compendium of researched high rise buildings

COMPENDIUM OF RESEARCHED CONTEMPORARY HIGH-RISE BUILDING TYPES VOLUME 2J U L I A N S E F I R O W ___ A N D R E L I N D N E RSUPERVISION: PROFESSOR PETER LAND _ IIT Chicago

INTRODUCTION

These two encyclopedias are researched international compilations of outstand-

ing, innovative contemporary and pioneering projects in wide-span and high-rise

projects. Andre Lindner and Julian Se row from the University of Karlsruhe, Ger-

many prepared the volumes. Both came to the College of Architecture, Illinois In-

stitute of Technology as Research Associates for the Fall Semester, from August

to December 2005, to work under my guidance. The encyclopaedias incorporate

the listings developed by me over past several years , which form the basis of

my own project design development work at IIT. The criteria for project selection

include innovation in the areas of structure, skin/faade, materials and products,

energy concepts and performance and sustainability concepts.

These volumes constitute a unique and needed reference database for other pur-

suing work in these two important areas. Andre and Julian are to be congratu-

lated on this work executed with thoroughness and excellence in a short period

of time.

Professor Peter Land

INTRODUCTION

These two encyclopedias are researched international compilations of outstand-

ing, innovative contemporary and pioneering projects in wide-span and high-rise

projects. Andre Lindner and Julian Se row from the University of Karlsruhe, Ger-

many prepared the volumes. Both came to the College of Architecture, Illinois In-

stitute of Technology as Research Associates for the Fall Semester, from August

to December 2005, to work under my guidance. The encyclopaedias incorporate

the listings developed by me over past several years , which form the basis of

my own project design development work at IIT. The criteria for project selection

include innovation in the areas of structure, skin/faade, materials and products,

energy concepts and performance and sustainability concepts.

These volumes constitute a unique and needed reference database for other pur-

suing work in these two important areas. Andre and Julian are to be congratu-

lated on this work executed with thoroughness and excellence in a short period

of time.

Peter Land

Professor

CONTENTS

01. WIND TOWER _ UK _ Sinisa Stankovic _ 2001

02. SKYRISE TOWER _ New York _ Buckminster Fuller _ 1972

03. TURNING TORSO _ Malm _ Santiago Calatrava _ 2004

04. NEW YORK TOWER _ New York _ Santiago Calatrava _ 2006

05. BUSINESS PROMOTION CENTER _ Duisburg _ Norman Foster & Partners _ 1993

06. CENTURY TOWER _ Tokyo _ Norman Foster & Partners _ 1991

07. COMMERZBANK TOWER _ Frankfurt _ Norman Foster & Partners _ 1997

08. HUMANA COMPETITION TOWER _ Louisville _ Norman Foster & Partners _ 1982

09. HONG KONG BANK _ Hong Kong _ Norman Foster & Partners _ 1985

10.MILLENNIUM TOWER _ Tokyo _ Norman Foster & Partners _ 1989

11. SWISS RE TOWER _ London _ Norman Foster & Partners _ 2003

12. PROJECT 112 _ London _ Future Systems _ 1984

13. GREEN BUILDING _ London _ Future Systems _ 1990

14. ZED TOWER _ London _ Future Systems _ 1995

15. MARINA CITY _ Chicago _ Bertrand Goldberg Associates _ 1962

16. CHONGQUING TOWER _ Chongquing _ Haines Lundberg Waehler _ 1994

17. POST TOWER _ Bonn _ Murphy / Jahn Architects _ 2003

18. HOOKER BUILDING _ New York _ Cannon Design Inc. _ 1980

19. WING TOWER _ Glasgow _ Richard Horden _ 1993

20. UMEDA SKY BUILDING _ Osaka _ Hiroshi Hara Atelier _ 1993

21. RWE HEADQUARTERS _ Essen _ Ingenhoven, Overdiek, Kahlen & Partners _ 1996

22. KAJIMA COMPANY HEADQUARTERS _ Tokyo _ Kajima Corporation _ 1990

23. GLASS SKYSCRAPERS _ Berlin _ Mies Van Der Rohe _ 1921

24. TOUR SANS FINS _ Paris _ Jean Nouvel _ 1989

25. BANK OF CHINA _ Hong Kong _ I. M. Pei & Partners _ 1990

26. PETRONAS TOWERS _ Kuala Lumpur _ Cesar Pelli & Associates _ 1997

27. POTSDAMER PLATZ _ Berlin _ Renzo Piano _ 1999

28. PIRELLI TOWER _ Milan _ Gio Ponti _ 1956

29. FORD FOUNDATION _ New York _ Kevin Roche, John Dinkeloo & Associates _ 1963

30. LLOYDS BUILDING _ London _ Richard Rogers Partnership _ 1986

31. LLOYDS REGISTER OF SHIPPINGS _ London _ Richard Rogers Partnership _ 2000

32. KABUKI - CHO TOWER _ Tokyo _ Richard Rogers Partnership _ 1993

33. DAIWA FINANCE HEADQUARTERS _ London _ Richard Rogers Partnership _ 1999

34. TURBINE TOWER _ Tokyo _ Richard Rogers Partnership _ 1992

35. SINO LAND TOWER _ Hong Kong _ Paul Rudolph _ 1989

CONTENTS

36. GROLLO TOWER _ Melburne _ Harry Seidler & Associates _ 2000

37. AUSTRALIA SQUARE _ Sydney _ Harry Seidler & Associates _ 1967

38. MLC CENTER _ Sydney _ Harry Seidler & Associates _ 1978

39. SOLAR CHIMNEY _ Mildura _ Schlaich, Bergermann & Partner _ 2008

40. LAKE POINT TOWER _ Chicago _ Schipporeit & Heinrich _ 1968

41. ALCOA BUILDING _ San Francisco _ Skidmore, Owings & Merrill _ 1967

42. INLAND STEEL BUILDING _ Chicago _ Skidmore, Owings & Merrill _ 1957

43. JOHN HANCOCK BUILDING _ Chicago _ Skidmore, Owings & Merrill _ 1969

44. NATIONAL COMMERCIAL BANK _ Jeddah _ Skidmore, Owings & Merrill _ 1983

45. ONE MAGNIFICENT MILE _ Chicago _ Skidmore, Owings & Merrill _ 1983

46. SEARS TOWER _ Chicago _ Skidmore, Owings & Merrill _ 1974

47. SEVEN SOUTH DEARBORN _ Chicago _ Skidmore, Owings & Merrill _ 2004

48. SHELL PLAZA _ Houston _ Skidmore, Owings & Merrill _ 1971

49. THREE FIRST NATIONAL PLAZA _ Chicago _ Skidmore, Owings & Merrill _ 1981

50. 500 STOREY TOWER _ Houston _ Robert Sobel _ 1975

51. CITYCORP CENTER _ New York _ Hugh Stubbins & Associates _ 1977

52. TREASURY BUILDING _ Singapore _ Hugh Stubbins & Associates _ 1986

53. WORLD TRADE CENTER _ New York _ Minoru Yamasaki _ 1973

54. MENARA MESINGA TOWER _ Selangor _ Dr. Ken Yeang _ 1993

55. NARA TOWER _ Tokyo _ Dr. Ken Yeang _ 1993

56. 1000 FEET TOWER / 1500 FEET TOWER _ Milwaukee / New York _ Lev Zetlin

57. TAIPEE 101 _ Taipee _ C. Y. Lee _ 2004

58. WFC SHANGHAI _ Shanghai _ Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates _ 2007

59. BURJ DUBAI _ Dubai _ Skidmore, Owings & Merrill _ 2008

60. SEAGRAM BUILDING _ New York _ Mies Van Der Rohe _ 1958

61. EMPIRE STATE BUILDING _ New York _ Shreve, Lamb & Harmon _ 1931

62. FORDHAM SPIRE _ Chicago _ Santiago Calatrava _ 2009

63. ONE-MILE-HIGH SKYSCRAPER _ Illinois _ Frank Lloyd Wright _ 1956

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DESCRIPTION

DATE:

RESEARCH: WIDE - SPAN BUILDINGSJ U L I A N S E F I R O W ___ A N D R E L I N D N E RSUPERVISION: PROFESSOR PETER LAND _ IIT Chicago

ARCHITECT:

Sinisa Stankovic

ENGINEER: BDSP

LOCATION:

United Kingdom

HEIGHT: 200 m (656 ft) STORYS: 48

1. W

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structure would have to be carefully considered, as the turbines could have a dramatic cool-ing effect on the building.

