Why aren't homes as tough as skyscrapers?

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Q. I’m wondering about how skyscrapers are built. My class is talking about buildings, and I want to know how they’re made so tall and strong when other buildings that are much smaller are so weak. I’m doing a report on the Burj Khalifa in Dubai and the World Trade Center. My house was in the flood, and didn’t do that well. We had to move out and live in an apartment and are still waiting to go back home. How do skyscrapers stay strong in bad weather but my house did not?

A. That question can be answered in two words: quality control. Big buildings are designed and built with much more responsibility. When I worked with firms designing skyscrapers, a tremendous amount of time was taken making sure everything, and I mean every detail, was checked, cross-checked, tested, in some cases checked with models called mock-ups, put into a wind tunnel and approved by several quality-control experts. Nothing was treated as unimportant. Engineers and architects communicated, debated, argued, and worked as a team to make sure that the design and the construction was the best it could be.

Then the design was put in front of builders who priced out every part and came up with costs. If the costs seemed too high, the project was sent back to be redesigned. Most of the redesign involved the size of the building, lighting and the finishes, since the basic structure, air systems (heating and cooling) electrical distribution and piping was just what was needed according to the law (or code).

When I look at buildings, I start with the shape and analyze the type of structural system used, in very basic terms. For example, the new 1 World Trade Center is made of several triangular systems. Next time you look at the building, notice that it’s composed of triangles. The triangle, repeated in nature all around us, is the strongest surviving form. Beehives, plants, even our own skeletons are made up of triangular interlocking systems. Then look at the tallest building in the world (for now), the Burj Khalifa, named for the person who rescued this very expensive building from being abandoned, and what you’ll see are several progressively taller forms attached to the center tower, in a triangular composition.

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