The strange building that can withstand any earthquake

World News Adina Camarasu
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The building has a sphere of over 700 tons and it’s earthquake resistant. Taipei 101, as it is called, is a skyscraper located in Taipei city of Taiwan. It has a height of 509 meters and 101 floors. At the time of construction, in 2004, was the largest building in the world.

Taipei 101 is often hit by earthquakes and strong winds, that are very usual in Asia and Pacific areas. Engineers have designed the structure to cope with winds up to 216 km/h and the most powerful earthquakes.

Typically, skyscrapers need to be flexible in case of strong winds, but must also remain rigid to prevent lateral movements.

Most such buildings acquire these facilities through their resistance structure, but Taipei 101 is built with a tunnel that serves as a gigantic mass damper.

The damper is actually a ball with a diameter of 5 meters and a weight of 728 tons and is suspended between the floors 87 and 92. Eight steel wires form a support point for the sphere.

The engineers were so proud of their work, so they made the damper visible to the public through a window. During windy days, the damper can be seen moving.

Other such earthquake resistant buildings are Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the tallest building with the most solid construction. Although it was built in an area with low seismic risk, Dubai giant has been designed to withstand an earthquake up to 7 on the Richter scale. In 2008 it passed the seismic resistance, remaining intact after the earthquake that shook Iran.

On this list also appear U.S. Bank Tower building, the tallest in the whole California and Yokohama Landmark, from Japan.