Model of Taipei 101, world�s tallest building, 2006.

TAIWAN - OCTOBER 04: Our planet creates extreme construction challenges. Earthquakes, floods, howling winds, desert heat and bitter cold - all test architects and engineers to the limit. In Taiwan, the world's tallest building, Taipei 101, must stand up to earthquakes and typhoons. Every eight floors the building was installed with supporting steel 'outrigger trusses' running from the building's core to its outer columns to increase the towers stiffness, and in order to stop it swaying and vibrating during an earthquake a huge tuned mass damper was installed - a device for transferring energy from the tower's movement into giant shock absorbers. This 660-tonne ball of stacked steel plates hangs on steel cables from the tower's 92nd floor. It's connected to the building's frame through eight fluid-filled shock absorbers. (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)