Jun 24 2008The 730-Ton Ball That Keeps The Taipei 101 Earthquake Tolerant Is Pretty Big, Heavy
The Taipei 101, once the world's tallest building, sits a paltry 600 feet from a fault line. So is the structure doomed? Nope -- it's rocking a uni-ball of steel.
To counteract the forces working against it, architects installed a $4 million, 730-ton tune massed damper, which is a big ball 18 feet in diameter, made of 41 steel plates, and suspended by strong cables 3 1/2-inches think. It's said to cut down on the swaying of the building by almost 40%.
Pretty cool stuff there. Anything that keeps buildings standing and people safe during an earthquake is A-okay in my book. Even if it is a 730-ton ball. Which, incidentally, explains why I've never taken a fall. *wink* Ladies?
Hit the jump for some more pictures, an animation of how the damper works, along with a video of the ball in action during the recent Chinese earthquake.
The 730 ton stabilizing ball that keeps the tallest building in the world standing [dvice]
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Reader Comments
1. Mr.Anderson - June 24, 2008 5:37 PM
Balls keep everything stable. Except for men.
^ What a wonderful first post eh?
2. DCMarc - June 24, 2008 6:08 PM
Did you notice they guy saying, "The Oscilation is not good."? It seems he was the only one who realized there was an earthquake going on.
3. kirk - June 24, 2008 6:35 PM
Actually, that is a pretty cool idea...
and the vid was...shocking. was that a tour group? wow. that would be a story to tell.
4. Jab - June 24, 2008 6:38 PM
This is by far the coolest post you've had in a long time.
5. diddleysquat - June 24, 2008 7:55 PM
Tonight on Newscenter 5: Does your building have balls?
6. 80millionmoviesfree.com - June 24, 2008 8:42 PM
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7. SmokingGirl - June 24, 2008 10:09 PM
Send me no less than 30 economy sized boxes of hostess treats or I will continue to barage you with my shitty attempts at humor every hour on the hour until you submit to my demands.
This is not a threat Ladies and Gentlemen, it's a promise. You have exactly 24 hours until I post again...
8. Alex - June 24, 2008 10:10 PM
Was just standing over that railing in December. They painted the whole ball in this really tacky gold sparkly stuff.. If you pay a few more bucks they let you take the staircase up another floor or two and you get to basically stand on the outside roof of the once tallest building in the world..
9. Joey - June 24, 2008 11:58 PM
A skyscraper with a huge ball...
The world's largest phallic symbol is almost complete!
10. Tabassor - June 25, 2008 2:31 AM
I'm surprised they didn't painted it like a giant packman... that would've been awesome!
11. Jimmy - June 25, 2008 3:28 AM
Great, you get a big quake and your building has it's own wrecking ball to level the site. Forward thinking!
12. Rob - June 25, 2008 3:54 AM
Is amazing but how those guys can just stay there and watch the ball moving during an earthquake? I'd run away and shit my pants O_o
13. greg - June 25, 2008 5:16 AM
is thing undergournd? if not someone should cut the cables a la Fightclub style and see where the damb thing goes
14. boredom - June 25, 2008 8:10 AM
See and here I thought my balls were for a completely different purpose in life. I will say though that at the point at which you see the thing shaking because of an earthquake, running for your life wouldn't do you much good. By the time you make it down the 9,007,002 (yes I counted them) stairs to the floor and get out of the building the earthquake would have been over for quite some time so might as well hang out and watch the ball move around
15. Jazzman - June 25, 2008 9:58 AM
@ 1... i couldn't have said it any better
16. Momboelitist - June 25, 2008 11:51 AM
All they need to do now is paste mirrors all over it and build a dance floor under it and they will own the record for the worlds largest Disco Ball.
17. me - June 25, 2008 5:45 PM
1- pretty cool
2- asians are loud and f***in annoying
18. renzomatic - June 25, 2008 10:09 PM
San Francisco has essentially the same thing. In Rincon 1 the tower is outfitted with a (I think) 40-50 thousand gallon water tank at the top of the 60-some story building that is also meant to offset the movement generated by an earthquake in probably the same manner,