Vertical Building Structure, Wolfgang Schueller

VERTICAL BUILDING
STRUCTURES
Prof. Wolfgang Schueller

Shibam, mud-brick-city, Yemen, 16th century,
houses are 5 to 9 stories high

High-rise buildings up to 10 stories or more flourished already in ancient Rome

Stupa Borobudur near Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia, 9th cent.

San Gimignano, Italy, city of
medieval towers, c. 13th century

The residential towers of Bologna
(Italy) in the 12 th century numbered
80 to 100 at the time, the largest of
which rise to 97 m (319 ft)

Ponttor , Aachen, Germany, 17th-
18th cent., former gate in the city
wall

Aachen Cathedral, Aachen, Germany, 800 - 1880

Aachen Cathedral, Aachen, Germany,
c. 790 - 1884

Palatine Chapel (Octogon),
Aachen Cathedral, c. 790

Glass Chapel (100 ft), Aachen Cathedral, 1414

Cologne Cathedral, 1248 –
1880, towers are 157 m high

The Iron Pagoda (187 ft), Kaifeng, Henan
province, China, 1049 AD (Song Dynasty)

The six minarets of the Blue Mosque (1616),
Istanbul, Turkey

Current tall high-rise building structures

Vertical building structures range from massive building blocks to slender towers. They
may occur as isolated objects or urban mega structures. This geometrical study: from
the single house to the urban building, suggests the formal variations including,
single and cluster houses, free-standing and merging buildings, terraced and
inverted stepped buildings, open and closed shapes,
and so on.

High-rise building shapes range from boxy,
pure shapes (prisms as based on rectangle,
cruciform, pinwheel, etc.) to compound hybrid
forms; the high-rise of the postmodern era
seem to have complete freedom of form-giving.
The building masses may be broken up
vertically and horizontally into interacting
blocks to reduce the scale of the building.

Infinite many possible building shapes depending on urban context, building function,
economy, aesthetics, etc.

European Parliament, Luxemburg

Visual study of unconventional building structures of the 1960s and 1970s

Some current tall high-rise
building structures

Floor Framing Systems in Concrete

Further floor framing patterns, floor stucture systems, corner framing and core framing

Building Organism:
structure, geometry, function,
elevators, mechanical
systems, zoning, etc.

Plan Forms, Circulation and
Core Location: The vertical
distribution of people along the
cores and horizontal branches to
the respective activity zones that
either consist of closed cellular
aggregates or open layers can
only be suggesgted in this study.
Some of the variables influencing
this flow are: building shape, plan
form and depth, number,
location, and orientation of
core(s); arrangement and access
of activity units.

Circulation Systems for
Apartment Buildings

The distribution of
mechanical systems to
the various thermal zones
is studied. The flow of the
many systems is
dependent on the
function of the building: in
buldings with fixed
cellular sudivisions a
decentralized branching
may be needed, whereas
in open-office landscapes
a much more centralized
branching of the
mechanical services is
the rule.

Examples of Elevator
Shaft Systems and
Mechanical Floors

Possible location of lateral-force resisting structures within the building

A building structure can be visualized as
consisting of horizontal planes (floor and
roof structures), the supporting vertical
planes (walls, frames, etc), and the
foundations. The horizontal planes tie the
vertical planes together to achieve somewhat of
a box effect, and the foundations make the
transition from the building to the ground
possible.
It is obvious that a slender, tall tower must be a
compact, three-dimensional closed structure where
the entire body acts a unit. On the other hand, a
massive building block only needs some stiff,
stabilizing elements that give lateral support to the rest
of the building.

THE RANGE OF
BUILDING
STRUCTURES
It is obvious that a
slender , tall tower
must be a compact,
three-dimensional
closed structure
where the entire body
acts a unit. On the
other hand, a massive
building block only
needs some stiff,
stabilizing elements
that give lateral
support to the rest of
the building.

