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Dissertation On Skyscrapers The Highrise
Dissertation On Skyscrapers The Highrise
(VERTICAL URBANIZATION)
A DISSERTATION REPORT
Submitted by
SENTHILNATHAN .K
of
BACHERLOR OF ARCHITECTURE
IN
March 2016
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ANNA UNIVERSITY: CHENNAI 600 025
BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE
supervision.
SIGNATURE SIGNATURE
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Abstract
in 2014 accounted for 54% of the total global population, up from 34% in
will be living in urban areas (WHO). This urban migration for work and other
things leaves cities short on affordable housing, transport link and can either
Increasing demand for urban spaces pushed the environment to grow vertical
and compact. The traditional front – lawn houses are cut away and re-arranged
residential building with five or more stories, most of the time encountered in
urban or suburban areas. The high rise building has its own reputation of good
and bad. The high rise building are on one part is advantageous but on the
other has flaws on its own. Economical aspects, social, ecological and
people, safety and security, mechanical pollution to the ecosystem, less feeling
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of greenness on the ground, economical support to small vendors, uniting many
people under a single roof and reducing the distance of travel are some of the
main good and bad of high-rise buildings. The most successful solution for this
This Dissertation explorers the design issues and goals in High rise mixed use
added guidance of the local bye-laws. The various functional needs, efficiency,
The thrust of the topic is given towards the integration of plants and applying
problems in the design as well as improving the living quality into these
incorporate into skyscrapers, for the wellbeing of the economy, society and the
environment.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT iii
LIST OF FIGURES vii
LIST OF TABLE ix
LIST OF SYMBOLS ix
1. INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Aim 2
1.2 Objectives 2
1.3 Necessity 3
1.4 Scope 3
1.5 Methodology 4
3. DESIGNING CONSIDERATION OF
HIGH RISE BUILDINGS 25
4. BUILDING SERVICES OF
HIGH RISE BUILDINGS 60
5. CASE STUDIES -
HIGH RISE BUILDINGS 84
6. CONCLUSION 103
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LIST OF FIGURES
Fig.1 Schematic diagram of the methodology in which the study is taken through 4
Fig.2 Transition of Mumbai city from seven islands 8
Fig.3 Reason for purchasing a house in a tall building 19
Fig.4 Reason for selecting a floor in a tall building 20
Fig.5 Interaction with neighbors in comparison to a low-rise development 20
Fig.6 Most common concerns in a High-rise residence 21
Fig.7 % of People wanting to move 22
Fig.8 Primary reason for wanting to move 22
Fig.9 Primary reason for not wanting to move 23
Fig.10 The Q-S curve diagram to determine the Pile settlement in Pile Foundation 28
Fig.11 Different types of Core placement in a high-rise 30
Fig.12 Outrigger truss connecting the exterior columns to the central core 32
Fig.13 iTECH beam concept - (Source – CTBUH) 34
Fig.14 iTECH floor vibration equipment - (Source – CTBUH) 35
Fig.15 CPP – Closed Circuit Boundary layer wind tunnel apparatus 36
Fig.16 Burj Khalifa model (scale – 1:500) –
Aeroelastic Wind tunnel test inside CPP 37
Fig.17 Shanghai Tower – Shaking Model Test,
China Academy of Building research 43
Fig.18 Double skin façade, Siemens center shanghai 45
Fig.19 - 20 High rise office, Hanoi, Vietnam – Super transparent façade 46
Fig. 21 Maritime museum Ling gang –
Showing two structural sails with the in-between cable net façade 47
Fig.22 Mechanism of Fire breakout in building 51
Fig.23 Impact of Horizontal and Vertical projection in the building 52
Fig.24 (left) Curtain wall supported on slab edge
(right) Curtain wall hung off slab edge 53
Fig.25 - 26 (left) inclined forward (right) incline backward 54
Fig.27 double skin curtain wall 54
Fig.28 DSF ventilation and Noise control schematic diagram 57
Fig.29 Exterior Evacuation method through Façade 58
Fig.30 Elevator Operation Scenario 64
Fig.31 Elevator Operation – Power failure condition 67
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Fig.32 Elevator Operation – Fire condition 68
Fig.33 Reported rates for premature loss of stairwell tenability from
a survey undertaken of fire report from 50 tall buildings 72
Fig.34 (a) Fire spreading from origin of the floor to all above floors
(b)‘Compartmentation’ is done and thus reducing the spreading of fire 73
Fig.35 Spreading of Fire from the origin floor @several instances 74
Fig.36 Fire Extinguisher 74
Fig.37 Sprinkler System - Unit 76
Fig.38 Sprinkler System – Schematic diagram 76
Fig.39 Methods for safety of occupants during fire event 80
Fig.40 Plan & Sectional analysis of types 85
Fig.41 Sectional analysis of single type 85
Fig.42 Form evolution of the Apartment tower 86
Fig.43 Sectional analysis of individual types 87
Fig.44 Individual Type residents 88
Fig.45 Form Evolution of Bank of china Tower 89
Fig.46 Final Structure of the High-rise 90
Fig.47 Floor Plans of Bank of china 91
Fig.48 Section & Façade design detail 92
Fig.49 Conceptual painting of Linked hybrid 94
Fig.50 View of the Linked hybrid – linked 94
Fig.51 Section of the Linking bridges 95
Fig.52 View of Linked hybrid 96
Fig.53 Section of Taipei 101 98
Fig.54 Plan of Taipei 101 99
Fig.55 Clock view the TOWER 100
Fig.56 Structural Concept of Tower 101
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LIST OF TABLES
LIST OF SYMBOLS
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Chapter - 1 Introduction
Chapter – 1 Introduction
Monumental structures were built for the gods, including temples, pyramids
and cathedrals which pointed to the sky. Today’s monuments such as high rise
tall buildings –symbolize power, prestige, richness and glory. The evolution
from the Tower of babel to Bhurj khalifa is to overcome the limitations of
nature with human ingenuity. Until the introduction of modern metal frame
construction, advent of electricity, fire proofing and most importantly elevator,
tall buildings were not actually possible practically. The first building to be
felicitated with the above techs was The Home Insurance Building and further
more tall building were practical.
Mumbai city is called as the Manchester of India. Mumbai city is the second
most populous metropolitan city, wealthiest city with most number of
billionaires & millionaires in India. Mumbai is an important hub for transport.
The Demographic statistics of Mumbai, as of to the Census report on 2011 –
the population of Mumbai city was 1.38 cr and the area of 603km 2. The living
space per person is 4.5m2 per person. Mumbai suffers from a major
urbanization crisis like poverty, poor public health, and land availability.
1.1 Aim
1.2 Objectives
To study the present condition and keep in account the future evolution
of Mumbai city.
To analyze social, ecological, architectural aspects of high rise building.
To study how mixed used high rise building can solve urban related
problem.
Understanding the regulation and requirement of mixed use
development.
