This week’s magnitude 7.8 earthquake in the Philippines came with scenes familiar to New Zealanders: collapsed buildings, shattered facades and streets strewn with rubble.

Earthquakes of such force test buildings to their extreme limits. As occurred this week, and in Christchurch in 2011, some ultimately fail with tragic consequences.

But, for structural engineers, preventing collapse is only part of the challenge. Increasingly, we are also asking what happens to buildings that survive major earthquakes.

Many modern buildings are designed to protect lives, but often at the cost of damage that can take years and millions of dollars to repair. Some quake-damaged buildings have ultimately been demolished despite never having come close to collapse.

On top of this, the construction sector is under growing pressure to shrink its substantial share of global greenhouse emissions. This is raising the need for building systems that are sustainable and resilient.

Last month, in one of the country’s most demanding full-scale earthquake tests, we assessed an emerging timber-based technology to find that it can meet all these requirements.

Buildings that bounce back

Over the past decade, many people will have heard growing talk about........

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