Why Europe Has So Few Skyscrapers

The taller the building, the more the winds affect it. Taming them is one of the biggest challenges skyscrapers have to tackle. Imagine you’re on one of the top floors of a skyscraper. Suddenly, a strong gust of wind hits the building. The entire construction starts wobbling, and you can feel it even inside. You might even get knocked over if you don’t grab onto something.

To avoid such a situation, most skyscrapers have a pendulum-like structure inside. It absorbs some of the wind’s force. This thing is called a tuned mass damper. The mechanism acts as a counterweight. When a skyscraper gets hit by the wind, it’s the tuned mass damper that moves instead of the building.