Building Response to Load Action

The development of modern building support structures has its origin in the inventive
spirit of structural engineering and the rapid progress in the engineering sciences
during the 19th century. The birth of the new era of high-rise building construction is
surely reflected by the unbelievable height of the
• Eiffel Tower in Paris, 1889, with 300 m. The exponential shape of the tower is
almost funicular as vertical cantilever with respect to lateral wind pressure and as a
column with respect to weight (i.e. equal stress). The tower conveys an understanding
of equilibrium forms and expresses clearly lateral stability with its wide base similar to
the base of tree trunks.
• With the 15-story Johnson Wax Tower (1950) at Racine, Wisconsin, Frank Lloyd
Wright became the first designer to break away from the traditional skeleton concept
in high-rise construction. He used the tree concept, in his urge toward the organic, by
letting the mushroom-type floor slabs cantilever from the central core, which is deeply
rooted in the ground. Wright freely used the plastic quality of concrete and helped to
even further identify the potential of the material.
Influenced by the newly found possibilities of engineering and the spirit of invention,
the Russian Constructivists experimented in the early 1920s or so with different
building shapes, the deconstruction of the building, in other words by taking a
completely opposite position to the classical tradition of façade architecture.The
constructivist art of modernism surely has influenced designers. Pioneers such as
Antoine Pevsner and Naum Gabo at the early part of this century in Russia, and later
Alexander Calder’s kinetic art and Kenneth Snelson’s tensegrity sculptures.

The birth of the new
era of high-rise building
construction is surely
reflected by the unbelievable
height of the Eiffel Tower in
Paris, 1889, with 300 m. The
exponential shape of the
tower is almost funicular as
vertical cantilever with
respect to lateral wind
pressure and as a column
with respect to weight (i.e.
equal stress). The tower
conveys an understanding of
equilibrium forms and
expresses clearly lateral
stability with its wide base
similar to the base of tree
trunks.

The early development of tall buildings occurred in Chicago from about 1880 to 1900, where
block- and slab-like building forms reached 20 stories.
Then the soaring towers of New York introduced the true skyscraper, the symbol of
American cities.
• Louis Sullivan integrated masterfully abstract stylistic considerations of
tripartite subdivision with the expression of load-bearing in the Guarantee
Building, Buffalo, 1895.
• The Gothic style was applied to the Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh
(mid 1930s) to articulate height of the tower through the upward thrust that is the skyscraper.
• The Empire State Building (1250 ft), New York, 1931, Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon - the
building does not express the complexity of the building organism as the modernists do
Notice the further development of the façade and appearance as the effect of
functionalism in the resolution of the wall to a transparent weightless skin or the
deconstruction of the façade takes place.

The early development of modern tall buildings occurred in Chicago from about 1880 to 1900,
where block- and slab-like building forms reached 20 stories.
Then the soaring towers of New York introduced the true skyscraper, the symbol of American
cities.

Louis Sullivan integrated masterfully abstract stylistic considerations of
tripartite subdivision with the expression of load-bearing in the Guarantee
Building, Buffalo, 1895.

Carson Pirie Scott Building,
Chicago, 1899, Louis Sullivan

The Gothic style was applied to the Cathedral of Learning at the University of
Pittsburgh (mid 1930s) to articulate height of the tower through the upward thrust
that is the skyscraper.

Empire State Building (381 m, 1250 ft), New York, 1931, Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon, the
building does not express the complexity of the organism as the modernists do.

Glass skyscraper project, 1920, Mies
van der Rohe

Bauhaus Dessau, Germany, 1926, Gropius

Lever House, New York, 1952,
Gordon Bunshaft/ SOM

Seagram Building, New York,
1958, Mies van der Rohe, Philip
Johnson

gravity flow lateral force flow

Johnson Wax Research Tower (8 stories), Racine, WI, 1944, Frank Lloyd Wright

With the 15-story Johnson Wax Tower
(1950) at Racine, Wisconsin, Frank
Lloyd Wright became the first designer
to break away from the traditional
skeleton concept in high-rise
construction. He used the tree
concept, in his urge toward the organic,
by letting the mushroom-type floor slabs
cantilever from the central core, which
is deeply rooted in the ground. Wright
freely used the plastic quality of
concrete and helped to even further
identify the potential of the material.

Notice the further development of
the façade and appearance as the
effect of functionalism in the resolution of the
wall to a transparent weightless skin or the
deconstruction of the façade takes place.

