The design tricks that keep skyscrapers from swaying 

Hi everyone, the vertical aspect used in this video was intentional. We thought it might be an interesting way to frame this piece, since it's specifically about skyscrapers. We understand a vertical aspect ratio isn't for everyone - don't worry, it's not something we'll be doing often. But it's important to us that we keep experimenting on our channel, so that we can keep pushing our work forward. This was a case where we took a risk by trying something new, so thanks for bearing with us and for leaving your feedback. And thanks for watching our videos! 🌻

"Architects have an arsenal of tricks to reduce movement..." Civil and structural engineers: *am I a joke to you*

Skyscrapers design = confuse the winds Vox aspect ratio = confuse the viewers

When you're so smart you even confuse the wind

can the wind damage your portrait format video too?

This comment section: 50% "it's engineers not architects" 50% "why vertical aspect ratio" 1% other comments 0.01% people that can't math

Not a fan of vertical videos but this is the type of video from Vox that I love.

Architects are engineers worst nightmare. Architect: "yeah I was thinking of this..." Engineer "oh, er...yeah? Maybe? Kinda, ish. *Migraine intensifies*

*Vertical video: **_exists_* *RU-vid Community: **_enraged noises_*

"Architects have an arsenal of tricks to reduce movement." Engineneers: "Listen here you little punk!"

As a Civil Engineering student I have to ask... Architects? You give the credit for these solutions to the architects?

Next time could you make a video about how Dubai buildings have a complex system of pumping water throughout the building to keep it from melting, that would be pretty interesting.

So many comments moaning about it being a vertical video. Pretty sure it was done on purpose as it's about vertical buildings.

Oh my god, sweet, a professional video that actually features Structural Engineering! (anddd...Architects get all the credit)...actually seems about right for the real world. Good job Vox.

Now please do a video on why people dislike portrait recordings

The vertical was fine, really.

I think the intern was suppose to upload this to Facebook.

0:23 one of the greatest statements ever stated “Confuse the wind”

I'm not watching on a god damn iPhone. Landscape videos, please.

Why are 3/4 of the comments complaining about the video being vertical CAN YOU APPRECIATE THE FREAKING VIDEO

Why not mention those holes are actually for the dragons to pass through.... ?

I mean I don't even live in Chicago, never been, but it still hurts to hear the Sears Tower being called the Willis Tower

Something's wrong with the video, guys. Looks like a vertical phone nightmare. It's very distracting.

I actually enjoyed the aspect ratio of this one. It was clever, given the subject matter. I'm surprised at how pissed off people are about it. 🤷‍♂️

Please don't make videos in this vertical format

I would just like to praise Vox editors/animators/artists for the incredible work they're doing. The videos are truly stunning.

This video is in portrait. I don't know how I feel about this...

Making this a vertical video was actually really smart

Architects, seriously? Reduction of resonance and vortex shedding in buildings is a specialist area of engineering under computational fluid dynamics and structural dynamics. Get your facts straight

Are people seriously complaining about the ratio of the video? I liked the idea a lot, since we are talking about skyscrapers. Please, Vox, continue innovating. Thank you.

Just two corrections: engineers design how a building goes together while architects design how a building looks. It's the Sears tower not the Willis tower.

Thank you for the vertical video. No sarcasm. An actual thank you. I love it

I actually think it’s cool and fits into the topic to make a vertical video! All the graphic explanation was shown more clearly in this direction. Lastly, it was a fresh watching experience via a phone. I like it!

It's spelled Willis but pronounced "Sears"

Not only is this a vertical video, it's a weird one. It's not 9:16 or even 3:4, it's about 1.3 times taller than wide (i.e. even more square than 3:4).

once again Vox teaching me about things I didn't even realize I wanted to know! Keep the interesting videos coming!

Others: Never do this again iPad users: *Evil Laughs*

Engineers are gods gift to this earth

I really like the vertical viewing mode for mobile👌🏻👌🏻

As an engineering student, this pleases me greatly.

Just imagine if your entire apartment just started swaying to the side like a carnival ride...

I have to design a skyscraper for my arch design class so this was very informative. Here's a summary for people who'd like a tl:dr Skyscrapers have to go against the wind. These methods help: 1. Tapering (the skyscraper gets more skinny as it ascends higher in the sky like the shard - No hard edges since they aren't good on wind, so you'll often see skyscrapers with round corners - Small cut out in the corners - Sawtooth corners like Taipei 101 - Reduces movement by 25 percent 2. Openings - Kingdom Centre in Saudi Arabia - Shanghai World Financial Center - 432 Park Avenue in NY has several double-floor cutouts that allow wind to pass through 3. Twisting - Redirects wind - educes swaying forces on the structure - Shanghai tower - Reduced wind load by 24% - Saved 58 million 4. Damper - Slosh tanks, water sloshes back and forth and its weight displacement helps keep the building from swaying - Massive weights… hidden - Chifley tower - Taipei 101 has it open "Damper Baby" - Steel ball is also there to counteract earthquakes "As people move out of rural areas to more urban ones, skyscrapers will keep getting taller and skinnier."

I love you guys, I get why the vertical but please, let this be the only one

I actually liked the vertical format, helped to fully appreciate the skyscrapers.

When you a civil engineer and see the maths behind these structural design specially damping with wind loads and seismic loads hahaha

ONE OF THE FEW TIMES VERTICAL VIDEO MADE SENSE. THAT SEQUENCE OF SHOTS OF THE SHARD WAS BEAUTIFUL, AND COMPOSED WITH LESS WASTED NEGATIVE SPACE DUE TO THE ASPECT RATIO. THIS WAS GOOD. THANKS.

I loved the vertical aspect ratio on this video. Really brings focus to the verticality of the architecture.

