skyscraper

skyscraper,

modern building of great height, constructed on a steel skeleton. The form originated in the United States.

Development of the Form

Many mechanical and structural developments in the last quarter of the 19th cent. contributed to its evolution. With the perfection of the high-speed elevator after 1887, skyscrapers were able to attain any desired height. The earliest tall buildings were of solid masonry construction, with the thick walls of the lower stories usurping a disproportionate amount of floor space. In order to permit thinner walls through the entire height of the building, architects began to use cast iron in conjunction with masonry. This was followed by cage construction, in which the iron frame supported the floors and the masonry walls bore their own weight.

The next step was the invention of a system in which the metal framework would support not only the floors but also the walls. This innovation appeared in the Home Insurance Building in Chicago, designed in 1883 by William Le Baron JenneyJenney, William Le Baron,
1832–1907, American engineer and architect, b. Fairhaven, Mass. He studied at Harvard Scientific School and the École des Beaux-Arts.
..... Click the link for more information. —the first building to employ steel skeleton construction and embody the general characteristics of a modern skyscraper. The subsequent erection in Chicago of a number of similar buildings made it the center of the early skyscraper architecture. In the 1890s the steel frame was formed into a completely riveted skeleton bearing all the structural loads, with the exterior or thin curtain walls serving merely as an enclosing screen.

Legal and Aesthetic Refinements

In 1892 the New York Building Law made its first provisions for skeleton constructions. There followed a period of experimentation to devise efficient floor plans and aesthetically satisfying forms. In New York City the Flatiron Building by D. H. BurnhamBurnham, Daniel Hudson
, 1846–1912, American architect and city planner b. Henderson, N.Y. He was trained in architects' offices in Chicago. In that city he established (1873) a partnership with John W.
..... Click the link for more information. was constructed in 1902, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Tower in 1909, and the Woolworth Building, 60 stories high, by Cass GilbertGilbert, Cass,
1859–1934, American architect, b. Zanesville, Ohio, studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and in Europe. In 1880 he entered the employ of McKim, Mead, and White, New York City, and three years later opened his own office in St. Paul, Minn.
..... Click the link for more information. , in 1913. The last, with Gothic ornamentation, exemplifies the general tendency at that time to adapt earlier architectural styles to modern construction. The radical innovator Louis Henry SullivanSullivan, Louis Henry,
1856–1924, American architect, b. Boston, studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris. He is of great importance in the evolution of modern architecture in the United States.
..... Click the link for more information. gave impetus to a new, bold aesthetic for skyscrapers. An excellent example is his design for the Wainwright building in St. Louis (1890–91). Frank Lloyd WrightWright, Frank Lloyd,
1867–1959, American architect, b. Richland Center, Wis., as Frank Lincoln Wright; he changed his name to honor his mother's family (the Lloyd Joneses). Wright is widely considered the greatest American architect.
..... Click the link for more information. also contributed his unorthodox vision to such structures as the Price Tower (1953) in Bartlesville, Okla.

In 1916, New York City adopted the Building Zone Resolution, establishing legal control over the height and plan of buildings and over the factors relating to health, fire hazard, and assurance of adequate light and air to buildings and streets. Regulations regarding the setting back of exterior walls above a determined height, largely intended to allow light to reach the streets, gave rise to buildings whose stepped profiles characterize the American skyscraper of subsequent years.

With the complex structural and planning problems solved, architects still seek solutions to the difficulties of integrating skyscrapers with community requirements of hygiene, transportation, and commercial interest. In New York during the 1950s, public plazas were incorporated into the designs of the Lever House by Gordon BunshaftBunshaft, Gordon,
1909–90, American architect, b. Buffalo, N.Y. As chief designer for the architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, Bunshaft was responsible for Lever House, New York City's first glass curtain-wall skyscraper (1952), which has been widely
..... Click the link for more information. and the Seagram Building of Mies van der RoheMies van der Rohe, Ludwig
, 1886–1969, German-American architect. A pioneer of modern architecture and one of its most influential figures, he is famous for his minimalist architectural dictum "less is more." In Germany, he was an assistant to Peter Behrens.
..... Click the link for more information. . These International styleInternational style,
in architecture, the phase of the modern movement that emerged in Europe and the United States during the 1920s. The term was first used by Philip Johnson in connection with a 1932 architectural exhibition held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York City.
..... Click the link for more information. buildings are also examples of the effective use of vast expanses of glass in skyscrapers. More recently, numerous skyscrapers have been constructed in a number of postmodern modes.

