For a building sitting just a quarter-mile from one of the most active faults in the seismically treacherous San Francisco Bay Area, the UC Berkeley Grimes Engineering Center is unambiguously confident. Designed by the architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), the building has been outfitted with a new seismic-responsive structural system that’s capable of withstanding major earthquakes. The architects put the system on full display. {"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/09\/2026-IBD_social-share-2-16x9-1.jpg","imageMobileUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/09\/2026-IBD_social-share-1-1-1x1-1.jpg","eyebrow":"","headline":"Meet the world\u0027s most innovative design companies","dek":"","subhed":"","description":"","ctaText":"See the List","ctaUrl":"https:\/\/www.fastcompany.com\/innovation-by-design\/list?utm_source=fcwebsite\u0026utm_medium=promo_block\u0026utm_campaign=IBD26","theme":{"bg":"#f4f4f4","text":"#2b2d30","eyebrow":"#9aa2aa","subhed":"#ffffff","buttonBg":"#444444","buttonHoverBg":"#ef5b24","buttonText":"#ffffff"},"imageDesktopId":91604521,"imageMobileId":91604520,"shareable":false,"slug":"","wpCssClasses":""}} The system consists of steel tension rods strung diagonally around the perimeter of the building, which is the architectural design winner of the 2026 Innovation by Design Awards. It was completed in April 2025 at a cost of $110 million. Near the top of each rod is a 4-foot section spliced with a cluster of cables made from a highly flexible compound called a shape-memory alloy. Commonly used in NASA spacecraft, the material can bend during extreme stress, like during an earthquake, and then snap back into a straight position. [Illustration: Kürşat Ünsal] David Shook, a senior associate principal at SOM who helped develop the shape-memory alloy system, equates it to a rubbe

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