SKYSCRAPERS

The term "skyscraper" was coined in the 1880s, shortly after the first tall buildings were constructed
in the United States -- but the history of tall buildings dates back hundreds of years Since the
!iddle "ges, engineers ha#e engaged in a battle for the sky Before there were skyscrapers, there
were towers.
!ade of hea#y stone, towers had thick, sturdy walls, but the rooms were dark and cramped -- too
many windows would ha#e weakened the structure Soon Gothic cathedrals joined the !est for
hei"ht.
$ong, stone arms, called flying #!ttresses, supported the cathedral%s hea#y
weight, allowing the walls to be filled with colorful glass windows
$ith steel ca%e the first %odern skyscrapers.
&uring the 'ndustrial (e#olution, engineers began e)perimenting with two new
materials -- iron and steel The 10-story *ome 'nsurance +uilding in ,hicago
was the first tall building to be supported by a steel skeleton of #ertical
col!%ns and hori-ontal #ea%s +ut e#en with windows, the closely spaced
columns and deep beams made rooms in the *ome 'nsurance +uilding feel tight
and cramped
$ho wants to cli%# all those stairs&
'n 18./, the installation of the first passenger ele#ator in the *aughwout &epartment Store in 0ew
1ork ,ity made it possible and practical to construct buildings more than four or fi#e stories tall
'ew str!ct!ral desi"ns %ade skyscrapers e(en li"hter and stiffer.
"s skyscrapers grew taller and taller, engineers were faced with a new enemy2 wind Today%s tallest
skyscrapers, which are almost 1,.00 feet tall, must be .0 times stronger against wind than the typical
300-foot buildings of the 1450s
)oday, the sky*s the li%it+
"s architects and engineers e)periment with new styles and building methods, taller and more
inno#ati#e structures are springing up around the world The tallest buildings in the world, the
6etronas Towers in !alaysia, are connected by a fle)ible skybridge on the 53nd floor -- a design that
impro#es the circulation of people between the towers and pro#ides an escape route from one tower to
the other in case of emergency
Skyscraper, -orces
The skyscraper pushes down into
the ground
+ut when the wind blows, the col!%ns on the windy side
stretch apart, and the columns on the other side s7uee-e
together
8lying buttresses2
0otre &ame ,athedral
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.ow do en"ineers desi"n skyscrapers to resist wind&
+y clustering steel col!%ns and #ea%s in the skyscraper%s core,
engineers create a stiff backbone that can resist tremendous
wind forces The inner core is used as an ele#ator shaft, and the
design allows lots of open space on each floor
'n newer skyscrapers, like the Sears Tower in ,hicago, engineers
mo#ed the columns and beams from the core to the peri%eter,
creating a hollow, ri"id tube as stron" as the core design, but
weighing much, much less
Petronas )owers
/ital Statistics,
0ocation, 9uala $umpur, !alaysia
Co%pletion 1ate, 1448
Cost, :1; billion
.ei"ht, 1,58< feet
Stories, 88
2aterials, ,oncrete, Steel
-acin" 2aterials, "luminum, Stainless Steel
En"ineer3s4, Thornton-Tomasetti and (anhill +ersekutu
Until 1448, the world%s tallest skyscraper had always been in the United States +ut that year,
!alaysia%s 6etronas Towers laid claim to this distinction S7ueaking past the ,hicago Sears Tower by
<< feet, the spires atop the 6etronas Towers peak at an impressi#e 1,58< feet 1et there%s a
contro#ersy The highest occupied floor in the Sears Tower is actually 300 feet higher than the top
floor of the 6etronas Towers, and its antennae stretch higher still So why are the 6etronas Towers
considered the world%s tallest buildings= "ccording to the ,ouncil on Tall +uildings and Urban *abitat,
spires count, but antennae don%t Spires do not contain floors, but they are counted in the world%s
tallest building race for one architectural reason2 they%re nice to look at +uilt o#er a former
racetrack, the 6etronas Towers reflect a uni7ue blend of religion and economic prosperity The :1;
billion towers contain more than eight million s7uare feet of shopping and entertainment facilities,
underground parking for 5,.00 cars, a petroleum museum, a symphony hall, a mos7ue, and a multimedia
conference center >ach tower%s floor plan forms an eight-pointed star, a design inspired by
traditional !alaysian 'slamic patterns The 88-story towers, ?oined by a fle)ible skybridge on the
53nd floor, ha#e been described as two "cosmic pillars" spiraling endlessly towards the hea#ens
-ast -acts,
The 6etronas Towers were featured in the blockbuster mo#ie >ntrapment, starring Sean
,onnery and ,atherine @eta-Aones
't took <;,410 tons of steel to build the 6etronas Towers That%s hea#ier than <,000
elephantsB
't takes 40 seconds to tra#el from the basement parking lot to the top of each tower
Together, the towers ha#e <3,000 windows 't takes window washers an entire month to wash
each tower ?ust onceB
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/ital Statistics,
0ocation, 6aris, 8rance
Co%pletion 1ate, 1884
Cost, :1. million
.ei"ht, 48; feet
