The interaction between solid structures and free-surface flows is investigated in this study. A Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) model is used in the investigation and is verified against analytical solutions and experimental observations. The main aim is to examine the effectiveness of a tsunami-resistant house design by predicting the wave loads on it. To achieve this, the solitary wave generation and run-up are studied first. The solitary wave is generated by allowing a heavily weighted block to penetrate into a tank of water at one end, and the near-shore seabed is modelled by an inclined section with a constant slope. Then, the SPH model is applied to simulate the three-dimensional flows around different types of houses under the action of a solitary wave. It has been found that the tsunami-resistant house design reduces the impact force by a factor of three.