A group of architecture students at Stuttgart University, led by Professor Stefan Behling, has produced a series of experimental designs for tall buildings with built-in wind turbines, us-ing the extra wind power gained by height. The designs include oating towers that exploit the high winds across open water, and linked towers with several wind turbines placed in between. Buildings with integrated wind turbines could generate at least 20 percent of their own energy needs, and perhaps all. They would be more power ef cient than ordinary wind farms or solar powered constructions, say UK researchers.

Curved towers would funnel wind towards the turbines and improve ef ciency, the research-ers say. Preliminary testing on a seven-metre prototype, designed by Mecal Applied Mechan-ics in the Netherlands and erected at the UKs Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, indicates that the design could be twice as ef cient as a stand-alone wind power generator, despite the fact that it does not move to face the wind. Wind speeds in urban areas are typically about two thirds of those in rural areas, so the extra ef ciency is vital, says the team. Wind power is in general more cost effective and takes up less space than solar power. A typical mast genera-tor is around ve times less expensive than photovoltaic solar panels that produce the same power. These panels would also be likely to occupy 10 times as much space.

We are talking about a huge potential, says Sinisa Stankovic of project coordinators BDSP Partnership. Twenty percent should be a minimum. Other experts are impressed. At face value the potential would seem to be enormous, says Marcus Lee, an architect with the Richard Rogers Partnership in London. Integrating turbines into buildings could be a new paradigm.

Wind turbines in rural areas are often criticised for detracting from the landscape and for gen-erating noise pollution. Stankovic says noise insulation around the turbines could dampen sound. Traf c in cities would also drown out most of the noise, he suggests. Architects at the University of Stuttgart have created a prototype design for a two-tower 200-metre tall building with three integrated turbines. Each turbine would need to be 30 metres in diameter to gener-ate a minimum of 20 percent of the energy needed by a building of this size.

Stankovic says it is hard to put a price on the design. Integrating wind turbines into a building would be expensive but still a small fraction of overall building costs, he says. However Lee says the unusual curved shape could prove very costly. Its going to take time, and capitalinvestment is always a problem, he says. Lee adds that the thermal dynamics of the

DATE:

2001

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Hight oor oor: Hight oor thickness:

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ENERGY CONCEPT: integrated wind turbines generate at least 20 percent of their own energy needs; turbine diameter: 30 m (98.4 ft)

MATERIAL: steel, glass

FUNCTION: of ces CONCEPTION: curved towers would funnel wind towards the turbines and improve ef ciency

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DESCRIPTION

DATE:


ARCHITECT:

Buckminter Fuller

ENGINEER:

Buckminter Fuller

LOCATION:

New York, NY, USA

HEIGHT:

STORYS:

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Youve got to be impressed by Buckminster Fuller. Here was a man who could take a basic idea like his geodesic dome and wring every last drop out of it. He was also a great enough genius not to allow anything as petty as reality to get in his way. Take his Harlem River Proj-ect. Anybody can make a plan for brogadignagian towers linked by ridiculous sky bridges, but it takes a man of true inspiration to come up with a design that totally ignores the entire community they glower over.

DATE:

1972

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ARCHITECT:

Santiago Calatrava

ENGINEER:

Santiago Calatrava

LOCATION:

Malm, Sweden

HEIGHT:

190 m (623 ft) STORYS: 54

3. T

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energy through an innovative energy concept provided by Sydkraft. Electricity is available via wind-power parks and heating is supplied by solar cells and underground water reservoirs. The non-hazardous building materials, especially windows and exterior walls, maximize the buildings ef ciency. All kitchens are equipped with a waste disposal unit for grinding organic waste. The waste is transported to a collection tank for decomposition plants that produce biogas, an alternative to cooking gas and vehicle fuel. Recycling is also made convenient for all occupants, as it was also strictly implemented during the construction process where sorting of building materials is often times neglected. Turning Torso was developed in conjunction with housing development organization HSB.

Visible for miles around, this extraordinary, high-rise building, located in the citys Western Harbour, is quickly becoming one of the citys landmarks. The Turn-ing Torso was designed by renowned Spanish architect, Santiago Calatrava. It is based on one of his sculptures which was inspired by the human form in motion.

The entire building turns 90 as it climbs upwards over nine blocks or cubes, each of which consists of ve oors. This very impressive structure contains 54 storeys and reaches a diz-zying height of 190 meters. Of ce facilities have been installed in the rst two cubes and, from the third cube up, 150 apartments totaling 15,000 m are available. As the building increases in height, the wall thickness of the circular core tapers from a maximum 2.00 m in the ground plan to 40 cm at the top.

The framework consists of the core, shaped like a concrete pipe. Inside the core a concrete construction houses lift shafts and staircases. The structural slabs, shaped like slices of a pie that are tted together to form an entire oor, are anchored in the core. Each oor is ro-tated to create the characteristic twist of the building. All formwork elements are suspended on a distribution frame via a crane crab. Slabs and walls are cast in one pour. Through the use of PERI Uniportal slab tables for two standard oors and one intermediate arched oor, pre-determined concrete cycles can easily be maintained. Construction crews need nine days to complete a standard oor which means work is progressing exactly according to plan. The contractors are very satis ed with the formwork technology from Weissenhorn as site manager, Jrgen Holm, commented: We received the best solution from PERI. All work could be carried out on safe and spacious levels. Shuttering and striking as well as climbing functioned extremely well.

The faade is curved aluminium panels, with windows leaning either inwards or outwards, in order to follow the twist of the building. An exoskeleton around the buildings front face is made of tapered white steel tubes. Following the concrete perimeter column, the exoskele-tons single upright is xed to the tower between each module with horizontal and inclined tubes. These tubes reach back to steel anchors embedded in shear walls at the buildings back corners. While the spine column takes perimeter vertical loads, the exoskeleton around it provides wind resistance and dampens the buildings vibrations.

Turning Torso utilizes ecologically minded construction methods and materials, energy sources, and lifestyle options. The tower is supplied with 100% locally produced renewable

DATE:

2004

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Structure concept:

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TURN

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STRUCTURE CONCEPT: central core shaped like a concrete pipe; exoskeleton

ENERGY CONCEPT: electricity is available via wind-power parks, heating is supplied by solar cells; underground water reservoirs

FUNCTION: appartments, commercial area CONCEPTION: consists of nine elements twisting 90 degrees from bottom to top

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Structure concept:

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TURN

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SKIN CONCEPT: curved aluminium panels

MATERIAL: concrete, steel, glass, aluminium

AREA: 27,000 m

VOLUME: 90,000 m

HEIGHT FLOOR - FLOOR: 3.18 m 3.89 m (10.43 ft 12.76 ft)

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ARCHITECT:

Santiago Calatrava

ENGINEER:

Santiago Calatrava

LOCATION:

New York, NY, USA

HEIGHT: 255 m (835 ft)

STORYS: 48

4. N

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or suspended in space, held in place by taut wires. Mr. Calatrava has varied the number of cubes and their arrangement, creating different sculptural expressions out of the same basic elements. Watercolor drawings of the human body have also contributed to the series.

