High-rise building (tower block)

A high-rise building is a structure with multiple stories that exceeds a specific height. In Great Britain and some parts of Europe, they are referred to as tower blocks. There are no generally accepted standards for what constitutes a high-rise building. Some definitions consider a high-rise to be a structure seven or more stories tall, while others place the minimum height between 75 to 100 feet. The exact height at which a building is considered a high-rise is often determined by local fire and building codes, which sometimes define it as a structure taller than the reach of available firefighting equipment. The word skyscraper is an informal term used to refer to an exceptionally tall high-rise building. The first skyscrapers were built in the late nineteenth century and were considered any building more than ten stories tall. Modern skyscrapers are generally considered to be more than 50 stories tall.

Early History

The oldest-known buildings that could be classified as high-rise structures were built during the height of the Roman Empire about 2,000 years ago. These multi-tiered buildings were called insulae, Latin for "islands," and were constructed to house members of Rome's lower and middle classes. The first insulae were built in the third century BCE and stood about three stories tall, while structures built in the first century CE reached heights of five or six stories. Because the insulae were prone to collapse, Roman authorities limited them to a height of 70 feet, although that limit was later adjusted downward to 60 feet. According to records from about 300 CE, there were about 45,000 insulae in Rome.

While the concept of multistoried apartment buildings continued to be used in the Islamic world, in medieval European cities the tallest structures were often church steeples or towers built for defense. The modern high-rise building was born in the United States as a result of two technological innovations of the nineteenth century. In 1855, English inventor Henry Bessemer discovered a process to mass-produce steel more efficiently and at substantially lower costs. This allowed steel to replace cast iron and wood as a construction material and led to the ability to create stronger, taller structures. Two years earlier, an American businessman named Elisha Graves Otis invented the first safe passenger elevator. Elevator lifts had been around for centuries, but Otis's invention was the first that would not fall even if the hoisting cables were severed. In 1857, he installed the first "safety lift" in the five-story E.V. Haughwout & Company department store building in New York City.

Overview

In addition to technological advances, another factor driving the construction of high-rise buildings was the influx of immigrants into the United States during the nineteenth century. In New York City alone, the population grew from 60,000 in 1800 to more than 1.5 million in 1900. With so many people needing places to live, available real estate in cities began to shrink. One solution was to build upward instead of outward.

There is some controversy over the first high-rise to be considered a skyscraper. It is generally believed the title goes to the ten-story, 138-foot-tall Home Insurance Building constructed in Chicago in 1885. While it was not the tallest structure of the era, it was the first to utilize a steel-frame construction in its design and the first to be labeled a skyscraper. Others contend the first skyscraper was the six-story Equitable Building, constructed in New York City in 1870. These early high-rise buildings had exterior stone or brick walls, with frames made of steel horizontal beams, iron columns, and wooden floors.

By the dawn of the twentieth century, high-rise buildings began to flourish in the United States. Other innovations such as central heating and air-conditioning, telephone systems, and improved lighting helped bolster their growth. As European cities held onto their Old World height restrictions, the title of world's tallest building was passed along by various American structures, built almost exclusively in New York City. In 1931, the Chrysler Building was the first high-rise to top 1,000 feet; a year later, the iconic Empire State building topped it with an architectural height of 1,250 feet. An architectural height counts the height of the main structure but not any antennas or flagpoles that may project from the building. This generation of high-rises was usually built with a welded or riveted steel skeleton enclosed in concrete.

High-rise buildings constructed after World War II used a number of architectural innovations. The steel-framed construction method consisted of an outer core frame of lightweight steel or reinforced concrete supporting walls of glass. Steel-framed tube construction utilized an extremely strong framework of exterior steel columns to support the weight of the building. This allowed structures to be built taller and to better withstand earthquakes and high winds. The twin towers of New York's former World Trade Center were constructed with this method.

As the twentieth century progressed, many countries began adopting the high-rise building, either as a way to conserve space in a crowded city or as a form of architectural expression. In 1998, the 1,483-foot Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, became the first building outside the United States to be named the world's tallest. Six years later, it was surpassed by Taipei 101 in Taipei, Taiwan. In 2010, the 163-story, 2,717-foot Burj Khalifa opened in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. As of 2016, the Burj Khalifa was the tallest building in the world, although the 3,281-foot Jeddah Tower, under construction in Saudi Arabia, would assume that title upon its planned completion in 2028.

While many high-rise buildings are used as offices for businesses, they also function as apartments, hotels, or a combination of purposes. As of 2024, the tallest hotel was the Gevora Hotel in Dubai, standing at 1,168 feet. The tallest office high-rise the Ping An Finance Center in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. Completed in 2017, it is 115 stories and stands at 1,966 feet. The tallest residential structure was New York's 432 Park Avenue, an 85-floor, 1,396-foot upscale apartment complex. The Burj Khalifa houses a combination of office, residential, and hotel space and was classified by the council as a mixed-use structure.

Bibliography

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