2aterials, Crought iron
En"ineer3s4, Dusta#e >iffel
The >iffel Tower, built in commemoration of the 8rench (e#olution, was the tallest building in the
world when it was un#eiled at the 6aris Corld%s 8air in 1884 "lthough it has been surpassed in height
by nearly a do-en skyscrapers since then, "le)andre-Dusta#e >iffel%s chocolate-brown, 485-foot
open-lattice wro!"ht5iron tower remains one of the world%s premiere tourist attractions +efore the
Tower%s construction, critics called >iffel%s design an eyesore and predicted that the Tower would
cost too much to build >iffel knew better *is crew assembled the 18,000 pieces of iron in ?ust 31
months, under budget and in time for the fair%s opening day Cith the completion of the Tower, >iffel
earned the nickname "magician of iron" >iffel was one of the first engineers to recogni-e the
importance of wind forces on tall structures *e designed the surface of his Tower to be so minimal
that the wind has #irtually nothing to grab onto "ll pieces of the Tower form an open lattice of light
tr!sses through which the wind can blow The >iffel Tower was one of the first tall structures in the
world to contain passenger ele#ators, and tourists lo#ed them >le#ator ticket sales in the >iffel
Tower regained almost the entire cost of the structure -- in ?ust one yearB
-ast -acts,
The >iffel Tower is repainted e#ery se#en years -- with .0 tons of dark brown paint
Since it was un#eiled at the 6aris Corld%s 8air in 1884, more than 1;/ million people ha#e
#isited the >iffel Tower
The names of /3 8rench scientists and other famous indi#iduals are permanently affi)ed to
the sides of the tower in ;0-centimeter letters ?ust beneath the first platform, with 18
names per side
,ounting from the ground, there are <5/ steps to the first le#el, ;/5 steps to the second
le#el, and 1,/10 steps to the small platform on the top of the tower
En a clear day, it is possible to see 53 miles in e#ery direction from the top of the >iffel
Tower
The >iffel Tower is twice as tall as the Cashington !onument and weighs /0,000 tons lessB
/ital Statistics,
0ocation, 0ew 1ork, 0ew 1ork, US"
Eiffel )ower
$orld )rade Center
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Co%pletion 1ate, 14/3 FTower EneG, 14/< FTower TwoG
Cost, :500 million
.ei"ht, 1,<;8 feet FTower EneG, 1,<;3 feet FTower TwoG
Stories, 110
2aterials, Steel
-acin" 2aterials, "luminum, steel
En"ineer3s4, Skilling, *elle, ,hristiansen H (obertson
,onstructed by the 6ort "uthority of 0ew 1ork and 0ew Aersey in the early 14/0s, the Corld Trade
,enter towers were, for their time, the best known e)amples of tube buildings Tube buildings are
strengthened by closely spaced columns and beams in the outer walls The closely spaced col!%ns and
#ea%s in each tower form a steel tube that, together with an internal core, withstand the tremendous
wind loads that affect buildings this tall "side from withstanding enormous wind loads, the Corld
Trade ,enter towers were also constructed to withstand settlement loads +ecause the towers were
built on si) acres of landfill, the foundation of each tower had to e)tend more than /0 feet below
ground le#el to rest on solid #edrock The two towers were unable to sur#i#e the effects of a direct
hit by two hi?acked commercial ?etliners during terrorist attacks on the morning of September 11,
3001 "lthough they were in fact designed to withstand being struck by an airplane, the resultant
fires weakened the infrastructure of the building, collapsing the upper floors and creating too much
load for the lower floors to bear Shortly after the attack, both towers collapsed 1ou can e)plore a
comprehensi#e site on why the Twin Towers fell, including inter#iews with an engineer, a sur#i#or, an
interacti#e e)planation of how metal beha#es when heated, and much more, at
http2IIwwwpbsorgIwgbhIno#aIwtcI "t the time of their completion in 14/<, the Corld Trade
,enter towers were the two tallest buildings in the world Two years later, the Sears Tower in ,hicago
sei-ed the co#eted title
-ast -acts,
Ene Corld Trade ,enter featured Cindows on the Corld, an elegant restaurant
with a magnificent #iew of 0ew 1ork ,ity Two Corld Trade ,enter featured two
obser#ation decks, both more than 1,<00 feet abo#e the city
>ach tower had 105 passenger ele#ators, 31,800 windows, and roughly an acre of
rentable space on each floor
8rom the obser#ation deck on Two Corld Trade ,enter it was possible to see 5.
miles in e#ery direction
>ach tower swayed appro)imately three feet from true center in strong wind
storms
'f all the glass used in the construction of both towers were melted into a ribbon
of glass, 30 inches wide, it would run ;. miles long
The twin towers were often called "$ego-blocks" by critics
En 8riday, 8ebruary 3;, 144<, at 13218 pm, a bomb e)ploded in the underground
garage of Ene Corld Trade ,enter, creating a 33-foot-wide, fi#e-story-deep
crater Si) people were killed and more than 1,000 were in?ured The towers were
cleaned, repaired, and reopened in less than one month

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