181 Fremont Residences
The high-rise mixed-use tower at 181 Fremont in downtown San Francisco houses Facebook's new headquarters and residents of 55 multi-million-dollar condominiums, as well as a top floor $42 million penthouse.
What is instantly recognizable about the tower is its encasement of large ivory-colored beams zig zagged along its exterior before tapering on one side into a skyward spire. The aluminum exoskeleton serves as a giant shock absorber, improving the chances of the building's survival in case of high winds and seismic events. As a result, the tower has come to be lauded as being invincible to earthquakes.
But risk and resilience engineer Ibrahim Almufti at Arup, the company that designed the tower, told Business Insider that's not entirely true.
"Every time I read [earthquake-proof] I cringe," Almufti said, a sentiment he said is echoed by most engineers.
Still, the high-rise might just be the tallest most resilient residential building in a seismic zone.
Here's how it works: