A new structural concept is proposed for the seismic design of tall buildings. This system combines the inherent stiffness and strength of a conventional truss system with the energy absorption characteristic of supplemental damping elements. The damping elements are strategically placed to form the linking elements of a coupled vertical truss system. While the force resistance system of the truss wall is in parallel, the damped link beam is in series with the component of the truss stiffness contributed to the coupled wall action. A series of time history dynamic studies gauged the performance of the proposed concept and found the proposed damped link concept superior in performance compared to the conventional approach.