Skyscraper
A skyscraper is defined as a building of significant height, often recognized for its ability to seemingly touch the sky. While there is no universally accepted minimum height to classify a building as a skyscraper, these structures have become iconic in urban landscapes, attracting visitors and serving as symbols of architectural innovation. The evolution of skyscrapers began with the Home Insurance Building in Chicago, completed in 1885, which is often regarded as the first skyscraper. Key technological advancements such as steel production, elevators, and fireproofing materials made the construction of these towering buildings feasible.
Architectural design for skyscrapers involves considerations of load distribution, wind resistance, and seismic activity, leading to diverse shapes and structures, including the famous Burj Khalifa and unique designs like the Helicoidal Skyscraper. Skyscrapers also serve economic purposes by maximizing land use in densely populated areas, helping to shape city skylines and attract wealth. Their height is measured in various ways, leading to different rankings in lists of the world's tallest buildings. Beyond their height, skyscrapers are noted for features such as unique weather conditions at different elevations and the ability to sway slightly in windy conditions, demonstrating the complexity and sophistication of modern engineering and architecture.
Skyscraper
- SUMMARY: Mathematicians and engineers work together to design and build skyscrapers.
A skyscraper is a building noteworthy for its great height. As the name suggests, the building appears to touch the sky. There is no agreed-upon minimum height that classifies a building as a “skyscraper”; the term is used for any building that commands attention because of its height. Many people are fascinated by building, visiting, and measuring skyscrapers. The Eiffel Tower, designed by engineer Gustave Eiffel, revolutionized civil engineering and architectural design. In the design of a skyscraper, architects and engineers must consider load distribution and the impact of the wind and earthquakes. Scientists and mathematicians also investigate how to improve features such as seismic dampers. Many skyscrapers resemble rectangles or pyramids, but they may have other geometries, like the plan for the Helicoidal Skyscraper in New York or the sail-shaped skyscraper in Dubai—the Burj al-Arab Hotel. In Tokyo, St. Mary’s Cathedral incorporates eight hyperbolic parabolas, and the HSB Turning Torso in Sweden uses five-story cubes that twist as they rise, with the top cube ninety degrees from the bottom cube. Buckminster Fuller proposed a city consisting of huge floating spheres, which he called Cloud Nine. The Wing Tower in Scotland was designed to rotate at the base in order to respond to changes in the direction of the wind. Proposed dynamic skyscrapers allow each floor to rotate independently, creating changing shapes, and using turbines to harness the power of the wind. There are various ways of ranking skyscrapers by height, and these buildings have other characteristics that can be quantified as well. Mathematician Shizuo Kakutani invented a mathematical skyscraper in ergodic theory called a “Kakutani skyscraper,” so named because the mathematical process resembles the floors of a skyscraper.
History
Throughout history, there have been buildings that were considered unusually tall, including pyramids, towers, and religious structures. The ten-story Home Insurance Building in Chicagodesigned by William Le Baron Jenney and completed in 1885is considered by many to be the world’s first skyscraper. A variety of technological developments made the first skyscrapers possible. These included the mass production of steel, the invention of the elevator, the ability to achieve water pressure at altitude, the fireproofing of flooring and walls, and the development of reinforced concrete. The 792-foot steel skeleton and concrete foundation of Woolworth Building in New York City, completed in 1913, was typical of how skyscrapers would be constructed in the twentieth century. Modern skyscrapers typically have frames that supports the building’s weight, with walls suspended from the frame. This feature distinguishes them from smaller buildings where the walls are usually weight-bearing.
The Empire State Building in New York City reigned for forty-one years as the world’s tallest skyscraper and entered the public consciousness when the 1933 film King Kong depicted a giant ape that climbed the building. The movie had innovative special effects, including the use of scale modeling. In the twenty-first century, numerous television and FM radio stations transmit their signals from atop the Empire State Building and from skyscrapers in other cities.
Measurement
There are many different ways to measure the height of a skyscraper. It can be measured by the number of floors, highest occupied floor, spire height, or total height including such things as antennas. Consequently, different figures can be found for the height of a single skyscraper. When lists of the world’s tallest skyscrapers are published, a single skyscraper often ranks in different places on lists that use different rules of measurement. For example the Willis Tower in Chicagoformerly known as the Sears Toweris the world’s second tallest building when ranked by number of floors or when antennae are included, but it places seventh worldwide when spires are counted, but antennae are not.
Since 1998, a number of skyscrapers in Asia have surpassed the tallest American buildings in height. The Burj Khalifa, which opened in 2010 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, has been labeled the world’s tallest skyscraper as of 2010, whether ranked by its 163 floors, its 2,093-foot highest floor, or its spire height of 2,717 feet (ft) (828 meters (m)). The progression of record skyscraper heights over time can be graphed and modeled by a regression equation. In 2024, the top three largest skyscrapers in the world were:
- Burj Khalifa, Dubai: 828m or 2,717 ft
- Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur: 679m or 2,227 ft
- Shanghai Tower, Shanghai: 632m or 2,073 ft
Economic Aspects
A consistent point of contention concerning skyscrapers is the ecomomic basis for their construction. Some have questioned the value of creating such mammoth structures and whether more cost-efficient and practical alternatives are available. Others, however, argue that the value of land in densely-packed metro areas where skyscrapers predominate make rents exhorbitant. By adding increased living and working spaces in confined areas, skyscrapers help reduce these economic costs. Also, skyscrapers add distinction. In helping shape the signature skyline of a metro area, skyscrapers essentially lend brand value to a city. They also serve as a magnet for the flow of wealth into a city center.
Other Aspects
Skyscrapers are noteworthy for other quantities besides their heights. When known geometric solids are used to model a skyscraper’s shape, the building’s surface area can be estimated. Because of differences in elevation, a skyscraper often experiences measurably different weather conditions at its top and bottom. In addition to its noteworthy height measurements, the Burj Khalifa contains over 20 acres of glass, has over five million square feet of floor space, and has elevators that travel over 26 miles per hour. Tall buildings are known to sway slightly in windy conditions. A way to estimate a building’s sway is to divide its height by 500 to arrive at the amount of horizontal sway near the top of the building. In many skyscrapers, steel tubes, or bundles of tubes, give the building strength against this swaying. The distance one can see from the top of a skyscraper can be computed. When the curvature of Earth is considered, the sight line is tangent to Earth’s surface. On a clear day it is possible to see over 100 miles from atop the world’s highest skyscrapers.
Bibliography
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Bellis, Mary. "The First Skyscrapers." ThoughtCo. 10 Jan. 2020, www.thoughtco.com/how-skyscrapers-became-possible-1991649. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
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Huber, Hannah, and Elizabeth Stamp. "The 31 Most Beautiful Skyscrapers in the World." Architectural Digest, 26 Dec. 2023, www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/most-beautiful-skyscrapers-world. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
Koll, Hillary, et al. Using Math to Build a Skyscraper. Gareth Stevens Publishing, 2007.
"Tallest Buildings." Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, www.skyscrapercenter.com/buildings. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
Wells, Matthew. Skyscrapers: Structure and Design. Yale University Press, 2005.