Skyscraper
A
skyscraper is a very tall, continuously habitable
building. Although there is no official definition, a height of approximately at least 150 metres or 500 feet is often used as a criterion for a building to qualify as a skyscraper. Other criteria like shape and appearance also affect whether or not a building is considered a skyscraper.
|
The Sears Tower in Chicago, is still the tallest building in the world with its antennae included. |
The word
skyscraper was first applied to such buildings in the late
19th century, reflecting public amazement at the tall buildings being built in
New York City. The structural definition of the word
skyscraper was refined later by architectural historians, based on engineering developments of the
1880s that had enabled construction of tall multi-story buildings. This definition was based on the steel skeletonâ€"as opposed to constructions of load-bearing masonry, which passed their practical limit in 1891 with
Chicago's
Monadnock Building.
Philadelphia's City Hall, completed in 1901, still holds claim as the world's tallest load-bearing masonry structure. The steel frame developed in stages of increasing self-sufficiency, with several buildings in New York and Chicago advancing the technology that allowed the steel frame to carry a building on its own. Today, however, many of the tallest skyscrapers are built more or less entirely with
reinforced concrete. In the
United States today, it is a loose convention to draw the lower limit on what is a skyscraper at 150 metres. Elsewhere, though, a shorter building will sometimes be referred to as a skyscraper, especially if it is said to "dominate" its surroundings. Thus, calling a building a
skyscraper will usually, but not always, imply pride and achievement.
Originally,
skyscraper was a
nautical term for a tall mast or sail on a
sailing ship. A skyscraper taller than 300 metres (1,000 feet) may sometimes be referred to as a
supertall.
The somewhat arbitrary term
skyscraper should not be confused with the slightly less arbitrary term
highrise, defined by the
Emporis Data Committee as "a building which is 35 metres (115 feet) or greater in height, and is divided at regular intervals into occupiable floors" [
1]. All skyscrapers are highrises, but only the tallest highrises are skyscrapers. Habitability separates skyscrapers from
towers and
masts. Some
structural engineers define a highrise as any vertical construction for which
wind is a more significant
load factor than
weight is. Note that this criterion fits not only highrises but some other tall structures, such as
towers.
The crucial developments for modern skyscrapers were
steel,
glass,
reinforced concrete,
water pumps, and
elevators. Until the
19th century, buildings of over six stories were rare. So many flights of stairs were impractical for inhabitants, and water pressure was usually insufficient to supply running water above about 15 metres (50 feet). However, despite this lack of sanitation, high rise housing dates back to the 1600s in some places. In Edinburgh, Scotland for instance, the defensive city wall defined the boundaries of the city. With limited land area for development the houses increased in height. Buildings of 11 stories were common, and there are records of buildings as high as 14 stories. Many of the stone-built structures can still be seen today in the old town of Edinburgh particularly in the 'Wynds' and 'Closes' just off the Royal Mile.
The oldest iron framed building in the world is The Flaxmill (also locally known as the "Maltings") in Shrewsbury, UK. Built in 1797, it is seen as the "grandfather of skyscrapers" due to its fireproof combination of cast iron columns and cast iron beams developed into the modern steel frame which made modern skyscrapers possible. It unfortunately lies derilict and needs much investment to keep it standing. On 31 March 2005, it was announced that English Heritage would buy the Flaxmill, so that it could be redeveloped.
The weight-bearing components of skyscrapers differ substantially from those of other buildings. Buildings up to about four stories can be supported by their walls, while skyscrapers are larger buildings that must be supported by a skeletal frame. The walls hang from this frame like curtainsâ€"hence the architectural term
curtain wall for tall systems of glass that are laterally supported by these skeletal frames. Special consideration must also be made for wind loads.
While the first modern skyscraper is usually considered the ten-story
Home Insurance Building in
Chicago, built in 1884â€"1885; its height is not considered unusual or very impressive today, so that, if the building were newly constructed today, it would not be called a
skyscraper. Another candidate for the title is the 1890 twenty-story
New York World Building, in
New York City.
Surprisingly for some, the United Kingdom also had its share of early skyscrapers. The first building to fit the engineering definition meanwhile was the then largest hotel in the world, the Grand Midland Hotel, now known as
St Pancras Chambers in London completed in 1873 and 82 metres (269 feet) tall. The 12 floor
Shell Mex House in London, with 58 metres (190 feet), was completed a year after the Home Insurance Building and managed to beat it in both height and floor count. By more modern standards, the first true skyscraper may be
New York City's
Woolworth Building.
Most early skyscrapers emerged in the land-strapped areas of New York, London, and Chicago toward the end of the 19th century. London builders soon found their height limited due to complaint from Queen Victoria, rules that continued to exist with few exceptions until the 1950s; concerns about aesthetics and fire safety had likewise hampered the development of skyscrapers across continental Europe for the first half of the twentieth century. Developers in Chicago also found themselves hampered by laws limiting height to about 40 storeys, leaving New York to be the world leader in developing tall buildings. From the
1930s onwards, skyscrapers also began to appear in
South America (
São Paulo,
Buenos Aires) and in
Asia (
Shanghai,
Hong Kong).
Immediately after
World War II, the
Soviet Union planned eight massive skyscrapers dubbed "
Stalin Towers" for
Moscow; seven of these were eventually built. The rest of Europe also slowly began to permit skyscrapers, starting with
Madrid in Spain during the 1950s. Finally, skyscrapers also began to appear in Africa, the Middle East and Oceania (mainly Australia) from the late 1950s and the early 1960s.
