Phuaalvin happened to be visiting the Taipei 101 on May 12, when the Great Sichuan Earthquake occurred. It must have been terrifying to see that damper moving like that; according to Wikipedia, the damper weighs 660 metric tons, and is suspended from the 92nd to the 88th floor. A tuned mass damper is designed to sway and offset movement in the building.
Taipei 101 damper movement during earthquake
Becky Stern (sternlab.org is a DIY guru and director of wearable electronics at Adafruit. She publishes a new project video every week and hosts a live show on YouTube. Formerly Becky was Senior Video Producer for MAKE. Becky lives in Brooklyn, NY and belongs to art groups Free Art & Technology (“release early, often, and with rap music”) and Madagascar Institute (“fear is never boring”).
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