At the 2025 fall edition of the “Journée des gymnasiens,” where high school students from Switzerland and Europe come to discover EPFL, we organized, for the 7th consecutive year, a workshop to explore and learn how to design a seismic-resistant building using a structural kit.
It was a fantastic opportunity for students to become familiar with the fundamental concepts of seismic-resistant construction and to spark their curiosity about real-world structural stability challenges.
After a brief presentation introducing the different components of a seismic-resistant steel building and its working, our two PhD students, Tianyu Gu and Arthur Carmès, guided the students through an engaging—yet highly educational—challenge: first creating a gravity-resisting 2-storey building, and then designing a 3-storey 3D structure capable of withstanding earthquake loads.
Through this hands-on experience, the students directly encountered the real testing methods used in research—although at a smaller scale—by testing their structures on a shaking table and simulating famous earthquakes, such as those in Kobe and El Centro.
A warm thank you to everyone who helped make this day possible! It was thrilling to see the students’ enthusiasm for structural engineering.
We hope to see you soon in GC!