Renowned Spanish architect and engineer Santiago Calatrava is normally associated with public places on a grand scale. The Athens Olympic Sports Complex, the rebuilding of the World Trade Center Transport Hub, plus dozens of the most beautiful buildings in major cities around the world - airports, opera houses, bridges, train stations. Calatrava creates landmarks. Now he has teamed with one of New Yorks leading construction companies to design a visually striking, 835-foot-tall residential tower to be developed on the East River waterfront, just blocks from the World Trade Center site. Calatravas residential design is important - almost certainly he will go down in history as one of the great architects, though his career is still yet young, the opportunity to buy a Calatrava-designed apartment will come at a great price.

Inspired by Mr. Calatravas own works of sculpture and based on his formidable knowledge of structural engineering, the slender, soaring tower will be the architects rst residential project in the U.S. At present, the building is named after its address, 80 South Street Tower.The towers residences, described as Townhouses in the Skyy, will consist of modular, 45-foot cubes. Twelve cubes, each containing four oors, will be cantilevered from, and stacked along, the towers vertical axis. The towers base is envisioned as the new home for a cultural or other institutional user.

The design of 80 South Street Tower is a new idea within this theme. Twelve glazed cubes are cantilevered in ladder-like steps up the buildings slender vertical core. The core and a pair of slim vertical spines stabilize the structure.

The tower will contain 175,000 square feet of public cultural and private living space. As envi-sioned by the architect, each of the townhouse cubes may contain its own individual elevator. Original plans call for two-story living rooms, but Mr. Calatrava said that he would be willing to design interior spaces according to the new residents requirements. Fronting each cubes exterior, an expansive terrace garden will be formed by the roof of the cube directly below it. Mr. Sciame said, This terrace will generate the visual effect of having, literally, a townhouse in the sky. If one wanted even more of a townhouse feeling, the design could incorporate a grand exterior stair leading from the apartments terrace to an entrance at the cubes rst level.

The design of 80 South Street Tower evolved from a theme that Mr. Calatrava began investi-gating some 20 years ago through a series of sculptures, in which marble cubes are stacked

DATE:

2006

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STRUCTURE CONCEPT: vertical core; in plan a slender concrete rectangle

SKIN CONCEPT: double glazed faade

MATERIAL: concrete, steel, glass

FUNCTION: museum, restaurant, residential building CONCEPTION: 12 cubed-shaped glass townhouses attached to a central core

AREA: 16,300 m

VOLUME: 86,000 m

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ARCHITECT:

Norman Foster & Partners

ENGINEER:


LOCATION:

Duisburg, Germany

HEIGHT:

30 m (98 ft)

STORYS: 7 5

. BUS

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The building generates and harvests its own energy. It burns natural gas and, by means of a co-generator, makes its own electricity. The by-product of that process - heat that would normally be wasted - is put through an absorption cooling plant to produce chilled water. This is not only an ecologically responsible solution: the developer makes a signi cant annual pro t from energy management.

In Germany, where the issues of energy and pollution are taken more seriously than elsewhere, the practice has demonstrated the nancial case for going beyond even the standards set by legislation. The Business Promotion Centre demonstrates that sensi-ble energy systems can, in some cases, help to reduce the rst cost of a building; it is a landmark in the quest to revive business and promote social change in the Ruhr area.

The seven-storey building is lens-shaped on plan with a steel roof curving down over its three terraced upper oors. At ground level, the entrance extends into a double-height banking and exhibition hall. The intermediate oors are a combination of cellu-lar of ces and meeting spaces, culminating in the grand internal three-storey terrace.

The outer skin is multi-layered and so ef cient that no heating is required, even in the coldest northern winter. Cooling systems, rather than occupying a huge oor or ceiling void, have been miniaturised and integrated within the fabric of the building. Instead of using chilled air, dramatic drops in temperature can be achieved by moving chilled water through pipes, distributed through a system similar to the ns on a car radiator.

The curved, double-skin faade of the lens-shaped building at the edge of the complex con-sists of clear single glazing situated 20cm in front of the full-height insulating glass faade. The single glazing consists of 1.50 x 3.30 m toughened, 12 mm thick panes suspended in vertical aluminium pro les by means of Planar bolts. The pro les are suspended from the edge of the roof and attached to the intermediate oors for transfer of horizontal loading. The inner faade skin consists of storey-height side-hung windows with thermally broken aluminium pro les and insulating glass units; outside is a 6mm oat glass, inside is an 8 mm laminated glass with low-E coating and the cavity between is lled with argon gas. The U-value of the whole double-skin faade is around 1.4 W/mK. Perforated, computer-controlled aluminium blinds are incorporated into the cavity between the two skins. Air is injected at slightly higher than ambient pressure into the lower part of this cavity and through the effects of warming a natural stack effect results. This air rises and removes heat from the louvre blinds and continues upwards to be expelled into the open air through small openings by the roof edge.

The idea of combining a suspension structure with the double glass facade is adopted. By applying a double glass faade, this building used a displacement ventilation system; The proposed addition to Cowgill Hall achieves the same result of saving energy by reducing cooling load.

DATE:

1993

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STRUCTURE CONCEPT: steel truss

ENERGY CONCEPT: Photovoltaic cells (suns enery into electric power); solar panels (heat water)

SKIN CONCEPT: fully glazed double skin facade (200 mm depth)


FUNCTION: of ces, exhibition area CONCEPTION: lens-shaped building with a steel roof curving down over its three terraced upper oors

AREA: 4,000 m

VOLUME: 17,000 m

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DESCRIPTION

DATE:


ARCHITECT:


ENGINEER:

Ove Arup & Partners

LOCATION:

Tokyo, Japan

HEIGHT:

136 m (446 ft) STORYS: 19 / 21

6. C

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The Century Tower is located near a main arterial road and a railway line running through Tokyos Bunkyo-Ku district, a historical area with primarily low-level buildings. The entire plot was used for the building, whose underground plinth contains a museum, restaurant, sports club and swimming pool. Great importance was attached to giving the Century Tower a unique appearance. Transparency and strati cation are used to evoke the spirit of Japan.

The two towers are formed by two storey blocks and are connected throughout by an impres-sive 71.3-m high central atrium. The mezzanine oor is suspended from the principal load-bearing framework. In their use of the atrium, Foster & Partners have been able to create a completely open of ce building without the restrictions imposed by xed interior installations or supports.

Servicing and sewed areas are distinctly separated. Fire escapes, service lifts and shafts, toilets and air-conditioning are all located in the east section. The elevators for of ce employ-ees and visitors are located in the west faade. The centrally open atrium requires special re prevention measures, and in the atrium itself there is constant excess pressure so the smoke can be extracted in case of re.

The Century Towers faade is dominated by the load-bearing framework. The form is the result of intensive research to develop a structure able to withstand both earthquakes and typhoons. The same requirement applied to the 2-storey-high windows, which, in addition to coping with normal wind loads, must be able to withstand much greater thrusts.

DATE:

1991

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STRUCTURE CONCEPT: principal load-bearing framework

SKIN CONCEPT: dominated by the framework

MATERIAL: glass, reinforced concrete

FUNCTION: of ces, museum, sports club, restaurant, apartments

CONCEPTION: two towers connected by an impressive 71.3 m high central atrium

AREA: 26,600 m

VOLUME: 100,000 m

ARCHITECT:

ENGINEER:

LOCATION:

HEIGHT:

STORYS:

DESCRIPTION

DATE:


ARCHITECT:


ENGINEER:

Ove Arup & Partners

LOCATION:

Frankfurt, Germany

HEIGHT:

259 m (850 ft)

STORYS: 60

7. C

OM

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operating costs are relatively low, since the heating, mechanical ventilation and waste-air extraction as well as the chilled-water ceiling panels need only be switched on to supplement natural sources when weather conditions are adverse. Vertical shafts containing the lifts and emergency staircases provide access to the rest of the building; these shafts, which also contain the installations, are located in the rounded corners of the triangular plan. The building owes its striking appearance to the solid, rounded corners as well as the multi-storey stacks of of ces suspended between them and separated vertically by glazed garden terraces, which were originally intended to be open. The faades technoid appearance is created by a surface composed entirely of glass, steel and aluminium.