1.3 Necessity
The effects of urban sprawl are even more problematic. The increase in public
expenditure, health issues, increased traffic, environmental issues. These issues
can be reduced in dense living. The cities that are denser perform the best. The
cities like Manhattan, Hong Kong are less in environmental issues compared to
other cities. The vertically might be our solution in dense living taking into the
account of all bio climatic, greenery factors.
1.4 Scope
1.5 Methodology
The process starts by identifying aims and objective followed by the literature
study and reviews about high rise in Mumbai. The literature gives clear view of
the history of high rise and the use of high rise in an urban fabric in the future,
the problems of horizontal denser cities. The effects of high rise socially,
ecological and environmentally can be noted. Inferences from the case studies
can be made. Byelaws, design considerations of the high rise mixed use can be
studied. Comparison of all these data and conclusions can be derived.
Fig.1 Schematic diagram of the methodology in which the study is taken through
The early Equitable Life Building in New York, which was completed in 1872,
also contributed towards the development of high-rise buildings, for it was the
first tall building to have an elevator. Although it only had six floors, the edge
of the roof was no less than 130 feet (roughly 38 m) above the road surface.
Due to its elevator, the upper floors were in greater demand than the lower
floors. Following completion of the “Equitable” building, it was the thing done
to reside on one of the “top” floors.
In 1871, the great first accident in Chicago destroyed much of the city’s office
space and it gave a chance to rebuild a modern, fireproof business district. The
Home insurance building completed in Chicago in 1885, was the first to
incorporate an iron – skeleton structure to bear the load of the building. This
building paved way for the city’s early skyscraper boom. Architects and
engineers who “cut their teeth” in Chicago skyscrapers were later called to
work in New York as well. Chicago and New York were the two great
superpower of American architecture.
The buildings rose higher and higher with the spread of pioneering
construction methods – such as the steel skeleton or reliable deep foundation
methods – as well as the invention and development of the elevator. The highly
High-rise Structure – Mumbai (Vertical urbanization) Page | 5
Chapter - 2 History and Aspects of High-rise buildings
Chicago
Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, the tallest building at the time of its
construction in the world at 452 m. High-rise buildings in Germany are a
modern development and are concentrated particularly in Frankfurt am Main:
today, Frankfurt is the only German city with a skyline dominated by
skyscrapers. One of the tallest buildings in the city is the Messeturm built in
1991 with a height of 259 m, which is not much more than half the height of
the Sears Tower in Chicago, currently the tallest office and business tower in
North America with a total height of 443 m. It was the rapid growth in
population that originally promoted the construction of high-rise buildings.
New York once again provides a striking example: land became scarce well
over a hundred years ago as more and more European immigrants streamed
into the city. From roughly half a million in 1850, the city’s population grew to
1.4 million by 1899. More and more skyscrapers rose higher and higher on the
solid ground in Manhattan, as buildings could only be erected with great
difficulty on the boggy land to the right and left of the Hudson River and East
River. In this way, New York demonstrated what was meant by “urban
densification” despite the considerable doubts originally voiced by experts in
conjunction with this development.
Cities in Europe and Asia grew horizontally and it was only when production
and services acquired greater economic significance throughout the world and
the price of land rose higher and higher in economic centers after the Second
World War that they also began to grow vertically. Modern Hong Kong is a
striking case in point: it encompasses an area of 1,037 km 2 (Victoria, Kowloon
and the New Territories), of which only one-quarter has been developed, but
with maximum density and impressive efficiency
From a group of seven islands to a strategic port and eventually the financial
capital of world’s largest democracy. The 18th century marked the rapid
growth of the city, when hinterland was connected to Mumbai by rail. Many
construction projects were started due to the need of flourishing markets and
economic opportunities. Various business communities from different part of
the nation set up their businesses in this island.
These laborers lived in settlements that grew parallel to the docks. The
landowners and factor owners constructed rental dormitory. Eventually the
immigrants brought their families in these single – room accommodations,
drastically increasing the density of the area. ‘Rent control Act’ was
introduced which rendered these Chawls unprofitable for the landlords. The
damaged Chawls were not repaired and maintained. In 1969, there were about
20,000 chawls in dilapidated conditions housing two million people.
global financial flow. Mumbai accounts for 30% of customs duty collections,
20% of central excise tax collections, 40% of foreign trade and rupees 40,000cr
in corporate taxes to the Indian economy. Mumbai is the world’s 29 th largest
city by GDP. 11.9 trillion rupees by 2030, larger than GDP of many countries
today, greater than many countries like Portugal, Columbia, Malaysia.
“The bias among architecture critics isn’t against Skyscrapers per se, but
against the way in which their design is so heavily dictated by economic
considerations – the way in which skyscrapers are real estate before they are
architecture.”
Paul Goldberger
The building built in the past is ornamented with stylistic new elements of their
time. The building that reflects the spirit of time when it is finished can appear
“old” within only a few years. The brevity of the various stylistic trends is one
of the reasons for the inhomogeneous appearance of modern towns and cities.
Since architects must expect that later buildings will have their own,
completely different formal identity, they do not see any reason why they
should base their own designs on existing standards, particularly as this would
merely cause them to be considered “unimaginative”.
terms. Nothing has changed in this respect since the very first high-rise
buildings were erected.
- Connections to the infrastructure are improved by concentrating so
many people in such a small area. The World Trade Center alone provides jobs
for over 50,000 people – that is the equivalent of a medium-sized town. All
institutions of public life are united under a single roof and the distances
between them have been minimized. However, high-rise buildings do little to
prevent land being sealed on a large scale. The suburbs of modern American
cities are a prime example: as far as the eye can see, the landscape is covered
with single-family homes, swimming pools and artificially designed gardens
simply to provide sufficient private residential land for all the people working
in a high-rise building occupying only a few thousand square meters.
- Many of the techniques and materials which are also used for
“normal” buildings today would never have been invented and would never
have become established if high-rise construction had not presented a
challenge in terms of technical feasibility. Rationalized, automated sequences
are beneficial to high-rise buildings, at no time in the past were such huge
buildings erected in such a short space of time. Short construction periods also
mean shorter financing periods and consequently profits which partly
compensate for the additional costs incurred in the construction and finishing
of the building.
This scenario not only applies to such total failure as a major fire or collapse of
the building. Despite (or precisely because of) its size, a high-rise building is
an incredibly sensitive and vulnerable system. Even a brief power failure can
result in operational and economic chaos.
2050. Rural population have dropped to 0.6 billion. This has been principal
cause of the ever increasing demand for homes.
History has given us many planning discourses intended to solve the planning
problem in the future by Sir Ebenezer Howard and Le Corbusier (The city of
tomorrow and its planning). The automobile dominating urban fabric since the
late 20th century has been bringing negative environmental and social impact.
By 1990s, “Compact City” model promoting “mixed use – high density living”
was the envisioned solution to urbanization.
