Tall Buildings

(history, design & case study)

University of Cambridge
Year 2 Architecture
by Simon Smith

References
www.ctbuh.org
Council for Tall Buildings & Urban Habitat

Tall buildings

Over 50% of office accommodation in HK,NY and Tokyo is high rise. In

London this figure is less than 10%.

Over 50% of worlds population now live in cities.

In 1852 Elisha Otis displayed the elevator at Crystal Palace Exhibition.

Some tall buildings incorporate damping systems to reduce effects of wind

and earthquake loading.

Tall buildings tend to be less efficient in terms of materials and can be high
energy consumers.

Useable space is also reduced with a net to gross at 70% instead of 80%+
for lower rise buildings (but plot density is increased).

Relaxation of planning laws have allowed historic cities to develop their high
rise profile (ie Canary Wharf, Potsdamer Platz, La Defense).

History
1850s Otis lifts first
installed

1920s Welding of steel, first use

of wind tunnel testing of buildings
Start of great depression

1880s Brooklyn Bridge, Statue

of Liberty, Eiffel Tower, first use
of wind bracing

1900 First design

codes introduced

Major build cycles

1920s to 1930s
1970s
1990s to present

Major technology events

US
US
Asia,
Europe
& ME

1850s
1910s
1960s
1970s
1970s

first lifts (Otis)

first curtain walling
NY planning laws on density
first sky lobby
first tuned mass dampers

History

Tall buildings = recession?

www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/architecture/shadows-on-the-horizon-the-rise-and-rise-of-skyscrapers-6288162.html

What makes a tall building?

Commerce

Cost/demand for land

Identity

Materials
Technology

Lift strategy
Evacuation strategy
Damping

Ground conditions
Foundation
engineering

Regulation
1916 New York

Tower reduced to 25% of site area to

allow natural light to infiltrate to street
then no height restriction.
Sparked by 1915 development of 37
storey Equitable Building with covered
entire footprint and overshadowed a
neighbourhood.

1961 New York

Floor area ratio (FAR) of 15 proposed for

dense commercial areas.
20% bonus created for buildings that
created a plaza (ie Seagram Building).

Other

La Defense in Paris (1950s)

Canary Wharf in London (1990s)
Potsdamer Platz in Berlin (1990s)

Identity
Corporation

NatWest Tower (Tower 42),

London
Woolworth Building, New York
Chrysler Building, New York
Sears Tower, Chicago
CCTV, Beijing

Country

Moscow State University,

Moscow
Bank of China, Hong Kong
Petronas Towers, Kuala
Lumpur
Tapei 101, Taiwan
Burj Dubai, Dubai

Location
1880s

Eiffel Tower, Paris 300m

1910s

Asia

Bank of China, Hong Kong 367m (offices)

1990s

Europe

Messeturm, Frankfurt 257m (offices)

1990s

Russia

Moscow State University, 240m (education)

1990s

US

Woolworth Building, NY 241m (offices)

1950s

Europe

Middle East

Burj Al Arab, Dubai 321m (hotel)

Use
Office

Woolworth Building, New York 1913 (240m)

Residential

Ritz Tower, New York 1926 (165m)

Hotel

Burj Al Arab, Dubai 1995 (321m)

Education

Moscow State University, Moscow 1953 (240m)

Mixed Use

John Hancock Centre 1970 (344m)

History - foundations
Coal and Iron Exchange,
New York 1873

Richard M. Hunt Architect

Unusually tall for a building in
New York at the time.
Inverted arches used in
foundations to spread load
evenly to the ground and over
a larger area.

History - facades
Leiter Building
1879 Chicago

William LeBaron Jenney,

Engineer and Architect
Faade carried own weight
only.
First building with almost an
entire wall of glass windows.

History curtain walling

Home Insurance
Building, 1885 Chicago

William LeBaron Jenney

Each storey of masonry faade
supported by beams at floor
level.
Iron and steel frame structure
weighed one third of traditional
all masonry structure.