The city was in favour of having the building set back from the street, but the architect wanted to show that the tower was rooted to the ground. Finally, as a compromise, the conventional block edge facing Kaiserplatz was left completely sealed. Only a small passage leads to the raised gallery at the foot of the tower whose 29-m shaft can be seen in its full majesty from Zur Grossen Gallusstrasse. The con ned urban space on this side of the street has created a density hitherto unknown to Frankfurt, but no longer so far removed from the Manhattan model of a street lined by skyscrapers.

The plan of the building is triangular, comprising three petals - the of ce oors - and a stem formed by a full-height central atrium. Pairs of vertical masts enclose services and circulation cores in the corners of the plan and support eight-storey Vierendeel beams, which in turn support clear-span of ce oors. Four-storey gardens are set at different levels on each side of the tower, forming a spiral of landscaping around the building, and visually establishing a social focus for village-like of ces clusters. These gardens play an ecological role, bringing daylight and fresh air into the central atrium, which acts as a natural ventilation chimney for the inward-facing of ces. The gardens are also places to relax during refreshment breaks, bringing richness and humanity to the workplace, and from the outside they give the building a sense of transparency and lightness. Depending on their orientation, planting is from one of three regions: North America, Asia or the Mediterranean.

The reinforced principal bearing structure is situated behind the faade. Together with the 8-storey Vierendeel beams, the two reinforced composite columns at each of the rounded corners create a rigid frame. Firmly held in a 3-storey reinforced concrete box in the ground- oor and basement area, it forms a rigid tube. This structure and the girders at the sides of the atrium support the continuous steel beams on which the oors rest. These beams, in turn, are xed to the concrete oors by means of headed studs and pro led sheet to form a reinforced connecting slab at every fourth storey. Being light in comparison with reinforced concrete, the steel structure allows clear-span of ces with exible oor areas.

The building has a double faade with adjustable solar shading. The gardens and the atrium create well-aired room zones around the of ce areas, thus keeping out disturb-ing environmental in uences such as traf c noise, dazzle and overheating due to direct sunlight, as well as excluding the wintry cold, winds and the weather. They thus create a healthy climate within the building and permit natural, individually adjustable ventila-tion and illumination of all the interior rooms. Energy loss is kept to a minimum. The utility

DATE:

1991 - 1997

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STRUCTURE CONCEPT: reinforced principal bearing structure (situated behind faade)

SKIN CONCEPT: surface composed entirely of glass, steel and aluminium.

MATERIAL: reinforced concrete, steel, glass, aluminium

FUNCTION: bank, of ces, restaurant, shops

CONCEPTION: triangular building, comprising three petals

AREA: 86,000 m

VOLUME: 500,000 m

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ENGINEER:


LOCATION:

Louisville, USA

HEIGHT:

STORYS: 32 8

. HUM

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A six-story atrium and an outdoor sculpture garden afford multi-use public space at the base of a 32-story cylindrical tower. Triangulation of the circular shafts perimeter structure trans-mits oor and wind loads to the foundation, minimizing vertical columns. Rectangular service towers are propped against the curved outer wall, and a communication spire is mounted above a rooftop helipad.

Besides displaying an electrographic sky-sign that ashes local news, weather, time, and the Humana logo, this electronic mast would be equipped with satellite antennas, a three-way video link to hospitals, and a local microwave hookup.

DATE:

1982

PLANS

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8. H

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CONCEPTION: cylindrical tower with six-story atrium and outdoor sculpture garden

ARCHITECT:

ENGINEER:

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DESCRIPTION

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ARCHITECT:


ENGINEER:

Ove Arup & Partners

LOCATION:

Hong Kong, China

HEIGHT:

180 m (590 ft)

STORYS: 44

9. H

ONG

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ANK

Fosters magni cent building represents a new aesthetic, which no longer distinguishes between the science of engineering and the art of architecture. The faade design demonstrates how the structure itself can become ornamentation and the structural principle a stylistic device. In designing the building, Foster drew on the principles underlying suspension bridges, which make an internal supporting structure super uous.

The Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank is located on one of the most splendid sites in Hong Kongs business centre and stands in a direct line with the Star Ferry Terminal. Between the bank and the harbour, there is a park and a multi-storey car park. The classical style of the exist-ing law-court building (directly neighbouring the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank) offers the most striking contrast to the bank. The bank tower emphasises the importance of both the Chinese-British territory of Hong Kong and the company itself - the foremost bank in the Far East and Hong Kongs central bank within the international nancial world. As an institution and symbol, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank expresses the con dence placed in the fu-ture of Hong Kong. The ground- oor access area to the bank is interesting in terms of urban context: a public space has been created by allowing the public to traverse the building. From lower level, escalators lead to the banks enormous, internal atrium.

The vertical loads are transferred by a total of eight columns of cantilever transfer structures in combination with hangers. Together with the diagonals and verticals providing reinforce-ment tension, they form the dominant features of the faade. Horizontal loads are absorbed by reinforcing storeys.

The requirement to build in excess of one million square feet in a short timescale suggested a high degree of prefabrication, including factory- nished modules, while the need to build downwards and upwards simultaneously led to the adoption of a suspension structure, with pairs of steel masts arranged in three bays. As a result, the building form is articulated in a stepped pro le of three individual towers, respectively twenty-nine, thirty-six and forty-four storeys high, which create oors of varying width and depth and allow for garden terraces. The mast structure allowed another radical move, pushing the service cores to the perimeter so as to create deep-plan oors around a ten-storey atrium. A mirrored sunscoop re ects sunlight down through the atrium to the oor of a public plaza below a sheltered space that at weekends has become a lively picnic spot. From the plaza, escalators rise up to the main banking hall, which with its glass underbelly was conceived as a shop window for banking.

In designing this building, the aim was to create extensive uni ed areas and thus achieve transparency and maximum exibility. For this reason, nearly all the vertical structural ele-ments, as well as the circulation and service shafts, are arranged on the buildings external skins. The cores are located in the east and west faades. Vertical movement is provided by a combination of express lifts, with central escalators for local circulation. The form of the building re ects the circulation density, which decreases towards the top.

DATE:

1985

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STRUCTURE CONCEPT: bracing system that reinforces the glass curtain wall


FUNCTION: bank, of ces

CONCEPTION: eight columns of cantilever transfer structures

AREA: 99,000 m

VOLUME: 300,000 m

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9. H

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ARCHITECT:

ENGINEER:

LOCATION:

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DESCRIPTION

DATE:


ARCHITECT:


ENGINEER:

Obayashi Corporation

LOCATION:

Tokyo, Japan

HEIGHT:

840 m (2,754 ft)

STORYS: 170

10. M

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NNIU

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Foster was commissioned by the Japanese Obayashi group of companies to carry out a study into the possibilities and effects of a building complex standing alone in the sea, or more speci cally: in Tokyo Bay. The complex was to have its own independent urban statics as a vertical city of 50000 inhabitants.

Fosters design envisaged a causeway and a mole around the base of the tower. They were to establish a visual relationship between the verticality of the skyscraper and the horizontal expanse of the ocean, whilst the sudden change in the character of the natural surroundings would surprise visitors approaching by car, train or boat. Formally, the tower is a free-stand-ing structure without an axial relationship to the mole.

The Millennium Tower is a tube-in-tube, structure consisting of an outer cone and a slender supply core. In trials made with various structural forms to test wind bracing and earthquake resistance, the conical form proved to be the most favourable, especially with regard to build-ing costs and construction time.

Inside the tower, there is a central supply core providing technical services and access, which is either by express lift or slower local lifts. The upper two-sevenths of the tower are open and designed to accommodate solar and wind energy collectors, among other things.

