A curious application for wind engineering

Wind engineering deals with the interaction of wind and the built environment. So usually, wind engineers would determine wind loads and appropriately design houses, tall buildings, bridges, wind turbines, and so on. As you all might agree, those are important stuff that warrant careful design.

But what about things like... scaffoldings? temporary staff housing? trees? temporary concert stage and sound system structures? inflatable slides? large inflatable animals? Did anybody ever consider designing them for wind?

No need, right? Those aren't so important anyways, right?

Guess again. (I would guess you already saw this coming.)

Here's a video apparently shown first on CNN and then featured on Gizmodo which is just one of many, many examples from around the world where one small gust of wind could turn something fun and entertaining, something not as important as homes and bridges and so on, into something that could injure as much as any other man-made structure if not properly designed for wind.

It's just a toy, right? So, no need to design such petty, childish things for wind? Well, the decision, really, is all up to you. Because surely, your child won't find him/herself in that kind of situation. But hey, don't say you haven't been warned.