Portfolio Skyscraper

Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a large continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern

sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least 100 metres or 150 metres in height, though
there is no universally accepted definition. Historically, the term first referred to buildings with
between 10 and 20 stories when these types of buildings began to be constructed in the 1880s.
[3]
Skyscrapers may host offices, hotels, residential spaces, and retail spaces.
One common feature of skyscrapers is having a steel framework that supports curtain walls.
These curtain walls either bear on the framework below or are suspended from the framework
above, rather than resting on load-bearing walls of conventional construction. Some early
skyscrapers have a steel frame that enables the construction of load-bearing walls taller than of
those made of reinforced concrete.
Modern skyscrapers' walls are not load-bearing, and most skyscrapers are characterised by
large surface areas of windows made possible by steel frames and curtain walls. However,
skyscrapers can have curtain walls that mimic conventional walls with a small surface area of
windows. Modern skyscrapers often have a tubular structure, and are designed to act like a
hollow cylinder to resist wind, seismic, and other lateral loads. To appear slenderer, allow less wind
exposure and transmit more daylight to the ground, many skyscrapers have a design with setbacks,
which in some cases is also structurally required.
The design and construction of skyscrapers involves creating safe, habitable spaces in very
tall buildings. The buildings must support their weight, resist wind and earthquakes, and protect
occupants from fire. Yet they must also be conveniently accessible, even on the upper floors, and
provide utilities and a comfortable climate for the occupants. The problems posed in skyscraper
design are considered among the most complex encountered given the balances required
between economics, engineering, and construction management.
The concept of a skyscraper is a product of the industrialized age, made possible by
cheap fossil fuel derived energy and industrially refined raw materials such as steel and concrete.
The construction of skyscrapers was enabled by steel frame construction that surpassed brick and
mortar construction starting at the end of the 19th century and finally surpassing it in the 20th
century together with reinforced concrete construction as the price of steel decreased and labour
costs increased.
The steel frames become inefficient and uneconomic for supertall buildings as usable floor
space is reduced for progressively larger supporting columns. Since about 1960, tubular designs
have been used for high rises. This reduces the usage of material (more efficient in economic terms
– Willis Tower uses a third less steel than the Empire State Building) yet allows greater height. It
allows fewer interior columns, and so creates more usable floor space. It further enables buildings to
take on various shapes.
Advances in construction techniques have allowed skyscrapers to narrow in width, while
increasing in height. Some of these new techniques include mass dampers to reduce vibrations and
swaying, and gaps to allow air to pass through, reducing wind shear.
Vocabulary
framework- a supporting structure around which something can be built
curtain walls- is an outer covering of a building in which the outer walls are non-structural,
utilized only to keep the weather out and the occupants in.
load-bearing walls- is a wall that is an active structural element of a building, which holds the

weight of the elements above it, by conducting its weight to a foundation structure below it.
steel frame- is a building technique with a "skeleton frame" of vertical steel columns and

horizontal I-beams
reinforced concrete- is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile

strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile
strength or ductility
tubular structure-is a system where, to resist lateral loads (wind, seismic, impact), a building

is designed to act like a hollow cylinder, cantilevered perpendicular to the ground.
setbacks- is a step-like recession in a wall
fossil fuel-is a fuel formed by natural processes, such as anaerobic decomposition of buried

dead organisms, containing organic molecules originating in ancient photosynthesis that release
energy in combustion.
Verbs
to damper mass - to reduce the amplitude of mechanical vibrations
to sway -a rhythmical movement from side to side.
Summery
A skyscraper is a large continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern
sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least 100 metres. One common feature of
skyscrapers is having a steel framework that supports curtain walls. These curtain walls either bear
on the framework below or are suspended from the framework above, rather than resting on load-
bearing walls of conventional construction. Some early skyscrapers have a steel frame that enables
the construction of load-bearing walls taller than of those made of reinforced concrete. Modern
skyscrapers often have a tubular structure, and are designed to act like a hollow cylinder to resist
wind, seismic, and other lateral loads. To appear slenderer, allow less wind exposure and transmit
more daylight to the ground, many skyscrapers have a design with setbacks, which in some cases is
also structurally required. The design and construction of skyscrapers involves creating safe,
habitable spaces in very tall buildings. The buildings must support their weight, resist wind and
earthquakes, and protect occupants from fire. Yet they must also be conveniently accessible, even
on the upper floors, and provide utilities and a comfortable climate for the occupants. The problems
posed in skyscraper design are considered among the most complex encountered given the
balances required between economics, engineering, and construction management.

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Portfolio Skyscraper

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Skyscraper

A skyscraper is a large continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern

load-bearing walls- is a wall that is an active structural element of a building, which holds the

steel frame- is a building technique with a "skeleton frame" of vertical steel columns and

reinforced concrete- is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile

tubular structure-is a system where, to resist lateral loads (wind, seismic, impact), a building

setbacks- is a step-like recession in a wall

fossil fuel-is a fuel formed by natural processes, such as anaerobic decomposition of buried

to sway -a rhythmical movement from side to side.

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