At rst glance, the tower seems very compact. Its conical form attens the lattice of the ex-ternal bearing structure at the lower levels, whilst intensifying it towards the top. This use of dynamic lines adds emphasis to the shape of the building. When approaching the tower, one notices the sinews of the external structure with their alternating closed and open surfaces. The transparent cladding reveals the heterogeneous space within the tower, thus dispelling all notions of an isolated island from the very start.

DATE:

1989

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STRUCTURE CONCEPT: tube-in-tube structure

ENERGY CONCEPT: generating its own energy (solar and wind energy collectors) and processing its own waste


FUNCTION: multifunctional skyscraper

CONCEPTION: conical tower with helical steel cage (woven like a basket)

AREA: 1,040,000 m

VOLUME: 3,700,000 m

PLANS

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ARCHITECT:

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DESCRIPTION

DATE:


ARCHITECT:


ENGINEER:

Ove Arup & Partners

LOCATION:

London, Great Britain

HEIGHT:

180 m (590 ft) STORYS: 41

11. S

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The 1.4-acre property lies in the heart of Londons insurance district. The site bene ts from a great choice of public transport links, many of the train connections being only a short distance on foot. Apart from the fact that only the badly damaged remains for the Baltic Ex-change once stood on the site, a number of other considerations led to the decision to build a skyscraper just here. The location is exempt from height restrictions imposed by the city administration in view of the strategic views corridors of St. Pauls Heights and the Monument view corridors. Furthermore, it is situated within the perimeter for high buildings around Tower 42, the International Finance Centre, and does not have to observe any of the regulations of a conservation area.

Finally, there are no restrictions due to underground railway lines. The building itself is a free-standing tower standing in an open space bordered by a surrounding group of buildings. The location is upgraded by public squares and meeting places.

The star-shaped core is a standard reinforced concrete structure transferring the inner loads and providing horizontal stiffening. An interesting feature is the diagonally braced structure along the curved faade skin, which transfers the external forces and absorbs wind loads.

A corridor situated within the core provides access to the of ce areas on three sides. A total of sixteen lift units, as well as various service lifts and two re-escape staircases, link the forty storeys to one another. By rotating each successive oor, voids at the edge of each oor plate form a series of spiral atria. The aerodynamic form thus created has the advantage of generating natural ventilation, thanks to the immense difference in pressure arising within the building. The slats in the exterior cladding provide the rooms with additional air-conditioning. For the greater part of the year, the arti cial cooling and ventilation systems can be switched off. On each oor, the atriums create a very comfortable micro-environment as well as vertical spatial continuity.

The external glazed skin of the building not only allows daylight to enter the building, but also provides for natural ventilation and acts as an acoustic buffer. Diagonal bands, triangular in shape, lend the Swiss Re Tower a unique appearance. According to Norman Foster, it is a proposal which is radical-socially, technically, architecturally and spatially.

DATE:

2003

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STRUCTURE CONCEPT: reinforced concrete structure (star-shaped core)

ENERGY CONCEPT: aerodynamic, glazed shape minimizes wind loads and maximizes natural light and ventilation, reducing the buildings energy consumption to 50 percent of that of a traditional large of ce building.

FUNCTION: of ces

CONCEPTION: free-standing tower with star-shaped core

AREA: 76,400 m

VOLUME: 200,000 m

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SKIN CONCEPT: diagonally braced structure along the curved faade skin; external glazed skin (triangular shaped)


ARCHITECT:

ENGINEER:

LOCATION:

HEIGHT:

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DESCRIPTION

DATE:


ARCHITECT:

Future Systems

ENGINEER:

BDSP

LOCATION:


HEIGHT:

650 m (2,133 ft) STORYS: 150

12. P

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This 150-story mega-highrise-project containing 672 apartments and 285.000 m of ce space was developed with the advancement of Graham Foundation.

This highrise project is supposed to point out the necassary benchmark in urbanistic and ar-chitectural planning as a response to the UN-prognosis concerning the explosive expansion rate of the urban population in the 21st century.

Coexistence consists of seven air-conditioned islands with a service core and an exoteric geodetical structure stacked on top of each other. Each island contains living space, work-ing areas and a south orientated skypark, you can cover with transparent elements. Up to 10,000 people would share such a coexistence-type during the day.

DATE:

1984

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Material:

Structure concept:

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Floorspan: Leasspan: 12

. PRO

JECT

112

FUNCTION: of ces, apartments

CONCEPTION: seven islands stacked on a central service core

AREA: 285,000 m

ARCHITECT:

ENGINEER:

LOCATION:

HEIGHT:

STORYS:

DESCRIPTION

DATE:


ARCHITECT:

Future Systems

ENGINEER:

Ove Arup & Partners

LOCATION:


HEIGHT:

59 m (194 ft) STORYS: 10

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The Green Building research project represents one of the rst attempts to reduce arti cial air conditioning and to replace it with natural measures. The design was developed in 1990 by Future Systems, Jan Kaplicky and Amanda Levete, together with the environmental engi-neers Tom Baker, Andy Sedgwick and Mike Beaven (Ove Arup and Partners, London). The support frame consists of a three-legged structure like a tripod, from which the oor slabs are suspended; in the core of the building is a triangular atrium. Although the double skin faade also offers protection from street noise and vehicle exhaust fumes, it was primarily developed to enable natural ventilation.

The egg-shaped form of the building arose from tests in a wind tunnel, and the air ows in the faade cavity and in the atrium were investigated using the CFD method. Air rises in the atri-um as it warms through radiation from the of ces, and as it rises fresh air is drawn in through vents on the lower part of the building. At the same time warmed air also rises in the faade cavity and escapes through openings at the top of the building. As a result negative pressure is caused in the faade cavity, and when the of ce windows are opened the air is drawn in from the atrium this providing natural ventilation in the of ces. These air ows are additionally supported by low pressure at the top of the building. In colder seasons the outside air drawn in at the bottom is preheated using the thermal energy reclaimed from the exhaust air.

Adjustable light-shelves in the inner faade and specially shaped ceiling component ensure natural lighting into the depths of the of ces. Additional daylight reaches the inside of the building via the atrium. Solar control and glare protection can be regulated by means of indi-vidually adjustable louvres. Floor slabs which act as thermal stores are intended to take up excess heat in the daytime and to be cooled down again at night through natural ventilation. Although the design is experimental in character, and its extremely organic for raises basic questions in architecture as well as town planning, it is nevertheless a model of what can be done in integrated planning of low-energy buildings.

This design was in uential in the development of many interesting solutions with single and multiple-skin faades, with the aim of creating an environmentally-friendly architecture.

DATE:

1990

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Material:

Structure concept:

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STRUCTURE CONCEPT: tripod mega-structure, props and ties support external and internal skin

ENERGY CONCEPT: natural ventilation, streamlined form, daylight-mirrors,...

SKIN CONCEPT: double-skin faade (optimizes natural ventilation)

MATERIAL: steel ( oors), glass

FUNCTION: of ces

CONCEPTION: building on a tripod mega-structure

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ARCHITECT:

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LOCATION:

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DESCRIPTION

DATE:


ARCHITECT:

Future Systems

ENGINEER:

BDSP

LOCATION:


HEIGHT:

107 m (351 ft)

STORYS: 26

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Project Zed, London is one of three speculative mixed-used developments designed by Fu-ture Systems in collaboration with the Martin Centre at Cambridge University and a team of engineering consultants. The three projects were all developed with funding from the Euro-pean Commission. The ambition here is to make a building containing of ces, apartments and shops which is both energy-ef cient and architecturally inspiring.

On a site just off Tottenham Court Road, the team proposed an elegant 26-storey building with retail spaces on the lower oors, of ces above and three oors of apartments and a swimming pool at the top. The building is set in a park, so we went high to give as much public space at the bottom as possible, explains Kaplicky.

Cut through the centre of the steel-framed building is a giant turbine which generates free electricity by harnessing the power of the wind. Photovoltaic cells located in the louvers gen-erate power from the sun. The idea is that the building should be almost entirely self-suf cient in terms of energy. The curved faade, composed of triangulated glass panels, is designed to reduce the impact of the wind at the edges and to drive it through the turbine at the centre.

