Skyscraper

From Freepedia

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"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)

Skyscraper (or highrise) is a tall and continuously habitable building. Emporis Data Committee, an international company which maintains lists of tall buildings around the world, defines skyscraper as a building which is 35 meters or greater in height, and is divided at regular intervals into occupiable floors [1]. The habitability criteria separates skyscrapers from towers and masts.

The first skyscraper is considered the Home Insurance Building in Chicago. The ten-story structure was constructed in 1884-1885. Another contender for the title is the 1892 ten-story Wainwright Building by Louis Sullivan, which still stands in St. Louis, Missouri. Most early skyscrapers emerged in the land-strapped areas of New York City and Chicago toward the end of the 19th century.

The crucial developments for skyscrapers were steel, reinforced concrete, water pumps, elevators. Until the 19th century, buildings of over six stories were rare. It was impractical to have people walk up so many flights of stairs, and water pressure could only provide running water to about 50 feet (15 m).

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 then hang off this frame like curtains--hence the architectural term curtain wall for tall systems of glass that are laterally supported by these skeletal frames. Special consideration must also be given for wind loads.

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Some structural engineers define a skyscraper as any vertical construction for which wind is a more significant load factor than weight. Note that this criteria fits not only skyscrapers but some other tall structures, such as towers.

Originally, "skyscraper" was a nautical term for a tall mast or sail on a sailing ship.

History of tallest skyscrapers

For a list of current rankings of skyscrapers by height go to list of skyscrapers. Image:Zaryadye.jpg

This list measures height of roof of a skyscraper. The more common method is measuring highest architectural detail, and such ranking would have included Petronas Towers, built in 1998. See list of skyscrapers for details.

Built	Building	City	Country	Roof		Floors	Pinnacle		Current status
1885	Home Insurance Building	Chicago	US	180 ft	55 m	12			Demolished
1890	New York World Building	New York City	US	309 ft	94 m	20	349 ft	106 m	Demolished
1894	Manhattan Life Insurance Building	New York City	US	348 ft	106 m	18			Demolished
1895	Milwaukee City Hall	Milwaukee	US	350 ft	107 m	9			Standing
1899	Park Row Building	New York City	US	391 ft	119 m	30			Standing

1908	Singer Building	New York City	US	612 ft	187 m	47			Demolished
1909	Met Life Tower	New York City	US	700 ft	213 m	50			Standing
1913	Woolworth Building	New York City	US	792 ft	241 m	57			Standing
1930	40 Wall Street	New York City	US			71	927 ft	283 m	Standing
1930	Chrysler Building	New York City	US	925 ft	282 m	77	1046 ft	319 m	Standing

1931	Empire State Building	New York City	US	1250 ft	381 m	102	1472 ft	449 m	Standing
1972	1 World Trade Center	New York City	US	1368 ft	417 m	110	1727 ft	526 m	Destroyed
1974	Sears Tower	Chicago	US	1450 ft	442 m	110	1730 ft	527 m	Standing
2003	Taipei 101	Taipei	Taiwan	1470 ft	448 m	101	1667 ft	508 m	Standing

Source: Unknown.

At the moment construction of the Burj Dubai is taking place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is expected to become the tallest building in the world, and estimates of the height range from 700 to 950 m.

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