Today you will not surprise anyone with a high-rise building, but a couple of hundred years ago, even the idea of building houses of such a height seemed an engineering miracle. Today, countries compete in the number of skyscrapers and their beauty. Buildings continue to be built, increasing the number of floors and complicating calculations.
History of skyscrapers
Multi-storey buildings have been known to mankind for a long time. But the first building, called a skyscraper, was built relatively recently - only in 1885 in Chicago. It's funny to say, but then the building was called that, in which there were only 10 floors, two more appeared a little later. Thus, the total height of the 19th century skyscraper was just over 50 meters.
The development and improvement of building technologies eventually removed the problem of the massiveness of buildings, because the steel frame made it possible to strengthen the walls, while reducing the total weight by a third. And the problem of lifting to such heights was solved after the invention of electric elevators.
Almost immediately after the appearance of the first high-rise buildings, a serious struggle for superiority unfolded between the builders. Especially sharp was the one in which skyscrapers competed with each otherNew York in the 1920s. Less than 30 years after the appearance of the first multi-storey building, a tower 241 meters high was built. For the next 17 years, no one could break this record, and then the championship was intercepted by the Chrysler Building and its 320 mark on the spire. But less than a year later (1931) a building was opened, which later became a symbol of all skyscrapers. It was the Empire State Building, breaking the 100-story milestone. It was built in record time, just over a year.
For some time the struggle subsided, only to flare up again in the 70s. Buildings in different parts of the world intercepted the palm, but no one managed to keep it for a long time. Today it belongs to the Burj Khalifa, the first and so far the only building to break the 150-story mark.
Design Features
Construction of high-rise buildings is fraught with certain difficulties. In addition to the fact that architects have to take into account the mass of the building, its earthquake resistance and many other parameters, all calculations must be very accurate, because otherwise a lot of people may suffer. In the desire to achieve certain ambitions, one must always remember about safety and approach the matter wisely. This is why the design of high-rise buildings is a completely separate discipline that requires a certain attitude.
However, in the pursuit of reliability, one should not forget about beauty. Ordinary reinforced concrete boxes have not been of interest to anyone for a long time, people want a certain elegance and lightness of forms,so the work of an architect cannot be called easy. Maintenance of skyscrapers is also not an easy task, because even with the usual washing of windows it is impossible to cope without the services of industrial climbers. And you also need to consider security issues, which have become more relevant than ever after September 11, 2001, when a fire and the collapse of two skyscrapers claimed a huge number of lives.
Categories
For a long time, it was difficult to decide what exactly to consider a skyscraper. And even now this question remains relevant, because several different criteria are used at once. Someone measures the height of the roof, not taking into account the spire, others take it into account, ignoring antennas and other structures, and some estimate the scale based on the highest point of the building. In any case, skyscrapers are currently considered to be structures with floors (that is, not towers) that extend upwards of 100 meters or more. From 35 to 100 - just high-rise buildings. Above 300 - ultra-high, and from 600 - they carry the prefix "mega". By the way, there are only two of the latter in the world.
Record breakers
6 of the 10 tallest buildings in the world are located in Asia, however, it is the first three places that are occupied by buildings located in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the USA. So, since 2009, the list has so far remained unchanged:
- Burj Khalifa (UAE).
- Abraj al-Bayt (Saudi Arabia).
- World Trade Center 1 (USA).
- Taipei 101 (Taiwan).
- Shanghai World Trade Center (China).
- International Commerce Center (Hong Kong).
- Petronas-1 (Malaysia).
- Petronas-2 (Malaysia).
- Nanjing Greenland (China).
- Willis Tower (USA).
Skyscrapers of Moscow and Russia
In the cities of the Russian Federation for a long time, high-rise construction was held back for aesthetic and religious reasons. Until the middle of the 20th century, the Ivan the Great Bell Tower, 81 meters high, remained the highest point of the historical center. By the way, high-rise buildings in Russia for a long time had their own name, not borrowed from other languages - cloud cutters. The first such project, which had a modern scope, was the building of the Palace of Soviets, which was supposed to have a height of 495 meters. Construction began in 1937, but was interrupted by the war, and then the idea was abandoned.
Until the last few decades, it was difficult to imagine truly high-rise buildings in Russian cities, it seemed that they did not fit into their architectural appearance at all. Of course, there are many skeptics even now, but the Moscow City area has also gained its fans. A skyscraper is also under construction in St. Petersburg, which promises to become the tallest in Europe, but so far the completion is scheduled for 2019.
Famous skyscrapers
Despite the fact that most of them are not included in the list of the highest for a long time, the skyscrapers of New York are the most famous. It is this city that comes to mind when talking about high-rise buildings. Hollywood heroinesfilmmakers live in penthouses in Manhattan, admiring the panorama in the evenings. Yes, New York really cannot be imagined without skyscrapers. Shanghai and Hong Kong have also grown skyward in record time, but have already managed to fall in love with everyone in their modern look.
By the way, for quite a long time the "Stalinist" high-rise buildings of Moscow were considered quite an interesting and promising offshoot of architecture. And today, foreign tourists visit them at the first opportunity and look at them with curiosity.
Prospects
It seems that the architects are not going to stop there, so in a couple of decades, jokes about oxygen tanks can become a reality. The construction of buildings, the height of which will reach 1 kilometer, has already begun. There are also projects for which the conquest of marks up to 4,000 thousand by man-made objects is only a matter of time. True, while it is unlikely that people will agree to go down from the 800th floor for half an hour. But it is surprising that from a technical point of view, the construction of high-rise buildings of such a scale is generally possible. Although, in order for such projects to become truly promising, it will be necessary to rethink the most basic principles of urban construction.