History - regulations
1892 New York
Building Code

Significant floor area

increases could be
obtained by adopting
a curtain wall
approach.
First known curtain
wall building is Home
Insurance Building in
Chicago in 1885.

Ronan Point

Partial collapse in 1968 of London apartment block after a gas explosion.

23 storey building constructed in precast concrete panels.
Paved the way for introduction of disproportionate collapse regulations.

Eco Tower

Commerzbank HQ, Frankfurt 1997.

250m, 56 storey.

Recognised as worlds first eco tower.

Every office is day lit and has openable windows.

Energy consumption half of typical tower.

4 storey gardens incorporated throughout the

height of the tower.

Central full height atrium.

Eco Tower

Design
Geometry
Structural stability systems
Loading

Self weight and dead load

Live loading
Wind
Seismic
Temperature
Accidental

Comfort criteria
Damping systems
Lifts

Geometry

12
w

Chicago Spire

Calatrava tower claiming to be worlds most slender free standing tower at 1:10.
150 floors of residential reaching 609m (will be tallest building in USA).
Buteconomic crisis halted work despite starting on site in 2007.

Eladio Dieste

Stability - external

Stability - internal

Stability
Faade and internal walls

Home Insurance Building, Chicago - 1885

Moment frame

Monadnock Building, Chicago 1889

Braced

Tower Building, New York 1889

Outrigger

Jin Mao Tower, Shanghai 1998

Tube

De Witt Chestnut Building, Chicago 1964

Tube in Tube

World Trade Centres, New York 1973

Mega frame

Bank of China, Hong Kong 1989

Bundled Tube

Sears Towers, Chicago 1974

Materials use

Wind loading
Along-wind
response

Rotation due to offset stability

system

Across-wind response due to vortex shedding

WIND

Resultant circular movement experienced at the

top of the building!

Wind loading

Wind loading

Modifying the shape of a tower, both

in elevation and on plan, can help
reduce the effect of wind loading on
a tower. Introducing the following
aspects will help:

Taper
Twist
Chamfered corners
Set backs
Holes through

Examples are:

Taipei 101
Jin Mao Tower
Shanghai World Financial Centre
Burj Dubai

Comfort

Damping

Tapei 101

Lifts

1857 Elisha Otis installed first lifts in a

5 storey store in New York.

1968 first double deck lifts installed

with success in Time Life building in
Chicago.

Since 2003 new double deck elevators

can now cope with differing floor
levels.

WTC buildings in 1972 were the first

towers to incorporate sky lobbies.

Taipei 101 incorporates a mix of

double deck lifts and sky lobbies.

Recent lifts travel at speed of up to

38mph and include pressure control
systems to reduce ear popping.
Double deck lifts at First
Canada Place, Toronto

Sky lobbies at WTC,

New York

Lifts - office

Chrysler Buildings,
New York 1930

319m, 77 storey
4 banks of elevators
contain 30 elevators

Wells Fargo Plaza,

Houston 1983

302m, 71 storey
Trussed steel tube
Double deck express
elevators
Sky lobbies on 34-35
and 58-59
27 elevator shafts
running 56 cabs

Lifts - residential

Park Tower, Chicago

Completed 2000
70 storey, 250m
Hotel and Residential
300 ton tuned mass
damper

Capital Gate Tower

18deg lean (cf

Pisa 4deg)

Twisting building

60m atrium to
reduce overhang
load

Complex steel
diagrid

Predominant wind
direction
inspiration?

828m tall
280,000m2 of hotel, residential and offices.
330,000m3 of concrete
39,0000t of reinforcement

Burj Dubai

To support 1m2 of floor requires 2.75t of material

(or 1,15m thickness of concrete)
..approx 3x more material required than for low
to medium rise construction

Torres de Hercules

100m office tower

Natural ventilation
scheme
400mm thk faade
400mm thk floors
3500mm floor to ceiling
Cold bridge?