Outstanding Skyscrapers

By convention, a skyscraper is a building that is used primarily for human habitation with the greatest majority of its height divided into occupiable floors. Freestanding structures used primarily for broadcasting or sightseeing are classified as towers. The height of a building is measured from the sidewalk level of the main entrance to the structural top of the building. This includes spires but does not include television antennas, radio antennas, or flagpoles. By this definition the tallest building is the Burj KhalifaBurj Khalifa
[Arab.,=Khalifa Tower], skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, that is the tallest building in the world. The centerpiece of a large urban development, it stands 2,717 ft (828 m) high and has 163 floors.
..... Click the link for more information. , Dubai, United Arab Emirates, which was completed in 2010; 2,717 ft (828 m) high, with 163 floors, it is also tallest structure in the world. Shanghai TowerShanghai Tower,
skyscraper in Shanghai, China. Largely completed in 2015 but not opened until 2017, it is the second-tallest building in the world and the tallest structure in China, standing 2,073 ft (632 m) high with 121 floors.
..... Click the link for more information. , in Pudong, Shanghai, China, is the second tallest, at 2,073 ft (632 m) and 128 floors; it was completed in 2015. The Makkah Royal Clock Tower, Mecca, Saudi Arabia, is the world's third tallest building. Completed in 2012, it is 1,972 ft (601 m) high and has 120 floors. One World Trade Center, the primary building in the new World Trade CenterWorld Trade Center,
former building complex in lower Manhattan, New York City, consisting of seven buildings and a shopping concourse on a 16-acre (6.5-hectare) site; it was destroyed by a terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001.
..... Click the link for more information. complex, is the tallest building in the United States; it is 1,776 ft (541 m) high with 94 floors. The Willis TowerWillis Tower,
formerly the Sears Tower,
Chicago, the second tallest building in the United States. Until the completion of the 1,483-ft (452-m) Petronas Towers (1998) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, it was the world's tallest building.
..... Click the link for more information. (opened 1974, formerly the Sears Tower) in Chicago was the tallest building in the United States until One World Trade Center was completed in 2014; its 108 floors rise 1,451 ft (442 m) with an additional 278 ft (85 m) for the television antenna on top.

Among other tall or notable New York City skyscrapers are 432 Park Ave., with 85 floors, 1,396 ft (425 m) high; the Empire State BuildingEmpire State Building,
in central Manhattan, New York City, on Fifth Ave. between 33d St. and 34th St. It was designed by the firm of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon and built in 1930–31.
..... Click the link for more information. , with 102 floors, 1,250 ft (381 m) high; the Bank of America Tower, with 55 floors, 1,200 ft (366 m); the Chrysler BuildingChrysler Building,
in midtown Manhattan, New York City, at Lexington Ave. between 42d and 43d St. The ultimate art deco-style skyscraper, it was commissioned by Walter P. Chrysler, designed by William Van Alen, and built in 1926–30.
..... Click the link for more information. , with 77 floors, 1,046 ft (319 m) high; and the Comcast (formerly GE, and earlier the RCA) Building in Rockefeller Center, with 70 floors, 850 ft (259 m) high. The former World Trade CenterWorld Trade Center,
former building complex in lower Manhattan, New York City, consisting of seven buildings and a shopping concourse on a 16-acre (6.5-hectare) site; it was destroyed by a terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001.
..... Click the link for more information. , which was the tallest building in the city until it was destroyed (Sept., 2001) by a terrorist attack, had two unstepped, rectangular towers of 104 floors each, one 1,368 ft (417 m) and the other 1,362 ft (415 m) high.

Bibliography

See K. Sabbagh, Skyscraper: The Making of a Building (repr. 1991); C. Willis, Form Follows Finance: Skyscrapers and Skylines in New York and Chicago (1995); P. Johnson and J. Dupre, Skyscrapers (1996); D. Hoffmann, Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, and the Skyscraper (1999); S. B. Landau and C. W. Condit, The Rise of the New York Skyscraper, 1865–1913 (repr. 1999).

Skyscraper

A building of extreme height containing many stories, constructed of a steel or concrete frame that supports the exterior walls, as opposed to a load-bearing structure.

skyscraper

[′skī‚skrāp·ər] (building construction) A very tall, multistory building.

skyscraper

A very tall, multistoried building, usually having curtain walls, 1 so that the exterior walls are non-load-bearing, being supported independently at each floor by its skeleton-frame construction; also see steel-frame construction and tripartite scheme.

skyscraper

a very tall multistorey building

skyscraper

sky·scrap·er

skyscraper

sky•scrap•er

skyscraper

sky

skyscraper

skyscraper

skyscraper,

Development of the Form

Legal and Aesthetic Refinements

Outstanding Skyscrapers

Bibliography

Skyscraper

skyscraper

skyscraper

skyscraper

skyscraper

skyscraper

skyscraper

Words related to skyscraper

noun a very tall building with many stories

Related Words