Inside the building the butter y-shaped plan allows for unusual and exhilarating of ce space which are naturally ventilated and daylit on each side. Services such as lifts and WCs are located along the walls facing the turbine. The apartments at the top of the building vary in size, to take advantage of views out with living areas placed along the glazed faades and bathrooms contained in prefabricated pods at the rear.

DATE:

1995

PLANS

Material:

Structure concept:

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. ZED

TO

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STRUCTURE CONCEPT: steel frame structure

ENERGY CONCEPT: giant turbine which generates free electricity by harnessing the power of the wind, photovoltaic cells

SKIN CONCEPT: curved faade, composed of triangulated glass panels


FUNCTION: of ces, residential

CONCEPTION: energy-ef cient high-rise with 2 vertical generators

AREA: 27,000 m

VOLUME: 100,000 m

ARCHITECT:

ENGINEER:

LOCATION:

HEIGHT:

STORYS:

DESCRIPTION

DATE:


ARCHITECT:

Bertrand Goldberg Associates

ENGINEER:

Perrone Fischer

LOCATION:

Chicago, IL, USA

HEIGHT:

179 m (588 ft)

STORYS: 65

15. M

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concrete structure dominates the entire complex and, at rst glance, makes the towers appear un nished, as if awaiting completion. This impression is reinforced by the 20-storey-high ramp construction of the parking area. Nevertheless, with their external form reduced to a basic structural principle, the two towers reveal a highly radical approach in skyscraper construction. In 1965, the building was awarded a silver medal by the Architectural League of New York.

Marina City stands directly next to the Chicago River. It consists of a sunken base element for public use providing access to the river and the boat mooring facilities - two residential tow-ers and an of ce building, which forms the spatial boundary of the complex. The two circular towers are slightly offset. In this way, they avoid using the strict grid pattern and simultane-ously allow an open view to the river. Marina City was initially the rst mixed-use center city complex in the United States to include residential apartments. With 896 apartments it is also the most densely inhabited building complex in Chicago, yet despite its density it does not lose any of its light and translucent character. The exterior form is to be interpreted as Goldbergs critique of the prevalent contemporary block skyscraper. The organic form he has chosen represents a revolt against an era of static space, straight-lined contours, and a vi-sion of humankind understood in terms of the machine.

The liberating form of the 65-storey twin corn cobs is borne by homogeneous reinforced steel structures. The tube-like lift shaft - the inner spine of the building - allows maximum use of the structural qualities of reinforced concrete. From the supports around the inner core, la-mella-shaped segmental arches stretch to the outer supports of the structure. Such a circular skeleton structure, ensuring better streamlining, allows considerable savings on materials. Thus, each tower cost 10% less than it would have done using a standard construction.

In this radially structured building, the tube-shaped core zone lies in the centre of the circular ground plan. The core contains ve lifts and an emergency stairwell. The exits needed to be positioned differently on each storey to stabilise the building, thus making two alternately used core oor plans necessary.

The towers have been designed as a central core which contains the elevator shafts, the stairways, all of the utilities, and out from which radiate all of the apartments. The central core is 35 in diameter. The overall is approximately 105 in diameter.

The central core is a structural concrete cylinder. It resists the wind and it helps support the building. The shape of the core means that the buildings have only 30% of the wind resis-tance that they would otherwise have with the same dimension, but in a rectilinear form.

The semicircular balcony elements de ne the exterior border of the faade and make the interior structure recognisable from outside. The glass inner skin serves as a climatic shield, although transparency is considerably restricted by some of the installations. The reinforced

DATE:

1962

PLANS

Material:

Structure concept:

Skin concept:

Energy concept:

Function:



. MAR

INA

CITY

STRUCTURE CONCEPT: reinforced concrete structure with central core

MATERIAL: reinforced concrete, glass

FUNCTION: of ces, residential

CONCEPTION: two circular concrete towers with organic form

AREA: 17 000 m commercial of ces 900 housing units

VOLUME: 350,000 m

ARCHITECT:

ENGINEER:

LOCATION:

HEIGHT:

STORYS:

DESCRIPTION

DATE:


ARCHITECT: Haines Lundberg Waehler

ENGINEER:

Haines Lundberg Waehler

LOCATION:

Chongquing, China

HEIGHT:

516 m (1,693 ft)

STORYS: 114

16. C

HONG

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DATE:

1994

PLANS

Material:

Structure concept:

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Function:



16. C

HONG

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FUNCTION: of ces

ARCHITECT:

ENGINEER:

LOCATION:

HEIGHT:

STORYS:

DESCRIPTION

DATE:


ARCHITECT:

Murphy / Jahn Architects Helmut Jahn

ENGINEER:

Werner Sobek Engineers

LOCATION:

Bonn, Germany

HEIGHT:

160 m (525 ft) STORYS: 44

17. P

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enabling natural ventilation, especially in the spring and fall. The glass outer shell protects from rain, wind and noise and allows for placement of the sunshades. Glass from oor to ceiling optimizes daylight. The concrete structure has an integral hydronic heating and cooling system, which takes advantage of the low energy characteristics of water and the thermal storage capacity of concrete. If comfortable temperatures cannot be achieved at extreme temperatures in the summer or winter, a displacement system fed by a convector, which cools or heats the supply air along the faade, mechanically assists in the generation of a comfortable environment.

The design for the headquarters of the German Post Of ce in Bonn is based on an inter-national competition which was won by architects Murphy/Jahn of Chicago. This 160 meter high, forty oor tower with base building stands at the edge of the city adjacent to the Rhein River. Its base completes the upper terrace of a river park. A series of grand ramps and stairs connect to the lower terrace near the Rhine.

The tower, which in plan view is approx. 85 metres long by 40 metres wide, consists of two segments of a circle offset against each other; with its 44 stories it reaches a height of 160 metres. Each circle segment has two concrete stiffening cores with a wall thickness of up to 80 centimetres, and 19 steel composite pivoted columns of diameters varying between 762 and 406 mm, depending on the altitude at which they are installed. The grade of concrete used for the cores varies over the height of the tower. The concrete cores are linked at ve levels by means of diagonal stiffening crosses. Further stiffening is provided halfway up the building, on the technical installations level, by additional diagonal outriggers linking the cores with the external support columns.

Within the of ce areas the reinforced concrete ceilings are of coffered design and have a total height of 30 centimetres. They are supported by a suspender beam running between the columns. The two halves of the building are linked at four levels by winter gardens, and at each level by glass- oored corridors. The roof area of the tower is enclosed by a 11 metre high glass faade which contains the roof garden and the penthouse, the latter being clad in a steel grid of double curvature.

The tower is enveloped by means of a second-skin faade which allows windows to be opened even on the upper levels and forms an integral part of the energy concept of the building which is based on minimal energy inputs. Part of this concept is also the water cool-ing built into the reinforced concrete ceilings. The foot of the tower is formed by the base building which houses a conference centre.

