Tall Buildings
Presented to
Minnesota Futurists
Technology Special Interest Group
Hank Lederer and David Keenan
17 November 2007

Pyramids - Giza
Completed ~ 2570 BC
• 481 ft (147 m) orig
• Worlds Tallest for 3,800 years
• Tomb of Pharaoh

Leaning Tower – Pisa, Italy
Completed 1350
177 years in construction started in 1173
• 183 ft (56 m)
• slants 5.5 degrees

Two Towers – Bologna, Italy
Two Towers, both leaning, are the symbol of the city
Asinelli Tower – 319 ft (97 m)
Garisenda Tower originally ~ 197 ft (60 m) today - 157 ft(48 m)
Bologna may have had up to 180 towers btw 12 th and 13 th century

Eiffel Tower - Paris
Completed 1889
•1063 ft (324m)
• Worlds Tallest Structure, surpassing Washington
Monument, until 1930,
Chrysler Bldg

40 Wall St. vs. Chrysler
< 40 Wall St.
Completed 1930
• 927 ft (283 m) spire
• 70 floors
• world's tallest building from
April 1930 to May 27, 1930
Chrysler Building >
Completed 1930
• 925 ft (282 m) roof
• 1047 ft (319 m) spire
• 77 floors
• world's tallest building from 27 May
1930 to 1931 (surpassed by
Empire State) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/40_Wall_Street http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_building

Empire State Building – New York
Completed 1931
• 1,250 ft (381 m) roof
• 1,472 ft (449 m) spire
• 102 floors
• Worlds Tallest Building for 41 years
• Surpassed by WTC 1 in 1972
• Mythbusters tested the urban myth
"If you drop a penny off the top of the Empire State Building will it kill someone or crater the sidewalk?"
By the time the penny hit the ground it is going roughly 65 mph, which is
NOT fast enough to inflict lethal injury or put a crater into the sidewalk.

Local Favorites

IDS and Foshay - Minneapolis
IDS completed 1974 >
• 792 ft (214 m) roof
• 910 ft (277 m) spires
• 57 floors
• surpassed Foshay in ‘72
• Foshay completed 1929 >
• 447 ft (136 m) roof
• 607 ft (185 m) spire
• 32floors
• MN tallest 1929-1972
• “First Skyscraper West of the Mississippi”

Current
Placeholders

Worlds Tallest Buildings

Sears Tower - Chicago
Completed 1973
•1,450 ft (442 m) roof
•1,730 ft (527 m) spires
• Taller than World Trade Center
•110 floors (like WTC)
•104 elevators (16 dbldeck)

Petronas Towers – Kuala Lumpur
Completed
• 88 floors - world's tallest buildings from 1998 to 2004
• 1999 movie Entrapment - Catherine Zeta-Jones, Sean Connery http://www.allaboutskyscrapers.com/skyscraper_concrete_foundations.html

Taipei 101- China
Completed 2004
• Tallest til 21Jul07
• 1,670 ft ( 509 m)
• 101 floors
• 61 (including 2 doubledecker) elevators
• Fastest elevator ascend 38mph
•$1.76 B cost
• Tuned mass damper vs. sway

CN Tower - Canada
Completed 1976
• Toronto, Ontario
• Broadcast Tower
• 1815 ft (553 m)
•"the world's tallest free-standing tower"

Unusual
Buildings

Swiss Re, 30 St. Mary Axe -
London
Completed 2004
• 590 ft
• the ‘gherkin’

Turning Torso – Mälmo, Sweden
Completed

Twin Towers - Kuwait
Completed
• Water towers with Observation and Restaurant decks

Park Towers - Dubai
Both towers are 30 floors, and offer approximately 432 exquisitely designed one, two and three bedroom apartments. The design of the towers was inspired by the evolution of
Dubai, and the undulating soft forms of the desert.
Designed by Gensler, the award-winning architects for the new London Stock
Exchange headquarters. The intelligent design of the towers ensures that every apartment has a wide balcony offering you the freedom to relax and enjoy the stunning views of the financial district, with its parks, cafés and entertainment facilities. http://www.homesgofast.com/dubai/property_Park_Towers_Damac.php

‘Sporefloater’ - Singapore
Under construction
•This “suspended” tower is going to be built in
Singapore. The basic idea is to reduce the amount of space used at the ground level!
• 502 ft(153 m)
• 36 floors http://smriti.com/blogs/2007/03

Burj al arab - Dubai
Completed 1999
• 689 ft (210 m) roof
• 1,053 ft (321 m) spire
• 60 floors
• Sky tennis anyone?