Dense lifestyle proves better living for the people by reducing the money on
travel, saving time, retaining countryside and allowing people to enjoy the
vibrancy of city life. The urban designers and planners have a great challenge
in converting the urban compaction into a sustainable future of our cities. The
main aim is to create a sustainable neighborhood. “Smart Growth” does so by
focusing on regional characteristics to foster a unique sense of place, offering
better employment, transportation. Organizing populations densely so that
there is more increase in work and play opportunities adjacently.
- Footprint, low-rise has a large foot print leaving less area for green
and public space. High-rise has less ground coverage and leaves more area for
green and communal spaces.
- Views, having a good city view is one good positive attribute in
high-rise. It will attract more people and be a good social space and interaction
zone for the people living in the high-rise.
High-rise Structure – Mumbai (Vertical urbanization) Page | 14
Chapter - 2 History and Aspects of High-rise buildings
- Security, the social spaces in the high-rise have a closed and secured
environment. In low-rise the passers-by have no problem entering the zone.
High-rise have good restriction towards the entry and no fear of crime is
prevailing in the high-rise.
- Pollution, as one gets higher the air gets cleaner and thus bringing
more pure breathing. Noise is also a good advantage in the high-rise. Elderly
people have a bad reaction towards noise. Most of the public social spaces are
noise zones producing more noise pollution.
The above table is prepared as a simple guide for ecological aspects in an high
rise using some standards available. This list is totally comprehensive and can
change with improvement in technology.
the Mumbai city. The psychological change can be felt from both high-end
luxury high-rises as well as low-income housing for those rehabilitated from
the slums. The middle income group is left out from the analysis as tall
buildings are yet a luxury unaffordable to this section of this society.
100
80
60
Larger House
40 Amenities
0
Larger House Amenities Social & cultural
Desire to be a
part of a
happening
community
7%
Social status
Non-availability of choice
25%
8%
12%
Same
34%
Increase/Convinient
Decrease/Inconvinient
Irrelevant/Indifferent
46%
100
80
Elevator Breakdown
60
20 Lethargy/Dependance on home
deliveries
0 Temperature & heat control
Dust accumulation
Escape/safety in calamitous
situtaion
High rise building should not only have housing unit but also sports,
recreational amenities, retail market, common public space for people for the
purpose of leisure, entertainment. The taller the building the more isolated it
should be from the surrounding developments due to high density. The heavy
vehicular movement and the road access should be studies carefully. People
afford high rise for the View. Green spaces can come in handy for several
problems in a high rise building.
Slightly more than 28% of the country’s urban population is urbanized. Almost
22% of the urban population lives in slum. Out of the 21 million inhabitants of
Mumbai, almost 55% live in slums. SRA has many rehabilitation projects for
the slum to live in high rise housing complexes for LIG.
100
90
80
70
60
Senior Citizens
50 Above adults (35-60)
40 Youngsters (18 - 35)
20
10
0
Senior Citizens Above adults (35- Youngsters (18 - Children (upto 18)
60) 35)
100
90
80
70
Legal recognition
60
50 Expectation of Amenities
40
Improved access to roads
30
20
Sense of Ownership of an
10 Apartment in Mumbai
0
Legal recognition Expectation of Improved access Sense of
Amenities to roads Ownership of an
Apartment in
Mumbai
100
90
80
70
60
Loss of Livelihood
50
Loss os Sense of Community
40
Loss of Traditional lifestyle
30 Ineligibility
20
10
0
Loss of Livelihood Loss os Sense of Loss of Ineligibility
Community Traditional
lifestyle
The rehabilitated slum dwellers under the SRA act receive legal recognition for
their residence and an apartment in a metropolitan area. This motivates people
especially the new generation who have graduate degrees, speak English and
work in posh commercial spaces and improve their lifestyle. Having a
residential unit in a building allows for better access to main roads for the use
of medical or natural calamities.
Rehabilitated slum inhabitants have more time on their hands to perform useful
activities due to reduction in time spent on water collection. Thus increase in
expenditure on entertainment and higher savings for the people living.
The problem of low income group housing is multi-layered. Slums are major
business hubs of Mumbai and are home to countless cottage industries that
support the daily needs. The makings of small edibles, fashion accessories,
recycling of plastics are done primarily by slum people. The livelihood of
vendors, shopkeepers and fishermen are lost. As SRA projects are likely to be
costly the people refuse to move to the high-rise buildings rather move to
another slum complex for cheap living of life.
The complexity of designing a mixed use high rise has to be co-ordinated and
has become several times greater since many disciplines and different experts
are involved solely in planning of the high rise housing.
Architects
Planning engineers for the supporting structures
Construction and site management
Planning of the technical building services
Interior designers
Construction Physics
Planning and site management for data networks
Planning of the lighting and materials handling
Planning of the electrical and electronic systems
Planning of facades
Surveying engineers
Geo-technology, hydrogeology and environmental protection
Design of outdoor facilities and vegetation
Surveying of the actual situation in surrounding
The amount of complexity is clearly shown in the above list. The high rise
housing requires a highly professional management is essential for such
project. Project management companies have come to play an increasingly
important role in recent years as they take over the entire organization,
structuration and coordination of construction projects.
Planning module, the space one need for living, changes according to the
culture and the economic class. Span, described as the distance from a fixed
interior element such as building core to exterior window wall is another
important factor to be considered in designing the interior planning of a high
rise building. These depths change depending on the function of the space, and
acceptable span is determined by office layouts, hotel room standards, and
residential code requirements for outside light and air.
generally used in the building with a relatively square plan, is the most typical
core arrangement. Core elements should rise on every floor as it serves
logistics and also easy to construct.
Super tall buildings have great challenges to the engineers. The structural
engineers have to overcome some unavoidable challenges that originate from
the massive gravity loads and large lateral loads in super tall buildings.
Structural engineers have to find a solution to overcome the natural loads and
to provide robust foundation system to support the great gravity loads, lateral
load system to resist huge lateral loads and light weight floor system to reduce
total tower weight.
Although the foundations are out of sight once the building is completed, they
are of immense importance for ensuring that the dead weight and live loads of
the building are safely transmitted to the native subsoil. These loads are not
inconsiderable. The dead weight of a high-rise building can amount to several
hundred thousand tones. This value may be exceeded several times over by the
live loads which are taken as the basis for designing the building and include
the loads from equipment and furnishings, people or moving objects, as well as
wind or earthquake loads. Moreover, these loads often exert different pressures
on the subsoil, thus resulting in uneven settlement of the building.
The Foundation system is obviously one of the most important factors in the
structural system of a high-rise building. In every high-rise huge tower gravity
load demand a strong foundation base with great bearing capacity. Soil
condition at the building site determines the type of construction of foundation.
The pile foundation is considered the practical solution for worse soil
conditions.
To optimize the pile design and verify the pile capacity and constructability,
structural engineers adopted a pilot test-pile program at the early design stage.
