Abstract
The tall building is the most dominating symbol of the cities and a human-made marvel that defies gravity by reaching to the clouds. It embodies unrelenting human aspirations to build even higher. It conjures a number of valid questions in our minds. The foremost and fundamental question that is often asked: Why tall buildings? This review paper seeks to answer the question by laying out arguments against and for tall buildings. Then, it provides a brief account of the historic and recent developments of tall buildings including their status during the current economic recession. The paper argues that as cities continue to expand horizontally, to safeguard against their reaching an eventual breaking point, the tall building as a building type is a possible solution by way of conquering vertical space through agglomeration and densification. Case studies of some recently built tall buildings are discussed to illustrate the nature of tall building development in their respective cities. The paper attempts to dispel any discernment about tall buildings as mere pieces of art and architecture by emphasizing their truly speculative, technological, sustainable, and evolving nature. It concludes by projecting a vision of tall buildings and their integration into the cities of the 21st century.
Highlights
Because of their enormous scale tall buildings demand extraordinary determination and endurance from many stakeholders including owners, developers, planners, architects, and engineers
In the wake of the collapse of the World Trade Center (WTC) towers in New York in September, 2001 some skeptics took a pessimistic view by calling skyscrapers “death traps” and hastily and unfairly predicted their demise
The WTC catastrophe forced the building community and the public to again raise a fundamental and recurring question: Why tall buildings? Upshots to this are the other related questions: Why are tall buildings inevitable; why are they reshaping the skylines of cities; and why do we need more of them in the 21st century?
Summary
Because of their enormous scale tall buildings demand extraordinary determination and endurance from many stakeholders including owners, developers, planners, architects, and engineers They exert significant demand on infrastructure and transportation systems, and affect the historic fabric while reshaping the city’s skyline. The past decade has proved that these views are untenable at best because we have witnessed an unprecedented construction boom of tall and supertall buildings soaring higher and higher worldwide. This is corroborated by the Council of Tall Buildings and Urban. Habitat (CTBUH), which went even further in observing that the past decade has witnessed the completion of more skyscrapers than any previous decade in history This resurgence of tall buildings is notwithstanding the recent global economic recession. The WTC catastrophe forced the building community and the public to again raise a fundamental and recurring question: Why tall buildings? Upshots to this are the other related questions: Why are tall buildings inevitable; why are they reshaping the skylines of cities; and why do we need more of them in the 21st century?
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