Engineering College, Ningbo
Institute of Technology, Zhejiang
University, Ningbo, 2002,
Qingyun Ma

Library, Ningbo Institute of Technology, Zhejiang University, Ningbo, 2002, Qingyun Ma

Administration Building, Ningbo Institute of Technology, Zhejiang
University, Ningbo, 2002, Qingyun Ma

University Hotel, Ningbo Institute of Technology, Zhejiang University

Tour Lilleurope (115m), Lille, France, 1995, Claude Vasconi

Lloyd’s Registry, London, 2000,
Richard Rogers, Anthony Hunt

Dormitory of Nanjing University,
Zhang Lei Arch., Nanjing University,
Research Center o0f Architecture

Tod’s Omotesanto Building,
Tokyo, Japan, 1997, Toyo Ito,
network of concrete trees

Audi Forum Tokyo –t he Iceberg, 2006,
Benjamin Warner

The transition of the high-rise building
to the base and its interaction with the urban
scale has become has become an important design
consideration.

The transition of
building to base

ING Group Headquarters,
Amsterdam, 2002, Meyer en
Van Schooten Arch

NordDeutsche Landesbank am
Friedrichswall, Hannover, 2002,
Behnisch

4/15/2016 84
Real Life
Exchange House, London, 1990, SOM; located directly over the British Rail train tracks north of the
historic train sheds that were renovated as part of the overall development, the 10-story office block
supported on an expressed structural frame spans the tracks in the manner of a bridge, with a parabolic
arch the basis of the overall structural engineering design.

Influenced by the newly found possibilities of
engineering and the spirit of invention, the Russian
Constructivists experimented in the early 1920s or so
with different building shapes, the deconstruction of
the building, in other words by taking a completely
opposite position to the classical tradition of façade
architecture. The following slides reflect some of that
spirit: The constructivist art of modernism surely has
influenced designers. Pioneers such as Antoine
Pevsner and Naum Gabo at the early part of this
century in Russia, and later Alexander Calder’s
kinetic art and Kenneth Snelson’s tensegrity
sculptures.

“Monument to the Third
International,” model designed by
Vladimir Tatlin, 1920, experiments
with structure, Russian
Constructivism

Shabolovka tower, Vladimir Shukhov, 1922, Moscow

Experiments with structure,
Russian Constructivism

Experiments with structure, Russian Constructivism

Early 1960s, glass sculptures of Harry
Saeger

Early 1960s, glass sculptures
of Harry Saeger

Picasso sculpture, Chicago,
1967

Tree of Bowls, Jean (Hans) Arp,
Foundation Beyeler,
Riehen/Basle, Switzerland, 1960

Kenneth Snelson, Needle Tower, 1968,
Hirshorn Museum, Washington; this 60-ft
high (18 m) tower explores the spatial
interaction of tension and compression.
A network of continuous cables is
prestressed into shape by discontinuous
compression struts which never touch
each other. Buckminster Fuller explained
tensegrity as tensile integrity, as
islands of compression in a sea of
tension

The primary load-bearing structure of
a building is subdivided into the
gravity structure and the lateral-
force resisting structure which
resists wind and earthquakes and
provides lateral stability to the
building.

A building structure can be visualized as consisting of horizontal planes (floor and roof
structures), the supporting vertical planes (walls, frames, etc), and the foundations. The
horizontal planes tie the vertical planes together to achieve somewhat of a box effect, and the
foundations make the transition from the building to the ground possible.

Tower, steel/concrete frame, using Etabs

Turning Torso (Lateral-
force resisting tower), (25
stories), Malmö, Sweden,
2005, Santiago Calatrava,
based in form on “turning
torso”

Gravity structure: Rosenthal Center for
Contemporary Art, Cincinnati, 2004, Zaha
Hadid

The strength and stiffness of a
building is very much related to the
type and arrangement of the
vertical structural elements, as
is suggested in this study of
structure placement in plan. The
density and interaction or
continuity, of the elements, together
with the degree of symmetry,
indicate the degree of compactness
of the structure.

However, not only the
horizontal building cross-
section where the location of
the structure is defined, but
also the nature of the vertical
structures in the vertical
section (i.e. elevation of
structure) must be considered
as is demonstrated in the
drawing for planar structures.

The vertical force flow is
investigated in this drawing.
Notice that the type and pattern
of force flow depend on the
arrangement of the vertical
structural planes. The path of the
force flow may be continuous
along the columns or may be
suddenly interrupted and
transferred horizontally to
another vertical line. The
transmission of the loads may be
short and direct, or long and
indirect with a detour as for a
suspension building. When
columns are inclined, gravity
will cause directly lateral
thrust, keeping in mind,
continuous rectangular frame
action will cause indirect
lateral action.

