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August 17, 2015
Taipei 101, once the world s tallest building before losing the title to the Burj Khalifa, has set a new record. As Popular Mechanics reports, the 1,667-foot-tall skyscraper s internal tuned mass damper swayed more than it ever has before in last week s Typhoon Soudelor. Also known as a harmonic absorber, the massive damper moved a full meter from its central position at the tower s top in an effort to keep Taipei 101 upright during the early morning storm s 100 to 145 mph winds.
The weighted ball, measuring 18-feet in diameter and weighing 728 tons, sits on hydraulic cylinders suspended between the 87th and 92nd floors. It was engineered for winds up to 135 mph. Watch the damper (and building) sway in the video below.
The former IBM Building in Chicago. Image Courtesy of DesignCurial
In 2013 the former IBM Building in Chicago, Mies van der Rohe s last completed skyscraper, underwent a significant renovation as a part of the tower was converted into a hotel. In this article, originally published in Blueprint issue #338 as Lobbying for Mies van der Rohe, Anthea Gerrie catches up with Dirk Lohan - the Chicago architect who helped his grandfather design the building nearly 50 years ago, and who was called back in to design the new hotel s entrance lobby. It s not very Mies, says Dirk Lohan dubiously, in one of the great understatements of the year. We are standing in the double-height reception hall of the Langham Chicago hotel with what looks like dozens of multicoloured glass balloons swimming above us and a mirror-glass frieze adding to a cacophony of glitz and dazzle.