The split, shifted oval tower is oriented to the Rhine and the city, facilitating views from the city and minimizing negative wind effects through its aerodynamic shape.In plan the split oval wedges are separated by a 7.40 m wide space. The connecting glass oors at 9-story intervals form skygardens, which serve as communication oors and elevator crossovers. The glass elevators of the low and high zones run in the center of the skygarden and providing views to the outside and aiding orientation. The tower has a twin-shell faade,

DATE:

1997 - 2003

PLANS

Material:

Structure concept:

Skin concept:

Energy concept:

Function:



. PO

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STRUCTURE CONCEPT: steel grid of double curvature

ENERGY CONCEPT: twin-shell faade, enabling natural ventilation

SKIN CONCEPT: twin-shell glass faade

MATERIAL: reinforced concrete, steel, glass

FUNCTION: of ces

CONCEPTION: split, shifted oval tower minimizing negative wind effects through its aerodynamic shape

AREA: 65,000 m

VOLUME: 236,000 m

ARCHITECT:

ENGINEER:

LOCATION:

HEIGHT:

STORYS:

DESCRIPTION

DATE:


ARCHITECT:

Cannon Design Inc., Principal, Mark R. Mendell

ENGINEER:

Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum

LOCATION: New York, NY, USA

HEIGHT:

34 m (112 ft)

STORYS: 9

18. H

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be occupied by research facilities with hours that extended into the evening as well. According to the architects, the original design of the wall system cut the mechanical systems requirements in half, thereby offsetting the cost of the second skin. However, with the changes in occupational requirements, the cooling loads increased signi cantly and the gas- red boilers that were installed were never required to heat the building, not even during extreme winter weather. Originally the louvers were to be painted with a highly re ective coating to minimize solar heat gain and allow for sunlight to be refracted deeper into the space. However, the glare created from the coating was blinding motorists as they crossed the bridge, so the louvers had to be repainted with a matte white nish.

The Occidental Chemical Center (or Hooker Building) in Niagara Falls, New York was the rst building in North America to be constructed with a Double-Skin Faade. The Hooker Building is touted as being one of the most energy ef cient commercial buildings in the world

In order to best exploit the views of the Gorge offered by the North, West and South sides of the building, Cannon Design Inc. elected for oor to ceiling glazing on this otherwise con-ventional nine-storey cube with central service core surrounded by of ce and retail space. In order to meet the other design criteria of the client, the architects decided to explore the use of a Buffer Faade with an undivided air space continuous over the entire building with motor-ized dampers for air intake at grade and vents at the top. The building is comprised of two different air-handling systems: one for the faade and the second for the conditioning of the interior spaces. Due to the energy conscious mindset at the time, this system was selected because it does not allow for the occupants to have direct access or control over natural ventilation (hence less variable incoming cold air to heat, the less energy spent heating it), but instead it is controlled as part of the air intake of the ambient HVAC system. This design also allows the warm air within the wall cavity to temper the outside air on the exterior skin and act as a buffer for the interior layer of glass.

The building envelope is comprised of two layers of green-tinted insulating glass that allow for 80% solar penetration as the exterior skin, a 1200mm air space containing hollow metal, air-foil shaped, white louvers - spanning fteen feet and vertically spaced eight inches a part - with service grilles (originally covered with beige carpeting to give the appearance that the oor continued from within the of ces through to the exterior glass), and one layer of clear glass as the interior skin. As a means of being economical, the architects made sure that all the components of the faade - save the control and monitoring equipment - were off the shelf. The louvers in the air cavity are controlled by an intelligent light sensor system that responds according to weather, time of day and season. The sensors are placed in pairs to discount mullion shadows and a delay response cancels the effect of passing clouds. The faade is separated into four different zones according to the North, South, East and West exposures so that each of the four walls may respond according to the amount of daylight being admitted according to the particular time of day. The louvers are capable of fully closing as means of providing additional insulation during the winter months.

The occupational needs of the building changed as construction neared completion. In-stead of the anticipated cooling load for day time of ce workers, the building was now to

DATE:

1980

PLANS

Material:

Structure concept:

Skin concept:

Energy concept:

Function:



18. H

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STRUCTURE CONCEPT: steel frame, (central core, suspended ceilings)

ENERGY CONCEPT: solar cells louvers, natural ventilation, two different air-handling systems, double-skin buffer faade

SKIN CONCEPT: buffer faade with undivided, full height air space


FUNCTION: of ces, commercial space

CONCEPTION: transparent energy ef cient commercial building

AREA: 20,000 m

VOLUME: 76,000 m

ARCHITECT:

ENGINEER:

LOCATION:

HEIGHT:

STORYS:

DESCRIPTION

DATE:


ARCHITECT:

Richard Horden

ENGINEER:

Peter Heppel

LOCATION:

Glasgow, Scotland

HEIGHT:

125 m (409 ft) STORYS: 1 cabin (capacity: 40 people)

19. W

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At 100m, the Glasgow Science Centre Tower is the tallest free-standing structure in Scotland, and the worlds rst tower to rotate through 360 degrees in response to the wind. Visitors ride by lift to a cabin at the top of the tower, affording spectacular views. With a width to height ratio of 1:13, the tower is 60% more slender than conventional structures.

With such a slender tower aerodynamic effects could cause strong movements at the top which would be very uncomfortable for visitors. Careful aerodynamic design was critical in order to transform the aesthetically pleasing architectural design into structural reality. The tower is effectively a vertically mounted wing, which is turned into wind to reduce its drag. The design needed to achieve a steady wake when oriented into wind.

Hence the challenge facing Peter Heppel and architect Richard Horden Associates, working in partnership with the project engineer Buro Happold, became clear. They needed to design aerofoil pro les for the tower which would meet the structural constraints whilst providing at-tached ow, low drag and a small lift curve slope to minimise transverse buffeting.

Flow Solutions NEWPAN2D aerofoil design software, and its forerunner known as ADAP, was used to provide solutions to these requirements. The pro les of the various components were developed using the two-dimensional panel-method program in order to design pro les with minimal ow separation at low incidence.

The signi cant elements involved are the size and shape of the stair tower and the pro les of the outriggers. The stair enclosure chord was made as short as possible in order to reduce the overall lift-incidence slope. The chord, in isolation, would be too thick to allow unsepa-rated ow. However, by using two supplementary foils it was possible to change the recovery pro le on the tower. These outriggers generate a lift coef cient of about 1.3 inwards, which reduces the base pressure on the stair enclosure and signi cantly retards separation. The outriggers have thick, highly cambered pro les, and their thickness is determined by struc-tural requirements. The mean line was chosen to give a lift coef cient of about 0.9 and an external pro le that met the architectural requirements.

About 50 forms and con gurations were evaluated. Detailed design was performed using the inverse design mode of ADAP/NEWPAN2D, in which the program calculates the shape required to achieve a user-speci ed pressure distribution. The result was a design achieving attached ow on a 48% thick aerofoil.

DATE:

1993

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Material:

Structure concept:

Skin concept:

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. WIN

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STRUCTURE CONCEPT: steel structural frame, staircase and turntable; ush rivetted aluminium cladding to wing leading edge and staircase

SKIN CONCEPT: cabin: steel base frame with aluminium and glass cladding

MATERIAL: steel, aluminium

FUNCTION: look-out

CONCEPTION: free-standing tower (cabine in the height of 100 m) to rotate through 360 degrees in response to the wind;

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Material:

Structure concept:

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Function:



. WIN

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ARCHITECT:

ENGINEER:

LOCATION:

HEIGHT:

STORYS:

DESCRIPTION

DATE:


ARCHITECT:

Hiroshi Hara & Atelier

ENGINEER:

Toshihiko Kimura

LOCATION:

Osaka, Japan

HEIGHT:

173 m (568 ft)

STORYS: 40

20. U

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The building signals the dawn of a new era of skyscraper architecture, a style born of progress that unites building technologies and the conceptual construction of multifunctional high-rise buildings.

The Umeda Sky Building can be considered a Japanese-style attempt to take up the theme of la Grande Arche in La Defense, Paris. This 40-storey bridge-like building functions as a kind of entrance to, and symbol for, the new Umeda District in Osaka. However, such a com-parison is probably somewhat super cial, since the two buildings not only differ in size, but are also located in totally contrasting urban situations. Hiroshi Haras building is, above all else, a prototype in a city of verticals, in which all skyscrapers are linked by escalators, lifts, passages, terraces and roof gardens within a network of three-dimensional public spaces. With his solution, which is reminiscent of a space odyssey the architect has thematised the problem of adding yet another urban structure to a location already crowded with buildings. Without the painstaking development of the materials, the interior spaces, the connections between interior and exterior, and the passages, the building would have remained noth-ing more than a spectacle. That it turned out otherwise is also the merit of an architectural competition, the selection of this rather unusual project, and the coherent realisation of the architectural design. In addition, the developer commissioned the creation of public areas such as an esplanade, gardens, fountains and ornamental lakes, sculptures and, within the building itself, an art centre, restaurants and a shopping gallery.

