Supertall: How the World's Tallest Buildings Are Reshaping Our Cities and Our Lives PDF Download

Author: Stefan Al
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 1324006420
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 223

View

Book Description
The global boom in skyscrapers—why it’s happening now, how they’re made, and what they do to cities and people. We are living in a new urban age, and its most tangible expression is the “supertall”: megastructures that are dramatically bigger, higher, and more ambitious than any in history. Cities around the world are racing to build the first mile-high building, stretching the limits of engineering and design as never before. In this fascinating work of urban history and design, TED resident Stefan Al—himself an experienced architect—explores the factors that have led to this worldwide boom. He reveals the marvelous and underappreciated feats of engineering that make today’s supertalls a reality, from double-decker elevators that silently move up to 50 miles per hour to the sophisticated blend of polymers and steel fibers that enables concrete to withstand 8,000 tons of pressure per square meter. Taking readers behind the scenes of the building and design of remarkable megastructures, both from the past (the Empire State Building, St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Eiffel Tower) and the present (Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, London’s Shard, Shanghai Tower), Al demonstrates the impact of these innovations. Yet while the supertall is undoubtedly a testament to great technological victories, it can come at an environmental and social cost. Focusing on four global cities—London, New York, Hong Kong, and Singapore—Al examines the risks of wealth inequality, carbon emissions, and contagion that stem from supertalls. And he uncovers the latest innovations in sustainable building, from skyscrapers made of wood to tree-covered buildings, that promise to yield a better urban future. Featuring more than thirty architectural drawings, Supertall is both a fascinating exploration of our greatest accomplishments and a powerful argument for a more equitable way forward.

Author: Nigel Clark
Publisher: Riba Publishing
ISBN: 9781859466186
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 0

View

Book Description
Thoroughly reworked to reflect industry developments and experiences gained over the last ten years, this second edition imparts the advice and knowledge of more than 20 highly respected industry specialists.

Author: Stefan Al
Publisher: Hong Kong University Press
ISBN: 9888208969
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 246

View

Book Description
Hong Kong is the twenty-first-century paradigmatic capital of consumerism. Of all places, it has the densest and tallest concentration of malls, reaching tens of stories. Hong Kong’s malls are also the most visited, sandwiched between subways and skyscrapers. These mall complexes have become cities in and of themselves, accommodating tens of thousands of people who live, work, and play within a single structure. Mall City features Hong Kong as a unique rendering of an advanced consumer society. Retail space has come a long way since the nineteenth-century covered passages of Paris, which once awed the bourgeoisie with glass roofs and gaslights. It has morphed from the arcade to the department store, and from the mall into the “mall city”—where “expresscalators” crisscross mesmerizing atriums. Highlighting the effects of this development in Hong Kong, this book raises questions about architecture, city planning, culture, and urban life. “At the nexus of density, humidity, topography, and prosperity, Hong Kong has spawned more malls per square mile than any place on earth. This fantastic book decodes and graphically depicts an environment both apart and ubiquitous, a convulsive form of public space in a liquid territory where intensely contested politics, commerce, and sociability weirdly merge in a city like no other.” —Michael Sorkin, distinguished professor of architecture of the City University of New York “Hong Kong may be packed with the most shopping malls per square kilometer in the world, but Mall City is packed with the most drawings, information, and fascinating mall facts. The book dissects, categorizes, and displays all kinds of intriguing data on the city-state’s shopping complexes and culture. Its richly layered analysis perfectly matches Hong Kong’s multi-story machines for consumption.” —Clifford Pearson, director of USC American Academy in China “Stefan Al has again produced a book that provides a sharp lens on radically new urban forms that are emerging in China. While his previous books, Villages in the City andFactory Towns of South China introduced the site of production and housing for the migrant labor of the Pearl River Delta, here we enter the phantasmagoria of the enormous interconnected free-trade shopping zone of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Mall City dissects the basic unit of this climate-controlled consumer landscape—the mall. This beautifully illustrated book is a must-read for those who wish to understand the future of public space in high-density cities.” —Brian McGrath, professor of urban design and dean of constructed environments, Parsons School of Design

Author: John Hill
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781770859609
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 192

View

Book Description
"45 skyscrapers are examined for their pioneering technology, sustainability, and other characteristics that set them apart. Each building is presented with a large photograph with cross-section drawings plus fact boxes listing location, year of completion, height, stories, primary functions, owner/developer, architect, structural engineer, and construction firm. The buildings examined are distributed over the world's most developed regions of North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia."--

Author: Jason M. Barr
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1982174218
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 384

View

Book Description
From one of the world’s top experts on the economics of skyscrapers—a fascinating account of the ever-growing quest for super tall buildings across the globe. The world’s skyscrapers have brought us awe and wonder, and yet they remain controversial—for their high costs, shadows, and overt grandiosity. But, decade by decade, they keep getting higher and higher. What is driving this global building spree of epic proportions? In Cities in the Sky, author Jason Barr explains all: why they appeal to cities and nations, how they get financed, why they succeed economically, and how they change a city’s skyline and enable the world’s greatest metropolises to thrive in the 21st century. From the Empire State Building (1,250 feet) to the Shanghai Tower (2,073 feet) and everywhere in between, Barr explains the unique architectural and engineering efforts that led to the creation of each. Along the way, Barr visits and unpacks some surprising myths about the earliest skyscrapers and the growth of American skylines after World War II, which incorporated a new suite of technologies that spread to the rest of the world in the 1990s. Barr also explores why London banned skyscrapers at the end of the 19th century but then embraced them in the 21st and explains how Hong Kong created the densest cluster of skyscrapers on the planet. Also covered is the dramatic result of China’s “skyscraper fever” and then on to the Arabian Peninsula to see what drove Dubai to build the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, which at 2,717 feet, is higher than the new One World Trade Center in New York by three football fields. Filled with fascinating details for urbanists, architecture buffs, and urban design enthusiasts alike, Cities in the Sky addresses the good, bad, and ugly for cities that have embraced vertical skylines and offers us a glimpse to the future to see whether cities around the world will continue their journey ever upwards.

