Swaying Skyscrapers: Can Virtual Reality Help?
Though developers continue to build skyscrapers that reach new heights, research shows the soaring towers could be making workers sick.
Builders do everything they can to keep the wind from moving their buildings, but experts say once a structure gets tall enough it always slightly sways in the wind. The subtle sway of skyscrapers has been found to make inhabitants nauteated, depressed and even sleepless, Curbed reports. To combat these reactions, a new joint initiative funded by the UK government and conducted by the Universities of Exeter is using virtual reality to investigate the connection.
Throughout the next five years the group will examine the relationship between building movement and adverse tenant experiences using virtual simulation. The study will cost roughly $9M, and will build upon previous work that linked building sway to anxiety and motion sickness.
