Why can't a skyscraper simply add another hundred floors?
A skyscraper is more than a stack of floors: it also behaves like a giant beam rooted in the ground. Adding height changes how weight and wind travel through the structure, so the rest of the building cannot simply remain the same.
Questions you could explore
- Why might a wider stance help a tall building as well as a person resisting a shove?
Start reading
- The Skyscraper Museum / Bill BakerBill Baker: Burj Khalifa, What We Learned
Structural engineer Bill Baker explains tall buildings through cantilevers, bracing, and the combined demands of wind and gravity.
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