Seismic response of a building structure is influenced greatly by soil-structure interaction. This fact has been demonstrated in the past earthquakes. It is shown that tuning of the natural period of a building structure with that of a surface ground causes remarkable response amplification of the building structure. Introduction of an overall system as a building-pile-soil system is inevitable to investigate such a tuning effect. It is demonstrated to be essential to define a design earthquake at a bedrock level in order to guarantee the structural safety of building structures under seismic disturbances. Comparison of the response due to input of double the upward-propagating wave (an outcropping motion) into the bedrock without any viscous boundary with that due to input of an within motion into the bedrock without any viscous boundary is also shown in order to investigate the effect of input motions on the response of the superstructure. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.