Stanford researchers develop earthquakeresistant house prototype

By Adam Williams
November 18, 2014
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The significance of the Stanford research lies in its inexpensiveness and ease of installation
(Photo: Stanford School of Engineering)
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Though a large earthquake can prove catastrophic to life and property, even relatively minor
tremors may compromise the structural integrity of a home, resulting in large repair costs. A
team of engineers based at California's Stanford University has developed a new method of
building earthquake-resistant homes that could be implemented relatively easily and
inexpensively.
The Stanford engineers built a small two-story home model that features what they refer to as a
"unibody" design. Rather than screwing drywall to the home's wooden frame, it was attached
with glue, while strong mesh and additional screws were used to attach and keep the white
stucco facade safely in place.
More significantly however, the home was not placed on a standard foundation, but on "seismic
isolators." The seismic isolators comprise 12 steel-and-plastic sliders, each measuring around

11.4 cm (4.5 in) in diameter, and plates and bowl-shaped dishes made of galvanized steel were
placed beneath.

The prototype model home was tested on an earthquake simulator that essentially acts as a large
shaking table. Though unable to give a Richter scale reading, the engineers report that they
shook the table at three times the intensity of a 6.9 magnitude quake. Thanks to the seismic
isolators, the house slid harmlessly from left to right, but took no damage. Indeed, it wasn't until
the researchers turned up the earthquake simulator up to maximum that the building displayed
significant damage.
Of course, the principle of seismic isolators isn't new, and they are already used to protect some
larger structures, like San Francisco International Airport for example. However, the significance
of the Stanford research lies in its inexpensiveness and ease of installation. The researchers
report that their system would only add around US$15,000 to the total cost of a typical 185 sq m
(2,000 sq ft) full-sized house.
Though retrofitting the earthquake-resistant technology to an existing home is possible, the
researchers say that a new build would be much easier and only take contractors roughly four
additional days to install.
The video below shows the model home being tested.