What Is Skyscrapers

One of the innovations was the construction of skyscrapers. Before steel was used, a skyscraper was only considered four to five stories tall and was made out of stone. Very little light was able to get into the building because the structure would become unsafe if too many windows were put in. This made the building very dark, cold and damp. In 1885, with the innovation of steel, the first skyscraper, The Home Insurance Building, was built in Chicago, Illinois. This building paved the way for architects around the country to build taller and stronger skyscrapers into today’s times.

Believe it or not, skyscrapers have only been around since the the late 1880’s. The main reason for this was because the materials used to build buildings at the time could not support the weight of a skyscraper. If people wanted to build taller buildings, they had to use stronger materials that could withstand the weight of the building and keep it from collapsing. At the time, that material was steel, but there was a problem; steel was not mass produced at the time. This made it financially unethical to build with, the price of steel only began to drop after Andrew Carnegie created his steel business. Andrew Carnegie helped strengthen the American economy turning it into a world power by learning from his poverty when he was younger, starting his steel business which provided the world an important resource for the development of industry, taking advantage of workers to maximize profit, and devoting his later life to philanthropy.

The design and structure of the city is quite varied. Old Toronto has some pieces of architect which are a distinctive feature of the city. Toronto skyline is known as the hub for telecommunications and tourism which is defined by CN Tower, which ranks second amongst the world’s tallest freestanding structure. Main public places of the city are City Hall, Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto Waterfront, Grange Park, Moss Park, Allan Gardens and Little Norway Park.

It’s believed that Sears Tower is an amazing project in skyscraper engineering; however, the architects and engineers are still targeting it of the tallest building in the world. William LeMessurier, a structural engineer, has designed a building that is almost two times taller than the Sears Tower. Robert Sobel, an architect, claims that it’s possible to have a 500-story building with the current

His first comprehensive city plan was La Ville Contemporaine (the Contemporary City) a project to house three million inhabitants designed in 1922. This was Le Corbusier’s first attempt to reconcile man, nature and machine (Fishman, 189). The city starts at the center with a transportation hub for busses, trains, cars and planes. Surrounding this hub there will be an organized cluster of 24 60-story skyscrapers. These glass and steel skyscrapers are cross-shaped. Each individual skyscraper is to be set within a large rectangular green space. The skyscrapers house the “brain” of the city. The city is beautifully geometric and symmetrical. Placing the skyscrapers in the city center reinforces the emphasis on capital as a means of creating a successful city. Because of the shape and mass of each skyscraper, they have more usable space than an entire neighborhood but also relieves density and congestion because of the organization (Frampton, 46).

The first skyscrapers were built between 1884-1939. Chicago’s Home Insurance Building which opened in 1884 was considered the world’s first skyscraper. It was 138 feet tall. In 1892 Chicago stopped building skyscrapers taller than 150 feet tall. This allowed New York to start developing taller buildings. The economic boom of the 1920’s led to the building of the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building. As the Great Depression hit, the building of skyscrapers stopped. Since the end of the Great Depression buildings have become taller and taller until we get to the Burj Khalifa at 2,722 feet.

Traditionally, Architects have designed and built housing, utilities, transportation, and society's entire infrastructure. I belong to the city of Mumbai, India. The ingenious majesty of skyscrapers or the sheer complexity of the space formation of Dharavi, the largest slum in Asia highly intrigues me. Growth brings along with it both advantages and disadvantages. While Mumbai is growing up to become a truly global city, we as citizens of Mumbai also have witnessed the mayhem which engulfs all sectors and most importantly the transportation / development

Museums, churches, castles, hotels and office buildings are architectural creations. It is interesting to find that several architectural building or landmarks or wonders exist even today. They include cathedrals , castles and museums ,designed by famous architects

Why do people want to build in the sky? Skyscrapers are the most iconic symbol of the city and are amazing landscapes created by humans who reach the clouds and ignore gravity. It implements human aspirations that we want to build a much higher level of buildings. There is no doubt that constructing tall buildings is not something new. The most important things while raising buildings higher are its structural design and life safety for people living or working inside the buildings. Today, as the building is touching to the sky, occupants of buildings are worried more and more about how safe the building is. The major concerns regarding tall building are unplanned fire and terrorist attack. The 43rd president George W. Bush quoted in results to 9/11, "Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve". As prospective engineers look to the future, we have the opportunity to learn the very lesson by understanding the collapse of the WTC Towers. In the years 9/11, the time after has arisen to learn and improve the design of future tall buildings against fire-induced collapse. The building we build inspires us and reflects on who we are.

