Structural Engineering

Whether we're trying to save a sinking city or dig a massive tunnel, our appetite for construction knows no bounds. But if designers had known the actual cost of these 10 projects, they might have gone back to the drawing board.

ByJacob Silverman&Patrick J. Kiger

Built in 1986, the Wave Organ amplifies the sound of the waves to create beautiful music.

ByMichelle Konstantinovsky

Man has been building islands all over the world for centuries using extraordinary feats of engineering. But at what cost to the environment?

ByMark Mancini

It's easy to confuse the Parthenon and the Pantheon. The names are so similar, and they're both ancient ruins. But despite those similarities, the two structures are very different.

ByCarrie Dennis

Despite what the nursery rhyme says, London Bridge is not falling down — and never really has. But the bridge that spans the Thames has been rebuilt again and again for two millennia.

ByCarrie Whitney, Ph.D.

This dragon is illuminated every night, spitting out both fire and water on weekends and holidays, as it sways its way over the Han River in Da Nang.

ByJesslyn Shields

The Panama Canal has been one of the world's biggest engineering feats since it was built nearly by hand in the 1900s.

ByJohn Donovan

In 17th century Japan, wealthy citizens built homes with "nightingale floors" that squeaked, warning them of intruders. In fact, the floors squeaked louder when the steps got lighter.

ByNathan Chandler

Architects design buildings. Civil engineers build bridges. Structural engineers keep it all from crumpling and shaking apart. What happens when you mix all three and throw in a green twist?

ByNicholas Gerbis

Underwater tunnels are so commonplace that we rarely think of the great dangers -- and extreme construction techniques -- these modern wonders require. With the opening of the Marmaray Tunnel in October 2013, it's time to take a second look.

ByNicholas Gerbis

Sometimes it seems as though Earth has been hitting the caffeine a little too hard, with all the shakes from earthquakes. So, how do structures stand strong amid all those quakes?

ByWilliam Harris

结构建立的海湾大桥是一个奇迹ng. Find out how multiple architectural styles were incorporated into the bridge that unites Oakland with San Francisco.

ByWesley Fenlon

A soft-story building has a first floor that's more flexible than the ones above -- think apartments over a department store that's mostly open space. How does soft-story retrofitting keep such buildings from collapsing in a quake?

ByJonathan Atteberry

Steel is getting more expensive because the prices of iron and coal are rising. Are there alternatives to steel that can do the same job -- or better -- for less?

ByBecky Striepe

If you think regular old domes took the world of structural engineering by storm, you should meet their geodesic cousins. What is a geodesic dome, and who first came up with the idea of building triangle-covered spheres as practical structures?

ByNathan Chandler

桥梁跨越的差距和帮助我们得到从A点to B, but who knew they could float, too? Find out what the deal is with floating bridges in this article.

ByNathan Chandler

Jenga seems like such a simple game -- all you have to do is keep a tower of wooden blocks from toppling over. It may be simple, but it's anchored by several complex structural engineering concepts.

ByDave Roos

Playing with Lego blocks isn't just child's play. In fact, these blocks and products present a hands-on opportunity to learn the basics of structural engineering.

ByMarianne Spoon

You may see most bridges as those things you cross on your way to somewhere else, but where would you be if one collapsed? We've figured out 10 reasons why the worst happens.

ByEd Grabianowski

The World Trade Center employed several new approaches to skyscraper construction. From slurry walls to sky lobbies to "tube within a tube" design features, what made this project distinctive from an architectural engineering standpoint?

ByMichael Franco

The materials used to build the World Trade Center's twin towers have been heavily scrutinized since the 9/11 terrorist attacks -- including the steel that formed the frames of the skyscrapers.

ByMichael Franco

It's been compared Jerusalem's Wailing Wall. What purpose did the slurry wall serve the World Trade Center, and what is its significance now?

ByPatrick J. Kiger

Controversy surrounds the removal of public monuments honoring the U.S. Confederacy. But who or what determines which monuments go up or come down?

ByDave Roos

A 12-story building in Surfside, Florida, just outside Miami collapsed, with residents inside. Why would a 40-year-old structure fall from the sky seemingly out of nowhere, and are there other buildings in danger of falling?

ByTrivess Moore&David Oswald

Some architects and engineers go big. Others get fancy. And yet others aim squarely for the completely bizarre. These imagination-bending, gravity-defying products may induce more than a few OMGs.

ByWilliam Harris