Under the pilot test pile program, two 110m long testing piles, with bearing
layers set fine sand layer (13-2) and two 98m long testing piles, with bearing
layer set at the silty sand layer (13-1) were constructed and will be taken to
testing. This is the prime method of testing pile and the Pile Load-Settlement
Curve (Q-S Curve) will be derived. End grouting and side grouting are
provided to enhance the pile capacity and reduce pile settlement. After
evaluating the pile capacity, pile settlement and construction cost the structural
engineers design the necessary specification for system.
Fig.10 The Q-S curve diagram to determine the Pile settlement in Pile Foundation
The first frame structures used for the steel skeleton were flexurally rigid
frames corresponding in height to one floor. New York’s Empire State
Building, which was completed in 1932, is one example which clearly shows
the advantage of this new method, namely the short time required for the
construction work. Moreover, the complete separation of outside wall and
supporting structure permitted absolute freedom of design for the facade.
Instead of requiring around 300 kg of steel per square metre of base area as in
the past, modern supporting structures only require roughly 125 kg of steel on
average.
As the buildings became taller and taller, however, the main problem was no
longer the vertical loads but such horizontal loads as wind and earthquake
forces, as well as their transmission.
Function of the Central core is to tie the building together as a single unit. It
also maximizes the flexibility in design layout. The core resists the lateral load
(Wind load) from any direction and also carries the gravity load of the
building. The core holds Toilets, Vertical transportation, Services (Electrical,
HVAC, Telephone, Risers and fan rooms).
- The central interior location limits the depth of offices in the mid-
zone of each floor
- It requires an access corridor around its perimeter.
The outrigger connects the columns to the core. They are suspended from the
outrigger and are therefore under tension, thus eliminating the risk of buckling
that is associated with pressure elements. A supporting system in the form of
such an outrigger truss yields further advantages over a simple core
construction when it comes to transmission of the horizontal loads. The
bending stress applied to the core area in the lower floors is considerably
reduced when using an outrigger truss. The outrigger itself usually
accommodates such technical floors as the heating and ventilation systems.
Fig.12 Outrigger truss connecting the exterior columns to the central core.
Potential sets of outrigger trusses could be placed along the building height
with one set in each zone. However, more outrigger trusses do not lead to a
more efficient structure. Outriggers are expensive, and the construction time
for outrigger floors is much longer than for regular floors, thus the number of
outriggers should be kept to a minimum.
For a super tall building built on soft soils, engineers make great efforts to
reduce the tower weight in order to make foundation construction feasible and
reduce the seismic loads. The reduction of seismic load helps reduce the sizes
of individual structural members in the lateral system.
To reduce the building weight, engineers look into 3 sources – the lateral
system, the floor system and non-structural elements.
- The Structural elements in the lateral system, such as core walls, super
columns, outrigger trusses and belt trusses are crucial elements that provide
overall tower strength and stiffness to resist lateral loads. Not much change in
the lateral system will be done as it results in weakening of the load.
- The floor system accounts for a big portion of the building weight. A
composite slab can be selected as the floor system for the entire tower. It is
light in weight and easy to construct. They are carefully evaluated for weight,
cost and fire rating.
The story height of the tall buildings is the significant factor due to the limited
construction area within the central city of the urban scenario at present. For
floor serviceability, stiffness and resonance are dominant considerations in the
design of composite floor structures. With longer spans and lighter steel
beams, floor vibration needs to be carefully studies to make sure it meets the
desired occupant comfort level.
The iTECH system has analyzed and experimented the iTECH (Innovation,
Technical, Economical and Convenient Hybrid) beam. This consists of a
structural tee precast concrete in factory and a situ concrete slab. The structural
performance of the iTECH beam was experimentally assessed and was
evaluated to be good.
Concept, The iTECH system has an asymmetric steel assembly with web
openings, where the top plate is welded on top of structural tees. The both
sides are filled in with situ concrete. The iTECH system shows good
constructability that is similar to that of steel construction.
Testing, Two-story buildings, built with iTECH composite beam have been
used to test effects of vibration. The test was performed on the 2 nd and roof
floor. The floor is constructed with iTECH composite beams and 4-bay deck
Slabs. The measuring equipment and the measurement system were used.
There are two kind of vibration source considered in this experiment, impact
load and walking load each tested in two ways. Impact load was tested using a
sand drop and a heel drop both analyzed in terms of natural frequency and
damping ratio. The necessary result was clearly achieved in the iTECH
composite beam system. Dynamic characteristics of the iTECH composite
beam system were obtained by several experiments.
The torsional wind loading on the building is not as well understood as lateral
or over-turning loads and it is not considered as a load factor. Because of this,
many designers – indeed ignore this aspect of the load and simply apply the
lateral load at the geometric or elastic center of the structure. Wind tunnel test
on model buildings have revealed that torsional load exists and span a great
significance. This test aids the designer in providing methods to either reduce
or manage the loading.
The High Frequency Force Balance (HFFB) test method is the initially used to
obtain the structural frame loads and acceleration at the observation deck level
(if proposed).
The climatological study of the region should be done to know the wind speed
of the region. The local building code at that time should be known to
determine the wind speed in the tunnel. 80mph – 85mph are some wind speed
to test the model of the building. The advantage of the technique is that it is
relatively quick to undertake and also it provides the complete spectra of the
wind – generated model forces acting on the building. The wind tunnel data
will then be combined with the dynamic properties of the tower in order to
compute the tower’s dynamic properties and to compute tower’s dynamic
response towards the wind force.
Fig.16 Burj Khalifa model (scale – 1:500) – Aeroelastic Wind tunnel test inside CPP
Several turns of the HFFB test were taken. The shape of the building will
evolve and will be refined architecturally. After each round of wind tunnel
testing the shape of the building will be altered to minimise the wind force.
The process of reduction of wind force is called as “Confusing” the wind is
finally achieved and the shape of the building will be achieved. The confusing
is mostly achieved by alteration of shape of the building, structural
improvements and re-orientation of the building.
The wind climate study of the region should be more precise. The pedestrian
wind environment solely depends on the wind direction. The comfort of
pedestrians at ground level and on the terrace, observation deck was evaluated
by combining wind speed measurement on wind tunnel models with the local
wind statistics and other climatic information.
Wind Tunnel testing can be a powerful tool in the architectural and structural
design of a building. Utilizing several rounds of force balance wind tunnel
tests each followed by a refinement of the architectural shape dramatically
reduced the forces and acceleration of the building.
The Richter scale is a logarithmic scale for determining the energy dissipated
in an earthquake. This means that an earthquake measuring 7 on the Richter
scale dissipates 32 times the energy of a size-6 quake, while one measuring 8
dissipates roughly 1,000 times as much energy. The energy dissipated by these
earthquakes is expressed in horizontal and vertical acceleration forces acting
on the skyscrapers. The immense forces transmitted from underground must be
absorbed by the supporting structures of the buildings. These dynamic loads
are replaced by structural equivalent loads in horizontal and vertical direction
when a structural analysis of the building is performed. The highest
acceleration forces measured to date in an earthquake were recorded during the
Northridge earthquake in Los Angeles.