Author: Kheir Al-Kodmany
Publisher: WIT Press
ISBN: 1845644107
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 461

View

Book Description
Drawing on the experience of several cities from different parts of the world, this text provides a global perspective on the urbanization phenomenon and tall building development, and examines their underlying logic, design drivers, contextual relationships and pitfalls.

Author: Jason M. Barr
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199344388
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 457

View

Book Description
The Manhattan skyline is one of the great wonders of the modern world. But how and why did it form? Much has been written about the city's architecture and its general history, but little work has explored the economic forces that created the skyline. In Building the Skyline, Jason Barr chronicles the economic history of the Manhattan skyline. In the process, he debunks some widely held misconceptions about the city's history. Starting with Manhattan's natural and geological history, Barr moves on to how these formations influenced early land use and the development of neighborhoods, including the dense tenement neighborhoods of Five Points and the Lower East Side, and how these early decisions eventually impacted the location of skyscrapers built during the Skyscraper Revolution at the end of the 19th century. Barr then explores the economic history of skyscrapers and the skyline, investigating the reasons for their heights, frequencies, locations, and shapes. He discusses why skyscrapers emerged downtown and why they appeared three miles to the north in midtown-but not in between the two areas. Contrary to popular belief, this was not due to the depths of Manhattan's bedrock, nor the presence of Grand Central Station. Rather, midtown's emergence was a response to the economic and demographic forces that were taking place north of 14th Street after the Civil War. Building the Skyline also presents the first rigorous investigation of the causes of the building boom during the Roaring Twenties. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the boom was largely a rational response to the economic growth of the nation and city. The last chapter investigates the value of Manhattan Island and the relationship between skyscrapers and land prices. Finally, an Epilogue offers policy recommendations for a resilient and robust future skyline.

Author: Helen Hazen
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040119603
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 385

View

Book Description
This timely and innovative book delves into the complex interplay of human activities and natural limits in generating today’s sustainability challenges. By contrasting the pressures of growing populations with ecological footprints associated with consumption, the volume navigates the contested terrain where human societies generate environmental impacts. Adorned with illustrative figures, examples and case studies throughout, this book presents insightful analysis of ecological, economic, technological, and social justice responses to the challenges faced by human civilization, including land degradation, climate change, pollution, and overexploitation of natural resources. Many of these issues are wicked problems, characterized by incomplete information, multiple stakeholders, and contested approaches to addressing them. In simple terms, sustainability issues are an interplay between population growth and rising consumption, which are placing impossible demands on finite resources. Potential solutions to the crisis are split between green growth approaches that emphasize technology and institutional capacity to guide economic growth in more sustainable ways, and degrowth approaches that call for a fundamental rethinking of the way we structure society and generate value. This book emerged from a student seminar where undergraduate and graduate students highlighted sustainability topics of concern, helped consider their framing, and then assisted with co-writing several of the chapters. The volume encourages readers to consider structural questions that underpin sustainability dilemmas, and begins with four theoretical frameworks for understanding sustainability issues: ideas from the natural sciences, the population/consumption debate, economic frameworks, and ethical approaches. It then uses a systems approach to apply these theoretical ideas to complex global systems such as the atmosphere, oceans, and agriculture. This volume will be of pivotal interest to students, scholars and academics in the fields of environmental studies, environment and society, human geography and environmental geography, as well as those with an interest in these areas more generally.

Author: Brook S. Kennedy
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000870235
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 182

View

Book Description
Reimagining Alternative Technology for Design in the 21st Century presents a new approach to design that harnesses still-valuable alternative, traditional and abandoned technologies alongside the creation of new ones to address contemporary global problems. It focuses on design opportunities that reduce energy and material consumption to tackle issues such as climate change and pollution in industrialized economies. The book takes the reader on a journey surveying different facets of human activity to identify underused and discarded technologies that could be indispensable today. It critically addresses newer approaches to design and technology by comparing them to existing alternatives, unpacking examples including air conditioning with smart thermostats, electric lighting, durable reusable products, domestic maintenance tools and methods of transportation. Written for practicing designers and students in industrial design, architecture, sustainable design and human-centered design, this book provides new ideas and tools for creating more useful, energy-and-resource-efficient product designs and systems.

Author: Alexandra Wynne
Publisher: Haynes Publishing UK
ISBN: 9781785211096
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 0

View

Book Description
It’s hard to believe that the world's first skyscraper was built in 1885 – the ten-storey Home Insurance Building in Chicago. Little more than a century later the highest skyscraper is the 163-storey Burj Khalifa in Dubai, standing 828 metres tall. By 2020, the 1,000-metre Kingdom Tower in Jeddah will take first place. The designs are becoming more extraordinary, but behind all the steel and glass how is a skyscraper logistically constructed? The Haynes Skyscraper Manual takes the reader, be they armchair enthusiast or architect, through the fascinating process, from initial concepts through to modern-day building methods. Interspersed with intriguing facts and figures, the Skyscraper Manual is fully illustrated with stunning photographs and technical drawings