tallest
Gadgets
How a 730-Ton Ball Kept the Second Tallest Building From Falling During the Chinese Earthquake
12:00AM Jason Chen | The recent Sichuan Earthquake in China was so intense, tremors were felt all the way over in the tallest completed building in the world–the Taipei 101 building in Taiwan–a whole eight minutes after the quake originated. (The title of tallest building period was taken by the Burj Dubai back in May.) What’s interesting about the 101 is that it has a gigantic suspended tuned mass damper, or hanging ball, which takes up four stories and works like this to prevent the building from falling over and tragically crushing office workers. This 730 ton sphere looks intimidating when still, but wait until you see it in motion during the earthquake. More »
Design
Chicago Spire to Be World’s Second Tallest Skyscraper
9:00AM Sean Fallon | A giant joint? The horn on a unicorn? How about the taller Dubai Tower with its twists? One thing is for certain, the Chicago Spire will be the world’s second tallest building when it is completed in 2011. The Spire was designed by architect Santiago Calatrava, and it will rise 2000 feet over the streets of Chicago and feature 150 floors housing 1,194 residences. And, because of its unique spiraled design, each floor rotates an average of 2.44 degrees (360 degrees in total) so that no two apartments have the same view. And the building has a LEED gold rating for supreme greenness. More »
Design
Burj Dubai Becomes World’s Tallest Man-Made Structure Today
5:40PM Gizmodo US Edition | As of today, the Burj Dubai skyscraper in the Middle East stands at 650 metres, and here’s a diagram found on the SkyscraperCity forums, comparing it to all the other towers. The construction has finally surpassed the current tallest man-made structure, the Warsawa radio mast in Poland, which stands at 646 meters. Only another 169 meters to go before the tip of the aircraft beacon is up, then. Clicky for bigger. [SkyscraperCity—thanks, Brian]
Design
1,600-Metre Tower Will Make Burj Dubai Look Like Pencil
9:52PM Gizmodo US Edition | Sure, the Burj Dubai tower looks amazingly tall, but it’s final height— currently projected to be 700 metres— is less than half that of a new building planned for Saudi Arabia. It’s going to be 1,600 metres high. Yup, that’s 1.6 kilometres tall: taller than anything under construction anywhere, and making it easily the world’s tallest building. Think they should stick a TV antenna on the top and go for that little bit extra? I sure do.
Vehicles
SkyWalker 12-Foot-Tall Bicycle Probably Requires Jedi Abilities
12:43AM Jesus Diaz | In a clear effort to electrocute himself with powerlines or just cut his head with a traffic light, someone has created a 12-foot-tall bicycle from scratch. Called the SkyWalker TallBike, these bikes are not for the faint of heart. In fact, they are built for absolute lunatics. In other words, I want to ride one. Update: We talked with Brad Graham, the inventor, about how it was made and how it really works. Details and more picts after the jump. More »
Random Stuff
China Begins Construction on World’s Tallest Ferris Wheel
12:50AM Charlie White | Jaws were dropping all around when our own Adam Frucci brought back video of his harrowing 377-foot-high ride in a glass-bottomed car on the Odaiba Ferris Wheel in Tokyo, but now the Chinese are going to top that wheel with the tallest one in the world. Today, construction began on the Great Wheel of China, a $99 million Ferris wheel that will tower over Beijing at a stupendous 680 feet when construction is complete in 2009. This is not just any Ferris wheel, though. You won’t be sitting in swinging and swaying benches on this baby. Each one of its 48 cars is like a gondola, air-conditioned and holding 40 passengers, for a total of 1920 stomachs pressed against the top of their abdominal cavities as the big wheel keeps on turnin’. Nobody’s talking about how long it’ll take to load this beast. Too bad there was so much bickering over the design of the gigantic wheel, because originally the plan was to complete construction in time for next summer’s Beijing Olympics. [MSNBC, via Spluch] More »
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