Design, build, and test, using a shake table, a structure that better resists shaking than an initial design, applying earthquake-engineering features.
This week you apply everything from week 33's shake-table testing to a full design challenge. Your goal is to design and build a structure that survives shaking noticeably better than a plain, simple first attempt, using real engineering features like a wide base, cross-bracing, or a lower center of gravity.
A strong final design usually does not appear on the first try. The engineering process is to build a first version, test it honestly on the shake table, identify exactly what failed, and then make one deliberate change at a time to improve it, testing again after each change.
Mastery looks like: They can design, test, and improve a structure across at least two rounds, demonstrating a measurable improvement in shake resistance tied to a specific design change.
Common stumbles: Changing multiple features at once and being unable to say which one helped; treating an imperfect but improved design as a failure rather than genuine engineering progress.