Thousands of workers toiled over the pyramids of Egypt, the cathedrals of Europe and countless towers and pillars to create something awe inspiring. Even today, the sky apparently does not seem to be the limit anymore. Taller and taller behemoths battle it out to take over the skyline of cities worldwide. People build skyscrapers primarily because they are convenient -- you can create a lot of real estate out of a relatively small ground area. But ego and grandeur do sometimes play a significant role in the scope of the construction, just as it did in earlier civilizations.

The Science Behind Skyscrapers

The central support structure of a skyscraper is its steel skeleton. Metal beams are riveted end to end to form vertical columns. At each floor level, these vertical columns are connected to horizontal girder beams.

Underground Substructure: The base of the skyscraper is supported by an underground substructure. The force of gravity is transferred through vertical columns into the base of the building where the vertical columns rest in the underground substructure.
Vertical Columns: The weight of the skyscraper is supported by a group of vertical columns. Each vertical column sits on a spread footing. The column rests directly on a cast-iron plate, which sits on top of a grillage. The grillage is a stack of horizontal steel beams, lined side-by-side in two or more layers. The grillage rests on a thick concrete pad poured directly onto the hard clay under the ground. Once the steel is in place, the entire structure is covered with concrete.
Girder Grids: Each floor is supported by horizontal steel girders running across the vertical columns. Many buildings also have diagonal beams running between the girders, for extra structural support.
Curtain wall: The curtain wall, which makes up the outside of the skyscraper, is made up of glass and concrete and needs to support only its own weight. This lets architects open the building up as much as they want, in stark contrast to the thick walls in traditional building construction.

Fight Against Gravity

The skyscrapers arch nemesis - gravity. Building multiple stories required strengthening the base of buildings. In earlier days, in buildings of mortar and stone the lower floors had to be continually strengthened which became impractical after a certain stage. With the advent of mass production of iron and steel, this roadblock was easily conquered. New manufacturing processes made it possible to produce long beams of solid iron. These beams were created into support structures for increasing the height of the building. With the advent of the Bessemer process, the first efficient method for mass steel production, architects moved away from iron. Steel, which is even lighter and stronger than iron, made it possible to build even taller buildings.

Fighting The Wind

Apart from the vertical force of gravity skyscrapers have to face and fight the horizontal force of the wind as well. Most skyscrapers can move

considerable horizontal distance without losing their structural integrity. The most basic method for controlling horizontal sway is to simply tighten up the structure. At the point where the horizontal girders attach to the vertical column, the construction crew bolts and welds them on the top and bottom, as well as the side. This makes the entire steel super structure move more as one unit, like a pole, as opposed to a flexible skeleton.

Making It Functional

Skyscrapers would never have worked without the coincident emergence of elevator technology. Ever since the first passenger elevator was installed in New York's Haughwout Department Store in 1857, elevator shafts have been a major part of skyscraper design. In most skyscrapers, the elevator shafts make up the building's central core.

Building safety is also a major consideration in design. Skyscrapers wouldn't have worked so well without the advent of new fire-resistant building materials in the 1800s. These days, skyscrapers are also outfitted with sophisticated sprinkler equipment that puts out most fires before they spread very far. A building is only successful when the architects have focused not only on structural stability, but also usability and occupant satisfaction.

Up, Up and Away

The title of the tallest skyscraper keeps shifting from building to building. The current reigning behemoth is the ‘Taipei 101’ in Taipei, standing at 504m with 101 floors. And the race is far from over. Around 50 buildings under contemplation are looking to break this record and according to architects the real limitation is money, not technology. Super tall buildings would require extremely sturdy materials and deep, fortified bases. Construction crews would need elaborate cranes and pumping systems to get materials and concrete up to the top levels. All in all, putting one of these buildings up could easily cost billions of dollars.

Skyscrapers would provide a great advantage by reducing commuting time and conserving untapped natural land. The real driver behind the increasing height of buildings is vanity. The imposing height first attributed to gods now describes corporations. The future is waiting to see how high we would go in the name of wanting the tallest building on the block.

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