The planning engineers would additionally have to apply roughly 2.3 times the
dead weight in horizontal direction and roughly 1.7 times the dead weight in
vertical direction to the building when dimensioning the supporting structure
so that these earthquake forces can safely be absorbed. Moreover, they only act
on the supporting structure very briefly and are subject to rapid changes of
direction.
Tall buildings are more susceptible to damage from strong remote earthquakes
than from weak earthquakes close at hand. They normally have a lower
resonant frequency and a lower attenuation than low buildings. Short-wave
oscillation components in earthquakes are rapidly damped, while the long-
wave components (frequency f <1 Hz) can still make themselves felt at a
distance of several hundred kilometres, particularly in the form of surface
waves.
In recent years, several super high-rise buildings have been started to construct
in all part of the world. These buildings mostly do not follow traditional
structural building design concepts due to the height and design of the
building. Hence, a thorough investigation of their seismic performance is thus
necessary to verify safety of these buildings.
For several decades, substantial progress has been made in the development
and the use of computer-based procedure for seismic analysis of structures. It
is still difficult to accurately predict the seismic performance of a given
structure due to the differences between analysis model and real structure. To
overcome this Shaking Model Test is adopted to investigate the seismic
performance of a building structure.
The use of shaking table test was started in 1980s systematically introducted
and discussed the principles of structural model testing particularly for civil
engineering applications. Complex and irregular structure should definitely be
tested in the Shaking Table test to investigate the seismic performance of
seismic performance.
Study, The Study of the region of the building and structural concept should be
firm. The Local standard for seismic load should be thoroughly examined as
the force applied in the shaking table should be known.
Model materials, the model to be built for the shaking model test should be of
brass used to simulate the steel structural members and fine aggregate concrete
with ne steel wires should be chosen to construct the RC components in the test
model.
Model design, the test model included every structural elements in the design
(Floor to roof, podium connections, crown spires and observation decks). Too
many elements and the prototype structure might be huge and complex. Hence,
the structure is simplified while designing the test model for convenience of
model construction and test.
- Key structure members, including core wall, mega columns, out
trigger trusses and belt trusses were kept and simulated strictly according to
the scaling factor.
The Seismic analysis was done on the simplified test model and the results
were compared with that of prototype structure. The analyzed result shows that
the simplified measures have little influence on the dynamic characteristics and
seismic performances of structure. The designed test model was reasonable and
the test results of this scaled model can reveal the seismic performance of
prototype structure.
Fig.17 Shanghai Tower – Shaking Model Test, China Academy of Building research
Seismic behavior of Model Structure, the model first should be studies with
the area for the seismic zone. First earthquake of intensity 7 will be observed.
Then slightly increasing the intensity gradually and many test would be
undertaken. On this observation the element more elastic and less elastic will
be known clearly.
Conclusion, The seismic test for high-rise structure carried out in a Shaking
Table model test to investigate the seismic performance. A 1:40 scale optimum
model (for instance) should be designed and test for small, moderate and large
earthquake. The dynamic responses of the model structure and prototype
structure were analyzed. The following conclusion can be drawn:
- The high rise structure should be feasible and reasonable to resist
earthquake and would have minor cracks on moderate level. For large earth
quake, more cracks occurred but most key members should be elastic.
- Experimental results should show that the structure can meet the
requirements of the Building Codes for seismic performance.
- For scaled model test, reasonable design and fine construction of test
model is very important. Thorough analysis should be carried out during model
design to verify that the test model and prototype structure are in conformity
with the similitude theory and the experimental results on the scaled model can
reveal the seismic performance of the prototype.
3.4 Facades
Innovative and iconic high rise buildings all over the world combine latest
integrated design, energy efficient building envelopes and up-to-date
construction technology to create an optimized, multi-functional, recognizable
and unique appearance. Several case studies on the innovative façade designs:
Siemens Center Shanghai: The Double Skin Façade is used in the East Asia.
The double skin comes in handy in many things. With a double-skin type of
facades, there is an insulated layer at the inside, with operable windows for
natural ventilation, a permanently ventilated cavity where an external sun
shading device is located, and an outside mono plane. The “Additional” plane,
forming the second skin, meets a set of important requirements.
The panels are 2.8m x 4.0m size façade units, pre-assembled with operable
louvers, motorized blinds, glass and glazing which were lifted up to site
without the need for any external scaffolding.
Office High-rise in Hanoi, Vietnam: The Modern curtain walls meet a special
structure. This project is a compound of two high-rise with a large low-rise
podium building totaling 300,000 m 2 of office space. The architectural idea of
an integrated special structure super transparent cable façade was chose and
further enhanced.
The whole project was cladded with a fully unitized façade, in a variety of
different faced types. These facades included innovative features, such as
integrated operable natural ventilation louvers and operable external
sunshades, similar to the preceding project. The façade construction type and
the use of highly relective, neutral solar-control, multifunctional insulating
glass units were not common to the country, and special production was setup
specifically for this project.
consists of one huge special structure. The main structural body consists of two
curved, white-clad sails which were made of a steel truss system with bolted
connections. The sails meet only in one central hinged point high up, in the
middle, giving the whole assembly a special structural appearance.
Fig. 21 Maritime museum Ling gang – Showing two structural sails with the in-
between cable net facade
In between there are two super transparent cable-net insulating glass facades.
The double-curved geometry of these double-curvature facades were determine
by computerized form-finding routines, and they fit very well in the overall
geometric complexity.
The substrates must be properly prepared in all cases. They must be clean, dry,
sound and free of loose particles, contaminates, foreign matter, water-soluble
material and frost or ice. Many sealants require primer on all substrates, while
some require them on only certain substrates. Primer is to change the chemical
characteristics of the substrate surface to render it more suitable for the sealant,
to stabilize the subrate surface by filling pores.
The mechanically tested Sealants should have more Elastic recovery under ISO
11600 and should pass the minimum requirement. There are so many
weatherproofing sealants available from the market and all they are claimed for
high performance of weather tightness.
Quality Control: Along with selecting right glazing material under relevant
industry, specification and guidelines, proper quality control procedures and
application expertise should be ensure to have originally intended performance
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Chapter - 3 Designing Consideration of High-rise
Once silicone sealant and adhesive are cured properly, it will form durable and
flexible anchor for curtain wall system. Long term durability of its structural
function has been proved based on many of successfully fabricated land-mark
projects over the world for last 40 years.
Conclusion: Super tall building has several important meanings for the society
by cultural, environmental, tourism and economical. Sealant and adhesive take
small portion for total budget and mass volume of building construction but it
has own contribution factors. For example, structural silicone sealant is one of
key contributors for the architects to fulfill unique building design based on its
flexible structural features. Once wall cladding successfully done using
structural silicone and weatherproofing sealant, it will give huge tangible
benefits for all people in the society but if it fails, it could make human made
disaster.
