of a first set of steel plates 310 interdigital with a second set of one or more similar steel plates 312 and coupled thereto by way of interposed layers of energy dissipating material 320 firmly adhered thereto by layers of adhesive the ends of the two sets of plates opposite the coupled ends are structurally engaged with a pair of adjacent lateral load resisting elements 330 i e concrete shear walls by embedding the ends therein or by bolting the ends to the walls in secure fashion the plates 310 312 are sufficiently rigid to provide the necessary structural integrity to the building and to follow the movement of the lateral load resisting elements 330 thus accentuating the differential movement between the two ends of the lateral load resisting elements 330 which in turn shears the energy dissipating material 320 between the two sets of plates 310 312 fig3 discloses an example of a configuration of the damping system comprising four plates 310 connected to five plates 312 the four plates 310 are coupled to the five plates 312 by way of disks of energy dissipating material 320 there are eight layers of energy dissipating material 320 that undergo shear deformations when the lateral load resisting elements 330 to which they are attached undergo lateral deformations the energy dissipating material 320.