The building has a conventional load-bearing structure, with the vertical load-transfer in the external areas and reinforcing core areas on the interior. The bridges are steel frame struc-tures.

Vertical access, such as stairs and lifts, has been arranged inside the two towers, making it possible to construct the of ce sections as clear-span, open areas within the glazed outer walls. A free-standing lift tower allows passengers to experience the full height of the inter-space.

The various, almost allegorical, elements that comprise Mid-Air-City (the space between the individual skyscrapers) are re ected endlessly in the glazed curtain-wall faade. In the re ection of the various materials - glass, aluminium and concrete - the tower walls create illusions of a densely constructed imaginary city that blends with the re ections of the real city all around. At night, the oating crater conjures up the image of a space-ship about to land above the immense void below.

DATE:

1993

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STRUCTURE CONCEPT: conventional load-bearing structure (vertical load- transfer in external areas, reinforcing core areas on interior), the bridges are steel frame structures.

SKIN CONCEPT: re ective glazed curtain-wall faade

MATERIAL: steel-framed reinforced concrete, glass

FUNCTION: of ces, multiple use

CONCEPTION: 40-storey bridge-like building

AREA: 147,400 m

VOLUME: 600,000 m

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ARCHITECT:

Ingenhoven, Overdiek, Kahlen & Partners

ENGINEER:

Ingenhoven, Overdiek, Kahlen & Partners

LOCATION:

Essen, Germany

HEIGHT:

127 m (416 ft)

STORYS: 30

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A thermal- ue curtain wall in which the buffer zone created between two planes of glazing offers an insulating layer in all seasons and permits control of light and air by individuals and by a building-management system. In winter, the buffer zone captures solar heat, which can be admitted to of ces by sliding open the inner glass wall. In summer, it exhausts excess heat from internal loads and the sun.

The RWE high-rise is situated free behind the realigned boundaries of the block edge. Through punctual density the inner area is kept free to the bene t of a generously laid out park space. The 127 metres high-rise is the rst ecologically orientated building with a double skin overall glass faade for natural ventilation of of ce areas. The building is classi ed as the rst German ecologically orientated high-rise.

The design of the RWE faade system was in uenced by the clients desire for optimum use of daylight, natural ventilation, and solar protection. All these demands resulted in a transpar-ent interactive faade system which encompasses the entire building. The exterior layer of the double-skin faade is 10-mm extra-white glass. The interior layer consists of full-height, double-pane glass doors that can be opened 13.5 cm wide by the occupants (and wider for maintenance). The 50-cm wide interstitial space is one-storey (3.59 m) high and one module (1.97 m) wide. Outside air admitted through the 15 cm high ventilation slit at the base of one module is then ventilated to the exterior out the top of the adjacent module. Retractable vene-tian blinds are positioned just outside the face of the sliding glass doors within the interstitial space. An anti-glare screen is positioned on the interior.

Daylight, direct solar and glare can be controlled with blinds and an interior anti-glare screen. The extra air cavity acts as a thermal buffer, decreasing the rate of heat loss between outside and inside. Fresh air is supplied through the opening at the bottom and warm air is exhausted through the opening at the top of the faade. During extreme cold conditions, the windows are closed. Warm air is returned to the central plant via risers for heat recovery in the winter. The faade provides good heat insulation in the winter and with the combination of slatted blinds, effective solar protection in the summer.

With this multi-storied building an innovative faade construction was developed, which does not eliminate some problems of this building form, but defused. Beside the usual glass faade with windows there is an additional, outside front skin, which consists only of a thin glass lay-er. Thereby white glass the mentioned which does not re ect, acts and de-materialize works. This double-membranous construction has several advantages: On the one hand one can open the windows (in this case there is sliding windows). On the other hand air between the two fronts, which can be supplied or taken to the interiors, circulates; this warms up or cools down, so that at relatively small expenditure an approximately natural air conditioning system develops, which is also individually adjustable by the windows which can be opened.

DATE:

1994 - 1996

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STRUCTURE CONCEPT: steel frame construction

ENERGY CONCEPT: natural ventilation, (optimal use of daylight), twin shell faade

SKIN CONCEPT: oor-high twin-shell glass faade


FUNCTION: of ces

CONCEPTION: cylindrical of ce tower

AREA: 35,000 m

VOLUME: 148,000 m

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ARCHITECT:

Kajima Corporation

ENGINEER:

Kajima Corporation

LOCATION:

Tokyo

HEIGHT:

STORYS: 200

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DATE:

1990

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ARCHITECT:

Mies van der Rohe

ENGINEER:

Mies van der Rohe

LOCATION:

Berlin, Germany

HEIGHT:

STORYS: 21 / 26

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The years 1918 to 1924 produced little built architecture in Germany projects, experimenta-tion, new publications and associations generated endless discussion. The city of Berlin be-came the most feverishly active centre of an and culture in Europe. German Expressionism gained impetus. reached its peak and died away between 1919 and 1923.

Mies van der Rohe would appear to have been isolated from the new developments in archi-tecture until late 1921. His architecture remained neoclassical or vernacular in concept until his rst glass skyscraper project.

Of ce Building (1921)

The Glass Of ce Building was Mies entry in the Friedrichstrasse Competition of early 1922. It was a well-supported competition and all the entries were exhibited in Berlin. Mies later complained that no one had paid any attention to his offering and it received no award. In 1968 he said: Because I was using glass. I was anxious to avoid enormous dead surfaces re ecting too much light, so I broke the faades a little in plan so that light could fall on them at different angles: like crystal, like cur-crystal. That was for a competition - it was exhibited in Berlin in the old town hall. They pushed my design into a dark corner, probably because they thought it was a joke.

Glass Skyscraper (1922)

The second glass skyscraper Mies designed was for an imaginary or ideal site. According to Mies, its faceted plan was by no means arbitrary - it was a second experiment to test the re ective quality of glass curtain walls. Mies said: `7 tried to work with small areas of glass and adjusted my strips of glass to the light and then pushed them into the plasticine planes of the oors That gave me the curve . . . I had no expressionist intention. I wanted to show the skeleton and I thought that the best way would be simply to put a glass skin on.

Mies asked a sculptor friend to model some typical Berlin houses to the scale of his sky-scraper model so that his building could be shown in context.

DATE:

1919 - 1921

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steel, glass FUNCTION: of ces

CONCEPTION: glass high-rise building with organig base

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ARCHITECT:

Jean Nouvel & Partners

ENGINEER:

Ove Arup & Partners

LOCATION:

Paris, France

HEIGHT:

420 m (1,377 ft) STORYS: 100

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The triangular plot on which the Tour sans Fin is to be erected is surrounded by three traf- c axes. It is located in the La Defence area between La Grande Arche de la Defense and le C.N.I.T. With its simple immateriality, the tower design represents the antithesis of the geometrical style of most of the buildings surrounding it. On the one hand, Nouvel has the foundation disappear, so that the tower seems to rise up out of a crater; on the other hand, the structure appears to become lighter and lighter as it ascends and even to dissolve into nothing at the top. The Tour sans Fin faces the Eiffel Tower as one expression of a vertical conception, whilst refusing to embody anything other than its function as receptacle for of- ces of various kinds.

As the tower, with a diameter of 43 m, does not allow for any core structure due to the horizontal loads, the load-bearing structure has been shifted to the periphery. The base is constructed of normal concrete. The glazed area only accounts for 50% of the surface on the lowest storeys. Towards the top of the building, the rung-structure becomes lighter, before nally giving way to a ne metal structure on the top oors. In order to reduce the span, a ring of supports has been placed in the centre of the radial plan. On the tr

compendium of researched high rise buildings

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