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Buildings Causing Dangerous Wind Effects

ramonmercado

CyberPunk
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Aug 19, 2003
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Eblana
Now its causing killer downdraughts.

Rafael Viñoly's Walkie Talkie skyscraper in London has once again become a subject of controversy, following reports that its curved facade is channelling gusts of wind strong enough to knock people over.

Two years after being blamed for reflecting a beam of light intense enough to melt cars, the 20 Fenchurch Street tower has been accused of creating a wind tunnel, thanks to the downdraught from its 36 storeys.

An employee at the nearby Molton Brown cosmetics store told The Times: "It has only really been windy since the Walkie Talkie has been here. When they were building it and there were the building works going on, it was fine. But ever since they've completed it, the wind really picked up."

The manager of a local fast-food restaurant told The Telegraph that the wind had almost caused a food trolley to be blown away, while a local sales assistant said to BBC News that she "almost got blown over walking past the building".

http://www.dezeen.com/2015/07/23/wa...el-vinoly-blamed-powerful-downdraught-london/
 
We have one in Leeds like that wich the local press affectionately calls the 'Wind Death Tower'.
 
We have one in Leeds like that wich the local press affectionately calls the 'Wind Death Tower'.

That would be Bridgewater Place, aka 'The Dalek' ...

The building's shape accelerates winds in its immediate vicinity, knocking over pedestrians and even vehicles. One person suffered a torn liver and internal bleeding, and cuts requiring 11 stitches, and a buggy with a three-month-old child was pushed out into the road by a sharp gust. In March 2011 a man was killed by a lorry overturning on him by a gust. The Crown Prosecution Service advised against bringing charges of corporate manslaughter against the architects, Aedas. However, at the inquest in December 2013 Leeds Deputy Coroner Melanie Williamson recommended the roads nearby should be closed to vehicles when wind speeds exceeded 45 mph (72 km/h; 20 m/s). This was done on 6 December, though pedestrians continue being injured by being blown over.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgewater_Place
 
Wind effects involving relationships among multiple buildings and structures can also be dangerous - even to the structures themselves.

This was a lesson learned from the 1965 Ferrybridge C power plant cooling tower collapses ...

On 1 November 1965, three of the cooling towers collapsed due to vibrations in 85 mph winds. Although the structures had been built to withstand higher wind speeds, the design only considered average wind speeds over one minute and neglected shorter gusts. Furthermore, the grouped shape of the cooling towers meant that westerly winds were funnelled into the towers themselves, creating a vortex. Three out of the original eight cooling towers were destroyed and the remaining five were severely damaged. The towers were rebuilt and all eight cooling towers were strengthened to tolerate adverse weather conditions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrybridge_power_stations
 
The world's skinniest skyscraper, at 432 metres (that's well over a quarter of a mile) tall but only 18 metres wide has acquired the nickname the "Coffee Stirrer".
It sways so much in high winds that the mega-rich residents are suing because it makes them feel "super nauseated”.

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Think I'll stick with my bog-standard Barratts' 3-bed semi!

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/...er-steinway-tower-new-york-skyscraper-swaying
 
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