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Seismic isolation is an effective method for protecting the structural system, nonstructural systems and content from the damaging effects of strong horizontal earthquake ground shaking. However, seismic isolation devices widely used in the USA and elsewhere are not designed to protect nonstructural components and content from strong vertical earthquake ground shaking. Past research efforts aimed at developing three‐dimensional isolation have resulted in systems that have limited application or are overly complex, cost prohibitive and unproven. A distributed flexibility and damping concept to control vertical acceleration demands in base‐isolated buildings is explored in this study. Unlike past efforts to achieve three‐dimensional isolation that concentrate both the horizontal and vertical flexibility at the base of the superstructure, the vertically distributed flexibility and damping concept explored here consists of …