In 2023, we completed the NHERI TallWood project, which developed a way to build earthquake-proof tall wood buildings that can survive large earthquakes like Northridge (1994) without structural damage or need to repair. But persuading people to start building this way is difficult, even with 88 full-scale shake table tests. Our next step is to build actual building projects to demonstrate that it is not too hard to up-grade your building to be resilient against earthquakes.

it has been 30 years since the 1994 Northridge earthquake, in which highly populated regions on the west coast was under attack by a major earthquake event. This is luky for us, but the chances are “a big one” might come any moment. So we need to be prepared. Consider a large earthquake were to happen in the next 5 years, it will be unethical to not push for this resilient building technology when we know with certainty that it can save the affected community from tremendous casualties and economic losses. 

On the other hand, If we can have even just one resilient mass timber building in the affected region, its superior performance in the earthquake will serve as a catalyst for changing our building practices in seismic regions; provide solid proof of the effectiveness of the technology at full building scale; and generate solid data for the insurance industry to develop better rates for resilient construction. 

Why 10? we believe it is a number not unrealistic to achieve, and at the same time giving us a reasonable chance to “catch” the next big earthquake.