Two Towers That Twist

The pair below sits on South Bayshore Drive in Coconut Grove, Miami, on the site of the old Grand Bay Hotel. Bjarke Ingels Group designed them, DeSimone Consulting Engineers made them stand up, and they were completed in 2016. Each tower rotates a total of… Read more

Building Vibration & Human Effects

Skyscraper design was once governed almost entirely by strength — could the frame carry gravity, wind and seismic loads with adequate margin? For the new generation of ultra-slender “pencil towers,” the governing requirement has shifted to something more subtle: occupant comfort. A building can be… Read more

Eiffel Tower Vibration Measurements

Measuring the Eiffel Tower’s Natural Frequencies with a Smartphone | VibrationData VibrationData · Field MeasurementT. Irvine · Paris · 11 Jul 2026 Measuring the Eiffel Tower’s Natural Frequencies with a Smartphone Two short accelerometer records on the summit deck captured five of the tower’s first… Read more

Column Buckling in a Manhattan High-Rise Conversion: 235 East 42nd Street

Updated August 10, 2026. The original post was written two days after the incident. This revision adds the investigation developments through early August, including the project engineer’s assertion that specified column reinforcement was never installed, and a new section on what that reinforcement would have… Read more

Tall Building Natural Frequencies and Damping

The Transamerica Pyramind has a Fundamental Frequency of 0.3 Hz * * * Here are some papers which give natural frequencies and damping values for sample tall buildings: Damping in Tall Buildings and Towers: tall_building_damping.pdf The Damping Characteristics of Bolted and Welded Joints: bolted_joint_damping.pdf Transamerica… Read more