Building the Impossible

The Millau Viaduct in France has masts taller than the Eiffel Tower, with a deck floating 270 meters above the valley. Its cable-stayed design uses minimal material for a huge span.

The Burj Khalifa stands 828 meters tall. At that height, wind is the dominant force. Its Y-shaped footprint and spiraling setbacks break up the swirling vortices that would otherwise shake the tower, so the wind never settles into one rhythm against the building.

These structures succeed because engineers account for every force — compression, tension, wind, thermal expansion, even seismic waves — and design redundancy into every joint.