01Design
Architecture and structure are developed together — balancing geometry, weight, and stiffness before anything is built.
McGill University · EERI Seismic Design · Est. 2024
Engineering towers that survive the shake.
We are a student-led team that designs, fabricates, and shake-tests competition towers, moving one structure from first sketch to the testing table, every season.
01 / WHO WE ARE
The Seismic Design Team brings together students across civil engineering, architecture, mechanical engineering, and finance to move one competition tower from concept to the shake table — built, tested, and defended by students.
// The mandate
The work spans structural design, architectural direction, fabrication, presentation, and outreach — making it both deeply technical and entirely public-facing.
Learn how the team works →0
Year founded
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Tower per season
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Core disciplines
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Student-led
02 / THE LAB
Feel what we engineer for.
Drive the magnitude and watch an unbraced frame tear itself apart while a triangulated diagrid — the system behind Komorebi Tower — holds. This is the problem the team solves every season.
Virtual Shake Table · SDT-SIM
REAL-TIME SIMULATION
2.5Magnitude
1.0 · Tremor9.0 · Megaquake
Peak Ground Accel.
0.00 g
Frequency
0.0 Hz
Roof Displacement
0 mm
System State
NOMINAL
Unbraced frameSTABLE
Komorebi TowerSTABLE
03 / THE SEASON
From first sketch to the shake table, in three movements.
Each phase is owned and handed off by the team — design, build, compete — one continuous project narrative across the year.
02Build
Fabrication and testing sessions turn the digital concept into a physical balsa model, refined through iteration.
03Compete
The finished tower is presented and tested on the shake table at the EERI Seismic Design Competition.
‹›
Architectural renderDrag to compareWood structure
2025 Tower · Spec Sheet
Komorebi Tower
McGill SDT's first EERI entry established the team's design language: ambitious architecture, explicit structural logic, and a clear public story.
- Project
- Komorebi Tower
- System
- External diagrid paired with two symmetrical L-shaped shear walls.
- Material
- Balsa & basswood lattice, triangulated façade.
- Result
- 6th in Best Architecture — out of 53 universities.
Watch on YouTube · 02:41
Watch Komorebi Tower reach the shake table.
See McGill SDT's 2025 competition tower during the team's first EERI appearance.
04 / JOIN US
Find where you fit on the team.
SDT is open to any student — no competition experience required, just curiosity. Pick a track and we'll point you to the rest.
TRACK 01
Structural
Resolve lateral and gravity loads, model the system, and push the tower's performance.
TRACK 02
Architecture
Shape the tower's identity, geometry, and the story it tells the judges.
TRACK 03
Construction & Testing
Fabricate, assemble, and prepare the model for the shake table.
TRACK 04
PR & Sponsorship
Drive communications, documentation, and the partnerships that fund the season.
Recruitment open
Build something that gets tested for real.
Reach out, tell us what interests you, and start contributing to this season's tower.
05 / PARTNERS
Built with the support of our sponsors.
Their support funds fabrication, testing, travel, and the visibility that keeps the program growing.
Partner with us
Back the next generation of structural engineers.
New partners help expand the team's build capacity and competition reach — with visible recognition across apparel, presentations, and this site.
McGill24 Fundraiser
Help fund the next chapter.
Fresh off placing Top 3 in Best Architecture at SDC 2026 in Portland, the team is already building toward SDC 2027 in Seattle. The campaign supports material costs, equipment, and travel for the season ahead.