EDiTT Tower - Singapore
Under construction
• Ecological Design in The
Tropics
• Very Green
• 26 floors

Phare Tower - Paris
Proposed
Green design
984 ft (300 m) tall
Artist rendition shows the future skyscraper 'Phare', or Lighthouse, due to be completed in 2012 in Paris

Dancing Towers - Dubai
Proposed
For completion 2009
65 floors
Zaha Hadid’s design for the Dancing
Towers confirms the role of Business
Bay Development at the very forefront of Dubai’s rapidly changing future.
The three towers rise above the creek and project themselves as an icon for the surrounding developments and for the gulf region.
Designer: Zaha Hadid http://www.yankodesign.com/index.php/2007/04/19/dancingtowers-by-zaha-hadid/

Burj al-Taq Tower in Dubai
Proposed?
Energy Tower
Cylindrical shape is designed to expose as little surface area to the sun as possible.
A protective solar shield reaches from the ground to the roof, covering 60 deg of the giant circular building.
So green. Form of a twisted highball glass topped by a twirling cocktail stick of a wind turbine. http://www.metaefficient.com/archives/architecture-and-building/rating_the_green_hypereliteness_of_ecotowers.html

Dubai Towers - Dubai
Proposed ?
•788 to 1,312 ft (240 to 400 m)
• Ranging between 57–94 floors
• estimated completion is mid 2010
•The Lagoons’ is a mixed-use freehold development being built along the Dubai Creek coastline. The
US$ 18 bil project will cover an area of 70 million square feet over 40 km of waterfront land.

Siam Tribute - Thailand

Under Construction

Shanghai World Financial Center
Nearing completion
Topped out 14Sep07
Latest shot 03Nov07 >>
• 1,614 ft (492 m) roof
• 101 floors
• 31 elevators

Freedom Tower – New York
Under construction
For completion 9/11/10
World Trade Center site
1776 ft
108 floors

Moscow City Tower - Moscow
Under construction since 18 Sept, 2007
• 2,007 ft (612m )
• 118 floors
• 101 elevators
• $1.5-$1.7B
• taller than any other building in Europe
• planned for 2012
• part of $12B Moscow
International Business
Center project
(10 buildings)

Towers - Chicago

Under construction
Formerly Fordham Spire
• started 25 July, 2007
• planned for 2011
• 2,000 ft (610m) roof
• 150 floors
Chicago Spire http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fordham_Spire

New design
Tall Buildings

Burj - Dubai
Under construction since 2004
For completion 2008
• ~ 2,111 ft (643 m) roof
• ~ 2,684 ft (818 m) spire
• 164 floors
• 12Sept07 surpassed CN Tower and still climbing

Under construction
Burj - Dubai

Proposed

Supertowers - Dubai

Al Burj - Comparison
Al Burj Burj Dubai Taipei Empire Eiffel St. Mary
101 State Tower Axe
3900 ft+ 2600 ft+ 1671 ft 1454 ft 984 ft 590 ft

Al burj - Dubai
Proposed
• 2,789 ft (850 m) roof
• 3,445 ft (1,050 m) spire
• 228 floors

Burj Mubarak al-Kabir - Kuwait
Proposed
• 2,953 ft (900 m) roof
• 3,284 ft (1,001 m) spire
• 254 floors (est)
• 2008 proposed start, 2012 end
• Could require triple deck elevators
• Housing for 700,000
• Madinat al-Hareer (City of Silk Project)

Sky City – Tokyo, Japan
Proposed
• 1000 m (3,281 ft)
• Triple decker elevators
– cap. 70
• 14 sky plateaus
• 35,000 residents and
100,000 workers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_City_1000

Bionic Tower
Proposed
• Shanghai or Hong Kong
• 3,701 ft (1,128 m)
• 300 floors
• 100,000 residents
• 368 elevators
• ~ $15B+ cost http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bionic_tower

Far
Future

Shimzu Mega City Try-4000
Proposed
• over Tokyo Bay in Japan
• House 750,000 people
• If built, it will be the largest man-made structure on Earth.
• 2,004 m (6,575 ft) high (12 x higher than the Great Pyramid at Giza)
• Cannot be built with currently available materials, due to their weight.
• Relies on the future availability of super-strong lightweight materials based on carbon nanotubes.

X-seed 4000, Japan
Proposed
• Inspired by Mt. Fuji, but would be taller
• 13,123 ft (4,000 m)
• 800 floors
• 0.5 – 1 million residents
• $100s billion

Abandoned

Mile High Tower
Frank Lloyd Wright
Proposed but not adopted
• The Illinois
• 5,280 ft (1,609 m)
• 528 stories
• 76 elevators
• Sway would be addressed by tripod design
(like CN tower)
• and possibly a counterweight (like Taipei 101) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Illinois

Panama City
< Ice Tower
Started March 2007, cancelled June
2007
Third super tall skyscraper to be cancelled in Panama City
• 1,250 ft (381 m)
• 104 floors
Palacio de la Bahía (Bay Palace) >
• 1,158 ft (353 m)
• 93 floors
• started 28 July, 2006, cancelled by developer as unbuildable
Torre Generali >>
• 1,044 ft (318 m)
• 52 floors
• views of Atlantic and Pacific from top floors
• cancelled in 2001 due to economic conditions

abandoned
Tower of Babel by Pieter Bruegel