Aqua Tower

262m & 86 storey mixed

use tower in Chicago
186,000m2

26,5m

Case Study

Gazprom Tower, St Petersberg - Russia

Competition
ATELIERS JEAN NOUVEL

1
3
6

OFFICE FOR METROPOLITAN ARCHITECTURE (O.M.A.)

27

RMJM LONDON LIMITED

2
1
7

STUDIO DANIEL LIBESKIND LLC

85

FUKSAS ASSOCIATI S.R.L.

1
1
4

HERZOG & DE MEURON ARCHITEKTEN AG

75

St Petersberg

St Petersberg

Design Concept
Site History
River Setting

Gazprom Flame
Fur Coat (faade)

Gazprom City

Geometry and scale

Structural system

Wind tunnel testing

Wind tunnel testing

West is dominant wind

direction
Peak instantaneous
dynamic wind load of
30MN (1.9kn/m2)

10-yr return period w ind speeds, Normal Natural Frequency - Level 75

5-yr return period w ind speeds, Normal Natural Frequency - Level 75
1-yr return period w ind speeds, Normal Natural Frequency - Level 75

50

Peak Acceleration (mg)

40
30

20
10

0
0

50

100

150

200

Wind Direction (deg)

250

300

350

Dynamic analysis
Gazprom, Proposed, 0.7%, Mass Option 1, Level 75, Normal Natural Frequency
NBCC Office
NBCC Residential
SNIP 2.01.07-85
ISO 6879
Melbourne & Cheung
Davenport Perception
Davenport Objection
35

Peak Acceleration [milli-g]

30
25
2% Objection

20
10% Objection

15
10
10% Perception

5
0
0.01

2% Perception

0.1

1
Return Period [years]

10

100

Initial design ideas

Competition engineering

Competition engineering

Competition engineering

Competition engineering

Competition engineering

Competition engineering

Competition engineering

Competition engineering

Lessons learnt

Foundations

Investigate local supply chain

Dont just assume that international codes will be accepted.

Outrigger trusses

High strength concrete availability.

Investigate local/national regulations

Make tower pile cap as small as possible.

Most load will be concentrated under the core.

Think about how outrigger truss forces get in to core.

Belt trusses

Helps with differential shortening of columns, especially for outrigger structures.

Tall building calculator

height (m)
floor to floor (m)

Buckling problem?
200

25

b (m)

25

t (m)

0.75

Masonry

Steel

Concrete

Youngs modulus (N/mm2)

d (m)

Timber

short term

10,000

15,000

205,000

30,000

long term

5,000

15,000

205,000

20,000

32.6

9.0

20

87

24

Wall loading (kN/m2)

1.5
0.45

0.04

7.5

0.50
Material density (kN/m3)

% windows

50%

floor width supported by faade (m)

4.5

area (m2)

36

22

25

light

medium

heavy

z (m3)

221

136

12

150

2.5

5.5

9.0

I (m4)

3,569

2,220

207

2,452

floor loading (kN/m2)

2.50

5.50

5.50

9.00

wind (kN/m2)

1.50

Timber

Masonry

Steel

Concrete

Wind load (kN)

7,500

7,500

7,500

7,500

Faade load (kN)

29,100

88,380

34,744

117,600

Floor load (kN)

61,500

135,300

135,300

221,400

BM (kNm)

750,000

750,000

750,000

750,000

BM stress (N/mm2)

3.4

5.5

60.2

5.0

Compressive stress (N/mm2)

2.5

10.1

85.2

13.8

Total stress (N/mm2)

5.9

15.7

145.4

18.8

Sway (mm)

210

225

176

102

Axial shortening (mm)

50

67

42

69

Floor loading (kN/m2)

Allowable stress (N/mm2)

10

10

200

25

Allowable sway (mm)

200

200

200

200

International Commerce
Centre 484m 2010
KPF Architects

International Finance
Centre 2 420m 2003
Cesar Pelli

Bank of China 367m

1990
I M Pei