Whatever aspect they are for sealants in building construction, either for
structural function or for weatherproofing function, it is a matter of durability
and proper quality control.
The Design of façade in high rise should be carefully examined about the
durability, weatherproofing and quality control. Another main factor for the
façade is the fire safety consideration to be taken into account.
Key factors that impact the curtain wall’s resistance to the vertical fire
spread are as follows:
- Full height or partial height vision glass systems
- Nature of the glass used to construct glazing system
- Nature of the curtain wall components
- Height of spandrel panels
- Vertical or Horizontal projections on exterior that may deflect or
enhance flame behavior
- Building geometry at curtain wall – twister, staggered, sloped etc.
- Operable windows/openings-size, vertical or horizontal orientation
- Ability of perimeter fire barrier system to remain in void during fire
exposure
Composite – Complex Curtain wall system: The curtain wall inclined and
double skinned curtain wall can come in handy when the fire factors are
considered. Building geometry and exterior projection of the curtain wall or
building structural elements can have beneficial or negative effect on flame
length extension and heat flux exposure to curtain wall elements above the fire
compartment.
Double curtain wall systems, where two glazed walls are separated by
distances of less than a meter are being implemented. This introduces new
concerns arising from the fact that any flame that breaks through the inner
façade is confined to within a long tall shaft-like space.
Fig.28 DSF (Double Skin Façade) ventilation and Noise control schematic diagram
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Chapter - 3 Designing Consideration of High-rise
One of the most important safety measures in every design is the provision of
means of evacuation in ensuring people to escape quickly to a safe area in a
short time from any point of the building. A redundant design will have more
than one means of evacuating or exiting the building during such period of
emergency. Emergency exits within the interior of the building as well as the
exterior exits with facilities for leaving the building from windows or doors
located at the facades.
The mixed-use vertical city is a concept created from the necessities of ever
increasing urban densities in maturing Asian cities. The unique benefits of
multiple building uses within the same area have driven the development of the
vertical city concept where people live, work, recreate and shop in the same
complex. As real estate has become more scarce and expensive in other mature
urban markets, this concept has expanded around the globe.
If people want to live near where they work, employers are more likely to lease
space in this environment. If there are workers present during the day and night
then restaurants and shops want to be there to provide their services. The loop
is closed as people want to live where they are close to work, shopping and
entertainment. Sustainability is improved as people are able to reduce or
eliminate commutes, travel, vehicle usage and other resource intensive
activities. The refuse pick up and removal as one example. A relatively few
trucks can collect the refuse from thousands of office dwellers, restaurants and
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Chapter - 4 Building services of High-rise
The two operating systems commonly used today – namely group and
changeover operation only became possible with the development of powerful
drive systems and controllers, as well as highly effective braking systems with
multiple braking for safety reasons.
In group operation, for which a separate shaft is (still) required for each
elevator, the elevators or groups of elevators only serve certain floors: one
group of elevators serves the first ten floors, for example, while a second group
serves floors 10 to 20 from the entrance level, the next group then serves floors
20 to 30, etc. The groups must overlap on at least one floor so that people can
transfer from the 17th to the 23rd floor, for example, although they must
change elevators in the process. The advantage of this system is that the
number of elevator shafts decreases towards the top of the building, thus
counteracting the lower floor space frequently found on the top floors.
In changeover operation, large and very fast express elevators serve a small
number of central floors which are often also highlighted architecturally. In
New York’s Empire State Building, these elevators take no more than a minute
to travel from the ground floor to the 80th floor. “Local elevators” serve the
floors between the “changeover floors“. Here too, the elevators may serve
groups of floors in exceptionally large high-rise buildings. If the equipment
rooms are located alongside the elevator shaft, a number of local elevators can
be operated one above the other in the same shaft; in this way, the number of
shafts can be reduced while maintaining the transport capacity.
Operation
Micro computer based control systems are used to perform control functions of
elevators, car operation, group supervision and door control. The base control
includes operations required to connect, transfer and interrupt power and to
protect motors against overloading. The elevator control is monitored by the
Building Management System and is designed to include different operating
states with different provisions:
Standby Power: The system is designed to ensure that life safety and
emergency operations accept software upgrades. Signaling to and from
emergency power networks will ensure that emergency generators are not
overwhelmed by elevator evacuation, and that the elevators operating on
standby power are not shut down.
Front of House vs. Back of House vs. People vs. Material segregation
(Elevators)
Just as we strive to segregate rider types as we transport passengers vertically
through these complexes it also is important to keep back of house staff and
material transportation separated from passengers. Beyond that segregation it
is important to also segregate BOH user types. Hospitality BOH need are
significantly different than those of residential, office or retail users. These
challengers also must be considered but are significant design points that
cannot be overlooked. Current life Safety requirements for high rise buildings
also place a design requirement on BOH vertical transportation with most local
codes requiring at least 2 elevators that serve every level of a tower.
Security Concerns
These mixed use facilities ask a great deal of the elevator system in order to
provide the segregation discussed above. Modern elevator technology and
access control systems enable an even finer level of segregation when required.
For example, the use of Destination based dispatching in an elevator system
along with access control systems (Proximity cards, swipe cards, proximity
fobs or even keypad PIN entry) allows an elevator group to provide security
against unauthorized access to certain levels in case of VIP ride or Medical
emergency.
Operation (OEO) has now been recognized by the International Building Code
(IBC) as a means of providing egress from a high-rise building code
professional if such a design approach is considered as there are significant
architectural and code related geographical concerns. The use of OEO and
other new strategies provide opportunities to reduce the number of stairs in a
project, which can lead to significant core space savings.
Building power outrage: In the event of normal building power loss, the
system will identify the power available in the emergency generator network
and allocate the use by priority as follows; firefighting elevators first, then
dedicated shuttle elevators, then passenger elevators and then non-fire freight
and service elevators.
Fire Condition: Elevators will first return to the main floor via activation of
lobby detectors and lobby recall switch. In the event of a power interruption
before, during or after a fire emergency, the system will identify the power
available from the emergency generator network; prioritize orderly evacuation
of elevators serving that portion of the building prior to general elevators first,
then fire/service elevators and then non-fire freight and service elevators.
emergency response personnel to assist evacuation and can also be used for
transportation of emergency personnel to ground level.
Conclusion
While efficient day-to-day transportation of building occupants is the primary
objective of the elevator system, the design of the system must consider
occupant safety as the number one priority in every multi-floor building
design. Emergency operating conditions for such a building must be considered
as a fundamental component in their design, with consideration given to
conditions which affect the building occupants. Any high-rise building will
Retail and commercial tenant types vary widely in modern, mixed-use high rise
towers. Non-residential tenants often include but are not limited to; office
suites, hotels, restaurants and bars, grocers, retail shops, fitness centers and
small service oriented businesses such as dry cleaner. Special demands of the
logistics systems are made by many of these tenants in addition to the demands
created by residential units. Meeting the diverse requirements of all occupants
is the challenge logistics planners must meet.
