Earthquakes claim thousands of lives each year, most often due to progressive building collapse. Our team’s brief was to propose a safer apartment complex. I studied precedents such as Taipei 101’s tuned mass damper and translated that thinking into a scaled prototype with a dual-mass pendulum occupying two mechanical floors.

Using the resonant-frequency equation, I tuned the pendulum length to match our building’s natural frequency. Foam-core models and shake-table tests verified that the pendulum dramatically reduced lateral sway. The final pitch included sustainability options and retrofit ideas so the contractor could phase improvements as budgets allowed.