Where big buildings before the invention of the skyscraper where solely used for businesses, it was now to be used for housing as well. The people would have to accept the change from the old western style of building, to the new found modernistic way. 2. Social morality, the buildings constructed in the old western building style always had to follow a code to what the general people think is accepted as a building or what people think is basically saying; ugly. Because people had set standards, they had to be changed to accommodate the modernist movement and one of these standards that needed change was the 3. truth to what a building looks like, to what it actually is. Big buildings in times before modernism, would always be used for the needs of factories and train stations for example and would be built in a style to portray what it is, because the people valued honesty over all other. It would thus be difficult to give a building, that is seen as a work place, ornamentation, because it would lie about what it is from appearance. But this had to change if skyscrapers were to be used to accommodate people and it did. One can see this in the John Hancock Tower, the building is fitted with glass windows from the bottom to the top and would usually be used to compensate people but also businesses. So the new skyscraper was not true to what it really was because it would either accommodate people or businesses and there would be no difference in the construction style of the two buildings. 4. Gesamtkunstwerk. “The fine, applied, decorative and design arts should be in a single continuum, allowing for their different practical functions and production techniques.”(Greenhalgh, 1990) All the buildings in the city setting should look like they fit to one another, but still

One of the most interesting questions to ask is why do buildings look the way the do, or rather why do buildings of a particular function have a certain form? Now firstly not all buildings with the same function have the same form, but many buildings have a certain form which make them instantly recognizable to those who interact with them. Specifically in respect to the Greek temple they usually took a very distinct form with a columnar facade, and an inner cella. This allowed the people of antiquity to interact with any temple in a way that would be familiar to them. While it is difficult to find a modern comparison to the Greek temple that in any way reflects the weight behind the temple, the modern skyscraper office building provides and interesting subject to examine. The function of the two buildings is entirely different, and it would make sense to thus compare the Greek temple with a modern religious building. However, the physiological effect of the form of the modern skyscraper has a much similar effect to what the Greek temple would have had in antiquity.

Steel: (for all intents and purposes) was invented in 1855 by Henry Bessemer(Mary Bellis). Science the amazing innovation that has changed the world incredible things have been made from the material from bridged cables and cross beams to arresting wires on aircraft carriers that stop monumental force and speed. It is truly an amazing martial, but eventually it snaps, breaks or tears due to the separation of the molecules. Also steel is not the most flexible material there is which may sound good for what it is used for, construction. You wouldn’t want the floor to shift from under but, what about in areas that have a consent threat of earthquakes having a material that is rigid when needed and flexible when needed would be an invaluable

TOWER- A tower is a tall structure, usually taller than it is wide, often by a significant margin. Towers

As we all know, it is the tallest skyscraper ,(to top of spire): 829.84 m (2,723 ft) (previously Taipei 101 – 509.2 m/1,671 ft) (to top of antenna): 829.84 m (2,723 ft) (previously the Willis Tower – 527 m/1,729 ft), it is the tallest extant structure: 829.84 m (2,723 ft) (previously KVLY-TV mast – 628.8 m/2,063 ft), it is the tallest freestanding structure: 829.84 m (2,723 ft) (previously CN Tower – 553.3 m/1,815 ft), it is the building with most floors: 160 (previously Willis Tower – 108), it is the building with world's highest occupied floor, the world’s highest elevator installation (situated inside a rod at the very top of the building) ,the world's fastest elevators: 64 km/h (40 mph) or 18 m/s (59 ft/s) (previously Taipei 101 – 16.83 m/s), the highest vertical concrete pumping (for a building): 606 m (1,988 ft) (previously Taipei 101 – 449.2 m/1,474 ft), First world's tallest structure in history to include residential space., the world’s highest outdoor observation deck: 124th floor at 452 m (1,483 ft) ,world's highest installation of an aluminum and glass facade: 512 m (1,680 ft) ,the world’s highest mosque: 158th

Since Hong Kong restructured to financial industry base. Hong Kong government trend to build more high buildings in core business districts to attract foreign companies invest Hong Kong, due to high rent of office/commercial buildings and lack of these buildings especially in Central and Wan Chai. The population growth makes the demand of housing increasing. Therefore, Hong Kong has become mixed-use development and has appeared many high-rise residential or commercial buildings. Now Hong Kong has 1,251 skyscrapers and high-rises and the amount is top of the world (Li, 2014). And these high-rise buildings are known as walled-building and this term is created by some environmentalists. Over these years, Hong Kong government has to find more flat land and build new housing like pushed 85,000 housing units annual target policy (Hong Kong Institute of Planners, 2007). But Hong Kong just a small place, government increase the plot ratio to build more houses. The development density can be calculated by maximum permitted plot ratio multiplying the site areas (Hong Kong Institute of Planners, 2007). The site area was granted by government getting large; developers plan the building on one side and club-house on the other site. And Hong Kong government through different exemption or bonus and for different objectives to increase additional floor area and buildings bulks for instance ancillary uses, green incentives and provision of public