Given the wide variety of truck types and trailer heights, dock equipment such
as levelers are strongly recommended to provide a safe and efficient operation.
Efficiency is important to the building owner because it may translate into
fewer truck bays and less overall space. The impact of ramps to trucks is an
important consideration inclines over eight percent grade should be avoided if
possible.
Often retail tenants are located on lower floor levels but exceptions exist and
access to service elevators is very important. Overnight couriers access to all
building levels including residential spaces. Routing to appropriate check
The planning team must fully understand the various demands the building will
experience, driven by the wide range of uses of a mixed use property. Proper
planning can make logistics operations more transparent to public, tenants and
residents. The best logistics operations are those that run smoothly without
being noticed.
Fire is one of the greatest risks for every building and particularly for high-rise
buildings. Due to the spectacular photographs and film sequences shown in the
media, major fires have always made – and will continue to make – headline
news not only during the construction phase, but above all during the
occupancy phase.
Fig.33 Reported rates for premature loss of stairwell tenability from a survey
undertaken of fire report from 50 tall buildings.
Internally, the floor slab provides a robust barrier so long as it remains firmly
supported by the structure. Historically, an extension of the floor slab past the
external façade would provide a means of in biting external fire spread. It has
also introduced flammable materials into both the wall linings and external
cladding.
Fig.34 (a) Fire spreading from origin of the floor to all above floors
(b) ‘Compartmentation’ is done and thus reducing the spreading of fire
The cases outlined above have shown how important it is to have an effective
supply of fire-fighting water when combatting a fire in a high-rise building. So
that the firemen can start to fight the fire as soon as they arrive on the scene,
wet risers must be installed in every stairwell or in their vicinity and a wall
hydrant with hose line connected to these risers on every floor. The hoses must
be sufficiently long to direct fire-fighting water to every point on that floor. An
adequately dimensioned water line and adequate water pressure must be
ensured when planning and designing the building. In very high buildings,
booster systems must be installed in the wet risers to increase the water
pressure.
Whether the water for fire-fighting can be taken from the public mains or from
separate water reservoirs or tanks must be decided in each individual instance
in accordance with local conditions and regulations.
For greater safety, it may be useful to install not only wet risers, but also dry
risers into which the fire brigade can feed water at the required pressure from
the ground floor.
Automatic sprinkler systems throughout the building are important since they
must fight a fire as early as possible and must either extinguish the fire directly
or keep it under control until the fire brigade arrives to finish off the job.
However, a sprinkler system will normally be unable to control a fire in full
flame, for instance if it leaps from a floor with no sprinklers to one with
sprinklers. Sprinkler systems are simply not dimensioned to cope with such
developments.
- They must limit the emission and spread of flames, hot fumes and
smoke, they must trigger an alarm in the building, preferably also indicating to
the central control panel where the seat of the fire is located, the alert must be
forwarded to the fire brigade or other auxiliary forces.
execution of the garages and on the building’s structural system (nature of the
subsoil), the manufacturing costs for one parking space can easily amount to a
large sum. This means that the cost of building parking spaces can reach as
much as even more with complex engineering and location on several levels,
including the required ramps and traffic areas.
Traffic links must be created not only for the parking spaces, but also for
delivery traffic to the building, as well as for refuse-collection vehicles. High-
rise buildings are commonly said to represent a “town under one roof“. That,
however, also means that the traffic to, around and from the building is equal
to that of a small town, the only difference being that the entire traffic is
concentrated on a handful of access roads and adjacent traffic areas which must
be able to handle this volume of traffic at peak periods.
Tall buildings offer the advantages of housing people and business operations
efficiently and vertically in urban areas. One of the great efficiencies is that
relatively few independent exit stairs are needed to serve the population of tall
building housing potentially thousands of occupants. Some fire safety methods
such as sprinklers and compartmentation techniques afford safety for
evacuation of only a few selected floors during a fire or similar emergency to
other floors.
Although elevators may play a bigger role in total building evacuations in the
future there are a variety of reasons and concerns that stairs and elevators are
not adequate to support occupant needs during a partial or total building
evacuations. Major points that have been recognized in the building
community are:
The consolidated approach has become most common in many areas of Asia in
recent years. The impetus for the refuge area in some parts of the world is
attributed to several accidental fires. These requirements focused more on
providing refuge areas in terms of an entire floor or large portion of a floor in
those high-rise residential building taller than 40 stories.
Refuge floors provide the option for occupants to pause during the evacuation
process, and they provide the option of being an assumed safe holding area for
occupants. Occupants who are exiting can pause and rest at the refuge floor
until they feel are ready to descend further downs the exit stairs. Alternatively,
occupants may be directed to the refuge floor and kept there awaiting further
instructions.
The exit stairs above the refuge floor discharge into the refuge floor, sot that
the users must leave the stair enclosure before entering the refuge floor. The
interruption has the dual advantage of making the exiting occupants aware of
the availability of the refuge floor; and thus the people will be aware of the
refuge floor available.
The occupants load anticipated to be provided for a refuge floor should be the
theoretical worst case. The density of the occupants would be high and the
resulting crowd posed building design and crowd management challenges. The
actual utilization of a refuge floor is, however, not easily estimated or
predictable and is dependent on highly variable factors at that time of an
emergency incident. Such factors include the fire incident location, extent of
fire spread, natural calamities.
Human behavior is an area of concern and uncertainty when refuge floors are
implemented. Although training and evacuation drills are important factors to
encourage proper evacuation actions there are potential issues that may not
simply be addressed by evacuation drills. Factors such as crowding,
uncertainty about the conditions, increased heat, difficulty breathing, physical
discomfort from long standing or sitting, and other factors can increase levels
of stress and impatience.
The provision of a refuge floor does not mean that occupants will utilize the
floor as intended. Overcrowding or non-use are both potential outcomes.
However assuming a refuge floor is appropriately utilized, it should be
recognized that the refuge floor becomes assembly occupancy. The increased
density poses crowd management risks and subjects a large percent of the
building population to/smoke exposure risks in a single situation. Should the
refuge floor need to be evacuated there can be crowd issue due to the large
number of occupancy competing for access to a limited number of evacuation
routes.
The CTBUH fire safety working group believes the concept of refuge floor
needs to be reconsidered. It may make sense for some areas of building of
exceptional height or special occupancy conditions, but should be used only
with caution and with implementation of strategies or design elements which
eliminates the design and life safety problems.
The tower is 21m square on plan, and 1:4 proportion on elevation, 84m height.
It has a plain facade surface, with cut away to open up double height balcony.
High-rise Structure – Mumbai (Vertical urbanization) Page | 83
Chapter - 5 Case studies: High-rise
The tower design reinterpreted the traditional living style of Indian with
modern architecture. And it is successfully merged with environmental
consideration, and social needs in this tower. Correa’s strong design signature
of sectional displacement where appropriate by changes in floor surface is
most elaborated in this project. The complexity of internal spacial organization
to create level changes and interlocking four types of units was pushed to an
extreme in this project.
