rocking wall systems into tall wood buildings. By sharing this data, the team aims to support code review processes in various jurisdictions and potentially inform future building code updates.

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