As cities grow taller and climate change brings stronger storms and more extreme weather, engineers face a major challenge: how to make skyscrapers safer without using huge amounts of steel and concrete. Traditionally, tall buildings are designed to be as rigid as possible so they can resist strong winds and earthquakes. But making buildings stronger often means making them heavier, more expensive, and less environmentally friendly.
Now, researchers from Imperial College London and global engineering firm Arup have developed an innovative solution that completely changes this way of thinking. Instead of trying to stop a building from moving, their new design allows controlled movement and uses the building's own weight to reduce swaying during high winds and earthquakes.
Inspired by the centuries-old design of traditional Japanese pagodas, this breakthrough could make future skyscrapers safer, more comfortable, cheaper to build, and far more sustainable.
Why Tall Buildings Move
No matter how strong a skyscraper is, it naturally sways when powerful winds blow or when an earthquake strikes. This movement is usually small, but in very tall buildings it can make occupants uncomfortable and place enormous stress on the structure.
For decades, engineers have tried to solve this problem by making buildings stiffer. This usually requires thicker columns, stronger foundations, and much more steel and concrete. While effective, this approach increases construction costs and significantly raises the building's carbon footprint.
Many famous skyscrapers also use a device called a tuned mass damper. This is an enormous weight—sometimes weighing hundreds of tonnes—installed near the top of the building. When the building sways, the weight moves in the opposite direction, helping to reduce motion.
Although tuned mass dampers work well against wind, they occupy valuable space, require additional structural support, and provide limited protection during earthquakes. Buildings in earthquake-prone regions often need separate systems to handle seismic forces.
A Completely Different Idea
Instead of fighting movement, the research team decided to use it as an advantage.
Their question was simple:
What if part of the building itself could act as the damper?
The answer led to an entirely new structural design.
Rather than placing a giant suspended weight at the top, the engineers separate several usable floors near the top of the tower from the building's central core. These floors remain fully functional and can still be used as offices, apartments, hotels, or other spaces.
The separated floors are connected to the building using specially designed springs and dampers. During strong winds or earthquakes, these floors move slightly and independently, using their own weight to absorb energy and reduce the movement of the entire building.
Instead of adding extra weight, the building intelligently uses the weight it already has.
Inspired by Ancient Japanese Pagodas
The idea was inspired by traditional Japanese pagodas, some of which have stood for over a thousand years despite experiencing numerous earthquakes.
Unlike rigid buildings, pagodas are designed so different sections can move independently. This allows earthquake energy to spread throughout the structure instead of concentrating in one place.
The Imperial and Arup researchers adapted this ancient principle using modern engineering techniques, creating a solution suitable for today's supertall skyscrapers.
It is a remarkable example of combining centuries-old architectural wisdom with advanced engineering.
Putting the Design to the Test
To see whether the idea actually worked, the researchers built a detailed 1:300 scale model of a 300-meter (980-foot) skyscraper.
The model was tested inside one of the world's most advanced wind tunnel facilities at Imperial College London's Department of Aeronautics. The team also performed detailed earthquake simulations in the university's Structures Laboratory.
The results exceeded expectations.
During wind tests:
Building acceleration dropped by up to 71%.
Structural forces at the base were reduced by more than 50%.
During earthquake simulations:
Movement at the top of the building decreased by an average of 42%.
Movement within the specially designed movable floors fell by up to 74%.
Even more impressive, the movement between the building's core and movable floors remained so small that people inside the building would not notice it during normal operation.
These findings confirmed that the concept is not only theoretically sound but also practical for real-world construction.
One System That Solves Two Problems
One of the biggest advantages of the new design is its ability to handle both wind and earthquakes simultaneously.
Current skyscrapers often require different systems for each hazard, increasing construction complexity and costs.
The new approach combines both functions into one integrated system.
This makes it especially valuable for cities that regularly experience both strong storms and earthquakes.
Places such as Hong Kong, Manila, Taipei, Miami, and many rapidly growing cities across Latin America and Southeast Asia could greatly benefit from this technology.
Recent disasters have highlighted why better building designs are urgently needed. In 2025, a powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake in Myanmar caused a 33-story building under construction in Bangkok to collapse, reminding engineers that safer construction methods remain essential.
Lower Costs and Lower Carbon Emissions
Safety is only part of the story.
Because the new design reduces the forces acting on the building, engineers can use smaller structural elements throughout the tower.
This means:
Less concrete is required.
Less steel is needed.
Smaller foundations can be built.
Construction costs decrease.
Carbon emissions from construction are significantly reduced.
Since the system relies on existing technologies such as springs, dampers, and bearings already used in modern buildings, it can be implemented without requiring expensive new inventions or complicated construction methods.
This makes it much easier for the construction industry to adopt.
A Decade of Research
The breakthrough did not happen overnight.
The idea first began in 2016 as part of researcher Miguel Martínez Pañeda's master's thesis at Imperial College London.
Over nearly ten years, the concept evolved into a major international research project involving experts from Imperial College London and Arup.
The study was recently featured by Nature and published in Nature Communications, highlighting its importance within the engineering community.
The research team included Miguel Martínez Pañeda, Professor Ahmed Y. Elghazouli, Dr. Kevin Gouder, and Dr. William Algaard.
According to Martínez Pañeda, movement should not always be viewed as a structural weakness. Instead, when properly controlled, it becomes a valuable engineering tool that improves safety, comfort, and efficiency.
The Future of Smarter Skyscrapers
The researchers are now preparing larger-scale experiments and hope to test the technology on a real building in the future.
If successful, this approach could transform how skyscrapers are designed around the world.
Instead of building ever-heavier towers that resist every force, future buildings may intelligently work with nature by allowing carefully controlled movement.
As cities continue growing upward and climate change creates more challenging conditions, innovations like this offer a smarter path forward.
By using a building's own weight as a protective system, engineers have shown that sometimes the safest structures are not the ones that never move—but the ones that know exactly how to move.
Reference: Martinez-Paneda, M., Elghazouli, A.Y., Gouder, K. et al. Development of response-controlled tall buildings through own-mass mobilisation. Nat Commun 17, 7951 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-74868-2
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