Abstract Conventional braced frame systems exhibit limited drift capacity before brace buckling and associated damage leads to strength and stiffness degradation. A self-centering rocking core (SC-RC) system is being developed to provide significant drift capacity while limiting damage and residual drift. The SC-RC system consists of beams, columns, and braces branching off a central column. Friction at lateral-load bearings that transfer inertia forces from the floor diaphragms to the SC-RC is used to dissipate energy to reduce the overall seismic response of the SC-RC system. Vertically oriented post-tensioning bars provide additional overturning moment resistance and help to reduce residual drift. The paper introduces a preliminary design approach for SC-RC systems. Several SC-RC systems are designed, and pushover and dynamic nonlinear analysis results are presented. Dynamic analysis results confirm the expected drift capacity and behavior of the system.