Today, no city has more buildings over 500 ft. than New York City, home of the
Chrysler Building, and
Empire State Building with 189. Hong Kong comes in second with 186 although there are currently many more under construction. Chicago's skyline was not allowed to grow until the height limits were relaxed in 1960; over in the next fifteen years, many towers were built, including the massive 442-meter (1,451-foot)
Sears Tower. Together, Chicago, Hong Kong, and New York are considered by some to be the "great three" skylines of the world.
Today, skyscrapers are an increasingly common sight where land is scarce, as in the centres of big cities, because of the high ratio of rentable floor space per area of land. Skyscrapers are also considered the ultimate symbols of a city's economic power, a view first held by New Yorkers, and now by developers in many newly developed Asian economies.
For current rankings of skyscrapers by height, see
List of skyscrapers.
This list measures height of the
roof. The more common gauge is the
highest architectural detail; such ranking would have included
Petronas Towers, built in
1998. See
list of skyscrapers for details.
| - bgcolor="#cccccc" | | City | Country | Roof | Floors | Pinnacle | Current status |
|---|
| 1873 | Equitable Life Building | New York | U.S. | 142 ft | 43 m | 6 | | | Demolished |
| 1876 | St Pancras Chambers | London | UK | 269 ft | 82 m | 9 | | | Standing |
| 1889 | Auditorium Building | Chicago | U.S. | 269 ft | 82 m | 17 | 349 ft | 106 m | Standing |
| 1890 | New York World Building | New York City | U.S. | 309 ft | 94 m | 20 | 349 ft | 106 m | Demolished |
| 1894 | Manhattan Life Insurance Building | New York City | U.S. | 348 ft | 106 m | Demolished |
| 1895 | Milwaukee City Hall | Milwaukee | U.S. | 350 ft | 107 m | Standing |
| 1899 | Park Row Building | New York City | U.S. | 391 ft | 119 m | Standing |
| - | 1908 | Singer Building | New York City | U.S. | 612 ft | 187 m | Demolished |
| 1909 | Met Life Tower | New York City | U.S. | 700 ft | 213 m | Standing |
| 1913 | Woolworth Building | New York City | U.S. | 792 ft | 241 m | Standing |
|-| 1930 | 40 Wall Street | New York City | U.S. | 71 | 927 ft | 283 m | Standing |
| 1930 | Chrysler Building | New York City | U.S. | 925 ft | 282 m | 77 | 1,046 ft | 319 m | Standing |
| - bgcolor="#cccccc" | - | 1931 | Empire State Building | New York City | U.S. | 1,250 ft | 381 m | 102 | 1,472 ft | 449 m | Standing |
| 1972 | World Trade Center (North tower) | New York City | U.S. | 1,368 ft | 417 m | 110 | 1,732 ft | 528 m | Destroyed |
| 1974 | Sears Tower | Chicago | U.S. | 1,451 ft | 442 m | 108 | 1,729 ft | 527 m | Standing |
| 1998 | Petronas Towers | Kuala Lumpur | Malaysia | | | 88 | 1,483 ft | 452 m | Standing |
| 2004 | Taipei 101 | Taipei City | Republic of China(Taiwan) | 1,474 ft | 448 m | 101 | 1,671 ft | 509 m | Standing |
|
 |
The proposed Freedom Tower in New York, which may be the tallest building in the U.S. when completed in 2010. |
Source: emporis.comAt the moment construction of the
Burj Dubai is taking place in
Dubai. Its exact future height is kept secret, but it is expected to become at least 700 m high, making it the tallest building in the world. The
Burj Dubai is to be completed in 2008.
With the rise of Burj Dubai comes a new class of building being called the
superscrapers by the architectural community. While there is no official definition any building over the height of Burj Dubai (whose height is unknown) will be considered a superscraper.
::
''"A chair is a very difficult object. A skyscraper is almost easier. That is why Chippendale is famous.":::—Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
:"What is the chief characteristics of the tall office building? It is lofty. It must be tall. The force and power of altitude must be in it, the glory and pride of exaltation must be in it. It must be every inch a proud and soaring thing, rising in sheer exaltation that from bottom to top it is a unit without a single dissenting line.":::—Louis Sullivan's The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered (1896)*Architecture
*Construction
*Skyscrapers in film
*Supertall
*List of buildings
*List of largest buildings in the world
*List of tallest buildings in the world
*List of tallest buildings and structures in the world
*List of tallest buildings and structures in the world by country
*List of tallest structures in the world
*List of tallest structures in the world by type of use
*List of masts - List of towers - List of tallest churches in the worldMain skyscrapers portals
*SkyscraperPage - Technical information and diagrams
*SkyscraperCity - Largest forum for urbanity. City portals with some technical information
*Emporis Buildings
Other sites
* Urbanity.es
*City, Urban and Skyscraper Forum
*All About Skyscrapers
*Skyscrapers.org
*City Skylines
*SkyscraperNews (UK only)
*SkyscraperModels.us
*Construction photos of Burj Dubai (Worlds tallest by 2008)
*World's Tallest Skyscrapers Placemarks of skyscrapers for Google Earth
*Skyscraper 1880s "skyscraper" citations from word researcher Barry Popik.