Aerodynamicist here. The spiral shape isn't about redirecting the airflow up or down. It's about preventing the vortex formation from having the same frequency along the length of the tower. It prevents the vortices along the height of the tower from working together to shake it. Instead they end working against each other, which reduces the structural loading. This is why the Burj Khalifa is brilliant, it uses all of the techniques mentioned, from tapering, to terraces that form a spiral pattern to reduce the effect of wind in the tower.

There's nothing inherently wrong with vertical videos, but they are incredibly inconvenient on RU-vid (even on mobile). Props for trying a new thing, and it may be worth it if you reformat videos for Facebook/Instagram, but RU-vid is still the land of landscape.

One of the best vertical videos I ve ever watched

Other people : never do this again Apple users : *laughs in hidden*

This format is awesome. Btw people, over 60% of all content on RU-vid is consumed on a mobile device. Don't be offended by an aspect ratio.

The ratio is perfect. Good thing I watch RU-vid on my phone a lot lol.

it is not design engineering if it's design, It's ARCHITECTURE

Insert complaint about aspects ration here ->

Yess!! More vertical videos please! Cant believe this isn’t done more often 😄

You obviously are not from Chicago. It's still the Sears Tower and it will always be the Sears Tower.

don't see this kind of vertical video format often but i like it

The Taipei 101’s steel ball is also there to counteract earthquakes.

The vertical video serves a purpose and contours the skyscrapers really well. I, for one, enjoyed it.

I loved the portrait mode. Anyone you see complaining are just brainwashed and hardset on landscape mode. I loved it, since it gave the building more length and structure and maximized the screen usage. Imagine looking at a tall building but u only see 1/3 of it cuz u got landscape mode on.

The editing on this video is awesome

The vertical aspect ratio looks terrible on a 21:9 ultrawide

I love the pace of Vox videos. I also didn’t know that’s why they did that, you learn something new every day!

*confused confusion intensifies*

Everyone gangsta until wind stop getting confused

Wind: *confused* hurts itself in its confusion

Kinda amazed I didn't notice the aspect ratio till the end. I actually really like it because of the subject matter it's discussing is so vertical. A fun idea that I think works pretty well!

How about the 310 metres *pixelated* tower in Bangkok? That design is interesting...

I watch RU-vid on my Mobile most of the time. So watching this video was surprisingly comfortable..

The video was great. Except for the vertical format. That's why disliked it: just as a deterrent.

This was an amazing video. Huge kudos for fitting so much info in such short time. We so lucky videos like this are free

Architects? Did you mean Civil Engineers?

I was confused by the format for a moment, but then I realized it’s brilliance.

The heck is the Willis Tower? Oh, the Sears Tower.

Thanks for the vertical video & looks nice with the new full screen gesture

I will never call it anything but Sears Tower, take your Willis and shove it!

As A Structural Engineer I confirm the video is Correct. Tuned mass dampers are also extremely effective against Seismic Laod.

"keep building to the sky" uhhh what happens when a tornado or thunderstorm comes in the *literal sky*?

Everybody's talking about the ratio but I honestly didn't even felt it until the very end where I just went "oh, it's vertical". So by that I guess if it's done tastefully you could have any ratio you want. I liked it.

A channel dedicated to construction called B1M has done a much more in depth video on the same topic. Check it out.

Didn't expect to see a building from my small city in Sweden in a Vox video. Turning Torso!

You know when to stop watching when he calls the "Sears Tower", the Willis Tower.

I've heard many people like him who always give credit to "only" architects rather than the whole team for the design of the structure

I think they made it vertical to match the theme of skyscrapers Or they just wanted to piss us off

Vox’s video is higher than all of the skyscrapers combined

The background music is distracting, and often dominates the narrator's voice.

for a change - im watching this on a phone and i love the format!

Speaking too fast, and the video should be in landscape!

I like the aspect ratio. Cool that you try different things.

Bad format.

I loved the vertical aspect of this video

Jajja..this video was made...by young people living in a basement...this doesn't represent a civil engineer's thoughts

So you confuse the wind while also get the amazing design to give the building an iconic look.

this was a pleasure to watch on my ipad!!

I like that you took a risk with vertical video. Maybe 9:16 or something that accomplishes full screen on most devices. (Phone users had top and bottom borders, Computer users had left and right borders = no one’s happy.)

I absolutely love the vertical video.

Love the vertical format! It was a surprise, which was lovely! And it fits the video topic perfectly. Plus, I was looking for Vox design videos to watch while I was eating, because I like to listen to less visual videos while I’m doing something, and I like to take the time watch more visual videos when I have the opportunity to pay more attention to my screen (like when I’m eating breakfast). So this satisfied that perfectly!

It's not commonly known, but a lot of the work that goes into these solutions is done by structural/architectural engineers. The architect will certainly have input and direct the creative vision (we want a hole, or a twist, or none of the above) but it's the engineers who design and implement the solution (how big the hole is and where it goes, how much of a twist, what size damper will be needed, etc). Sometimes this causes some of the design to be dictated by the engineers as the architect's desired solution (due to aesthetics) will sometimes simply not be possible given the other aspects of the design. And sometimes the architect doesn't initially know there is a problem that needs to be addressed (like high wind velocities) until the engineers do their work and inform the architects that something needs to be done (like in the Taipei 101 example). And to be clear, I'm not trying belittle architects, they work very hard on their part of a project. It's just that the design and construction of structures like these involves a team of companies all with their own areas of expertise, and the majority of what was convered in this video falls under the purview of the structural/architectural engineer. Aside from that minor complaint, thanks for the video, I really enjoyed it! I even thought the vertical aspect ratio was kind of neat.

It feels so smart when you already know this theory and its practical application without being an civil engineer.