UI Students Design Earthquake-Resistant Building in America

A team of students from the University of Indonesia (UI) achieved sixth place overall at the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) Seismic Design Competition (SDC) 2026, held in Portland, Oregon, United States, from 13 to 17 July. Competing against 47 renowned university teams from around the world, UI was the only representative from Indonesia and Southeast Asia to advance to the final round. Faculty advisor Josia Irwan Rastandi explained that the team’s interdisciplinary approach resulted in a design that was robust, functional, and environmentally friendly. The EERI SDC is one of the world’s most prestigious competitions in the field of earthquake-resistant structural engineering. Participants are challenged to design a building that is safe, efficient, and innovative, with its resilience tested through real earthquake simulations. Judging is comprehensive, covering structural design quality, technical proposals, technical communication, and the physical performance of the model on a shaking table. The UI team consisted of Michael Fernando Theng, Muhammad Thoriq Ramadhan, Ihksan Putra Jaya, and M. Fadhil Al-Ghani from Civil Engineering, alongside Rasya Khairani Santoso and Joey Paul Thobias Awuy from Interior Architecture. They were guided by Dr. Josia Irwan Rastandi from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The team presented an innovation named Bifurca Tower, a 20-storey building with a complex geometry. The design features a unique configuration with two separate masses on floors 1–7, merging on floors 7–11, separating again on floors 11–18, and finally joining once more on floors 18–20. This separated and merged form posed significant structural challenges, requiring a precise load path, balanced structural stiffness, and optimal shock absorption. To address these challenges, the UI team applied a state-of-the-art engineering technology called the Negative Stiffness Friction Damper (NSFD). This damping system enhances the building’s ability to absorb seismic energy and reduces interstorey drift without significantly increasing the structure’s mass. Beyond its technical merits, the Bifurca Tower’s aesthetic and architectural design embraced a biophilic concept, blending inspiration from the traditional Panjai house of the Dayak Iban people with the Cedar Plank House of the Pacific Northwest region in North America. In addition to the 6th Place Overall ranking, the UI team garnered several sub-category awards, including 4th Place Proposal, 5th Place Presentation, 6th Place Communication, and 3rd Place T-Shirt Design Competition. Team leader Michael Fernando Theng expressed gratitude for the achievement, stating that the team was thankful to bring Indonesia’s name to the world’s top six and that they had spent months learning not only to design a strong structure but also the importance of cross-disciplinary collaboration and communication under pressure.