life at UBC Seismic

Established in 2009, the UBC Seismic design team is composed of some of the most talented students in Civil Engineering, Architecture, and other faculties across UBC. Together, we research and fabricate innovative seismic structure design by allowing students to apply concepts learned in the classroom to an exciting and rewarding project. You will be provided with ample opportunities to learn, grow, network, and utilize your skills to become the best Engineer/Architect you can be. We work hard as a tight-knit group and participate in extracurricular activities together. Team spirit thrives at UBC Seismic and will keep going strong for years to come!

design & analysis

As a Design & Analysis team member, you will be working closely with the team lead to design and analyze the structural capacity of a balsa wood tower and ensure the design complies with the competition rules and structural capacity. You will be utilizing ETABS and other structural analysis software to optimize and compare the performance of different structural designs. You will be calibrating the model using data extracted from the physical testing to accurately predict the final structural performance. Deliverables for the competition include: Sine Sweep test, Pull Test, Fast Fourier Transform to find resonant modes, damping ratio prediction, roof acceleration and displacement predictions. 

ARCHITECTURE & 3d modelling

As an Architecture & 3D Modelling member, you will be working closely with the design and construction team to create a structural model and a realistic architectural model. You will be working with Revit, SketchUp, V-Ray, and Adobe Photoshop to model and render, but team members are welcome to experiment with new software. You will also assist in designing architectural floor plans using the finalized structural design. Deliverables for the competition include: 3D rendering of tower exposing different structural systems, research into precedent architectural concepts, interior rendering, and help with the presentation and poster.

CONSTRUCTION & Drafting

As a Construction & Drafting member, you will be working closely with the design and architecture teams to coordinate the construction process and sequencing of the balsa wood tower. You will assist the sub-team by ensuring the tower features have high constructability and comply with the competition rules. You will be supporting the design team by testing material properties and creating 3D models of the structure in AutoCAD to be imported into ETABS. You will also procure construction materials, perform quantity take-offs and laser cutting, prepare construction drawings using AutoCAD, and fabricate jigs and temporary formworks for the structure construction. 

Marketing, Outreach, and sponsorship

In the marketing, outreach, and sponsorship roles, you will be working closely with the leads of the UBC Seismic design team to accumulate the resources needed for the new 2025-2026 season. Your responsibilities will encompass preparing sponsorship packages and accumulating the financial resources by reaching out to engineering companies, organizing technical workshops and meetings with our company sponsors (events such as Lunch & Learns where workshops are held between the team and a company sponsor to provide mentorship and aid on our designs during our competition season), and working towards expanding the UBC Seismic design team.

GeotechNICAL

In the geotechnical team you will be working closely with the geotech lead and members from other sub-teams to complete several deliverables for competition. You will participate in reporting the local fault features and seismic history, site ground conditions and class, and suggestions for ground improvement. Geotech provides a great opportunity to learn how local conditions affect seismic considerations in planning.

Finance

In the finance team you will work closely with the team leads and other finance members to manage the financial operations of the team. Your responsibilities will include tracking expenses and reimbursements, budgeting team activity and competition expenses, filling out and submitting forms to UBC, and creating final expenditure reports. Being a finance team member will give you practical experience in how to manage a team’s funding to ensure there is enough for all necessary operations.

Material Testing

In the material testing team you will work with a small group to gather data on the balsa wood used in all our towers. Your responsibilities will include coordinating testing times in engineering labs, collecting and processing testing data, and updating modelling software to reflect material properties. Material testing is a fun and hands-on way to learn how material properties affect design considerations and how to collect that data.