The building is oriented in east-west direction to catch the natural wind from
the sea and also this direction has best view from city to the sea. But this face
is also most heat up surface by the sun. The old bungalows solved this problem
by warping a thick layer of around living area verandas to protect from heay
monsoon rain and sun heat. Kanchanjunga Apartment is applying this concept
into the apartment design.
Concept
I.M. Pei designed the building with the structure of bamboo in mind. However,
the building looks nothing like a bamboo stalk, but more like a ‘glittering
tower of diamonds’. The cross braces and triangular framework of the building
are designed to withstand typhoons. Because of the strong framework of the
building, there was less steel needed for the building’s construction.
The Bank of China Tower is reminiscent of the Willis Tower in Chicago that
was the tallest building in the world for a long time. The difference is that the
Bank of China Tower is composed of triangular sections with triangular frames
and the Willis Tower is composed of rectangular blocks and has rectangles The
glass façades of the building reflect the light and its surroundings, so it is like a
bright and shiny white crystal, while the Sear Tower appears dark and
ominous.
The whole structure is supported by the four steel columns at the corners of the
building and one in the center of the building, with the triangular frameworks
transferring the weight of the structure onto these five columns. It is covered
with glass curtain walls.
For the first time a mega structure composed of a pure space-truss was used to
support the weight of a skyscraper. The mega structural steelwork is expressed
externally by naturally anodized panels that form part of the curtain wall.
The tower was initially built by the Hong Kong Branch of the Bank of China,
but the entrance continues to display the name “Bank of China”, rather than
BOCHK. The top four and the bottom 19 stories are used by the Bank, while
the other floors are leased out.
When the Bank of China was completed, it was the tallest building in Asia and
was the first building outside the USA to break the 1000 foot mark (305
meter).The towers sharp corners and bright, reflective features caused a lot of
controversy when it the designs were made public.
The tower was contrary to “Feng Shui” for its sharp edges and its negative
symbolism by the numerous ‘X’ shapes in its original design. That’s why Pei
modified the design to some degree before construction following this
feedback; he decided to incorporate a few water features around the building as
a ‘remedy’ to the sharp edges of the tower. Unfortunately, some of the water
features were incorrectly placed.
Linked Hybrid projects a renewed thinking about the public space within large
scale high rise projects. Holl shows us in this project how his ideal vertical city
should work. It is his ideal city within a city. The horizontal traditional urban
structure, continuous plinth with services, is combined with the vertical city,
disrupted plinth.
To prevent the city within a city to become an isolated island, Holl introduces
the term urban porosity. He connects his ideal city with its context by
attracting people to the center of linked hybrid. Urban space is enclosed in the
heart of the project. On street level pedestrians are able to move in and out the
project.
These two themes, ‘city within a city’ and ‘urban porosity’ are also the
basis for Holl’s second big housing project in China, the sliced urban
porosity block.
The ensemble of high rise towers instead of the vertical tower pinned in the
city projects a new way of thinking about high rise architecture. The public
space in heart of the large plot area connected with the highly accessible
program in the sky ring makes a unique contribution to the public life in the
city.
Three different public entrances connect the sky ring with the public space on
ground floor. These entrances (coloured red in the floor plan above) each offer
a different variety of pro- gram. One area for health and sport Centre, one area
for recreational program opened through the day and one area for restaurants
opened during night. The entrance to the restaurant is located next to the access
to the cinema within the heart of the project.
The unusual tower shape is an idea of the architect C.Y. Lee from Taipei. He
was inspired by local culture; the building reflects the culture in which it
functions. Lee was looking for balance between local culture and
internationalism. The tall building symbolizes a broader understanding and
anticipation of things to come: we “climb” in order to “see further”. The
building rises from the ground like a bamboo, a symbol of everlasting strength
in Chinese culture.
In the section, the shape of a pagoda is recognizable. Taipei 101 Tower rises in
8 modules, a design based on the Chinese lucky number “8”. In cultures that
observe a seven-day week the number eight symbolizes a renewal of time
(7+1). In cultures where seven is the lucky number, 8 represent 1 better than
‘lucky seven’. Each module has 8 floors and flares wider t the top. There are
101 floors above the ground and 5 floors underground.
It’s more challenging to design and build a super-tal building in Taipei than
any other location in the world because typhoon winds, large potential
earthquakes and weak soil conditions all need to be overcome. A damping
system was implemented to reduce the excessive lateral accelerations from
wind.
In the time it was build; the height of the Taipei 101 was record-breaking,
previously held by the Petronas Towers with 452 meters. It was the highest
building in the world, build in an area with typhoons and earthquakes! The
height of 101 floors commemorates the renewal of time: the new century that
arrived as the tower was built (100+1) and all the new years that follow
(January 1 = 1-01). It symbolizes high ideals by going one better on 100, a
traditional number of perfection.
A mega mass damper reduces the effect of wind. The pendulum has a weight of
660.000 kilogram and is situated on the 88th floor. It sways to offset
movements in the building caused by strong gusts. Its sphere, the largest
damper sphere in the world, consists of 41 circular steel plates. The structure
has to be flexible enough to resist an earthquake, and stiff enough to resist a
typhoon. Eight mega columns give the stiffness to the building.
The Taipei 101, formerly known as the Taipei World Financial Center, is a
landmark skyscraper located in the Hsinyi District of the city, the rapid-
growing “Manhattan” of Taipei. This is the future center of financial power in
Taiwan. Taipei 101 is owned by the Taipei Financial Center Corporation
(TFCC).
Taipei 101 has one of the fastest ascending elevator speeds with 1010 meters
per minute, which is 16.83 m/s (60.6 km/h). These Toshiba elevators are able
to take visitors from the main floor to the observatory on the 89th floor in
under 39 seconds.
Taipei 101’s own roof and facade recycled water system meets 20-30 percent
of the building’s water needs. Upgrades are currently under way to make
Taipei 101 “the world’s tallest green building” by LEED.
The results of this study show that high-rise housing developments should not
only construct more comfortable and multiform physical environment, but also
produces more harmonious social environment by providing diversified
housing choices for various social groups to achieve a greater degree of social
mix. Finally, the concentration of high-rise buildings can change the micro-
climate of urban neighborhood and urban landscape, and result in the rise of
the environmental temperature (Heat island effect), the deterioration of wind
environment (Wind tunnel effect), and the decline of air quality. These
negative outcomes should be fully studied in order to find the methods to
improve the high-rise housing developments.
Proper utilization of the benefits and more public awareness on this regards,
can change our environment drastically within near future. If all the processes
are followed, the best benefit the building orientation and the climatic
condition of the site should also be necessarily considered while designing
green buildings besides incorporation plants into the design. We hope that the
few drawbacks of technologies should be overcome soon and more options to
plant integration into the high-rise building should draw the builder’s attention.
Thus we can have a better environment as well as better future for our next
generation.
References: