The ten-story mass timber structure LEVER designed for the NHERI TallWood Project is the tallest wood building ever subjected to a full-scale seismic test, yielding unprecedented data on how tall timber structures behave under realistic earthquake conditions. Tested on a three-axis shake table  which simulates the multi-directional forces of a real earthquake the test produced a far more accurate picture of structural resilience than any previous test of its kind.

That test was the culmination of a research program that began in 2017, when LEVER became the first architecture firm to join the NHERI TallWood Project, a National Science Foundation-funded collaborative of university and industry professionals studying the seismic resilience of wood structures. Building on the rocking wall system developed for Framework, the team designed a series of wood structure archetypes for seismic testing — beginning with a two-story structure tested on a two-axis shake table, which simulated side-to-side motion and generated the first performance data on CLT rocking walls under seismic loads. The ten-story test built directly on those findings, scaling up to high-rise loads and a testing apparatus that more accurately replicates what a building experiences in an earthquake.

The research will provide the foundation for new engineering design guides for incorporating rocking wall systems into seismically resilient tall wood structures. LEVER has made all testing data publicly available, with the goal of helping project teams navigate code review in new jurisdictions and ultimately informing the broader code updates that will make resilient mass timber high-rises possible at scale.