Some considerations related to wind action are studied in this drawing indicating that
wind loads are not simply uniform pressure values as given by codes.

The building response to lateral load action is investigated in this drawing. The
horizontal forces are transmitted along the floor/roof diaphragms, which act as deep
flat horizontal beams, to the vertical lateral-force resisting structures which in turn
respond as vertical , flexural or shear cantilevers.

In this study of the
building response
to force action, the
increase of force
flow towards the
base is
convincingly
expressed by the
density of the
stress trajectories
and the truss
analogy.

This drawing shows a high-rise building structure under gravity and
lateral load action modeled as an engineering line diagram.

Introduction to Response
of Building to Load Action

High-rise structures range from pure structure systems, such as skeleton and
wall construction, and systems requiring transfer structures, to composite
systems and mega-structures.
As the building increases in height, or buildings become slenderer, different
structure systems are needed for reasons of efficiency, i.e. a particular structure
system is applicable within certain height limits, that is as the scale changes
different structure systems are required.
The effect of scale is known from nature, where animal skeletons become
much bulkier with increase of size as reflected by the change from the tiny ant
to the delicate gazelle and finally to the massive elephant. The impact of
scale on structure and form is apparent from nature not only with respect to
animals but also plants. For instance, the slenderness height-to-diameter of
the wheat stalk is around 500, while it decreases to 133 for bamboo and to
about 36 for a giant redwood tree, clearly illustrating again that proportions are
not constant but change. We may conclude that structure proportions in
nature are derived from behavioral considerations and cannot remain
constant. Thus the dimensions are not in linear relationship to each other; the
weight increases much faster than the corresponding cross-sectional
area.

This phenomenon of scale is taken into account by the various structure
members and systems as well as by the building structure types as related to
the horizontal span, and vertical span or height. With increase of span or
height, material, member proportions, member structure, and structure
layout must be altered and optimized to achieve higher strength and
stiffness with less weight.
For high-rise steel buildings the efficiency of a particular structure system is
measured as the quantity of material used that is the weight per square foot or
the total building structure weight divided by the total square footage of the
gross floor area.
The effect of the scale is clearly reflected by the change of weight for a
10-story braced frame structure from 6 psf (0.3 kPa or kN/m2)) to 29 psf (1.4
kPa) for a 100-story tubular structure!
The discussion above refers only to ordinary buildings; special building
configuration (in plan and elevation) and special load transfer conditions
obviously have their unique solution and cannot be organized according to
general rules.

The efficiency of a concrete structure is evaluated to a
great extent in terms of process of construction, in additions to the
quantities of materials used that is roughly between 0.5 ft3/ft2 (0.15
m3/m2) to 1.0 ft3/ft2 (0.30 m3/m2) concrete, and reinforcing steel of 2 lb/ft2
(96 N/m2 = 9.67 kgf/m2) to 4 lb/ft2 (192 N/m2 = 19.53 kgf/m2), in contrast
to steel, which considers only the quantity of material used.

As already mentioned previously, every building consists of the load-bearing
structure and the non-load-bearing portion. The main load bearing structure,
in turn, is subdivided into:
Gravity structure consisting of floor/roof framing, slabs, trusses,
columns, walls, foundations
Lateral force-resisting structure consisting of walls, frames,
trusses, diaphragms, foundations
Support structures, in general, may be classified as,
Horizontal-span structure systems:
floor and roof structure
enclosure structures
Vertical building structure systems:
walls, frames cores, etc.
tall buildings

VERTICAL BUILDING STRUCTURE SYSTEMS 1

EXAMPLES OF VERTICAL BUILDING STRUCTURES

Vertical building
structure systems ,
organized according to
efficiency

The functioning of the building

The presentation of building structures is organized as follows:
STRUCTURE SYSTEMS
A NEW GENERATION OF BUILDING STRUCTURES
THE NEXT GENERATION OF SKYSCRAPERS
GREEN HIGHRISE BUILDINGS
SUPERTALL (SLENDER) BUILDINGS

STRUCTURE SYSTEMS
• Bearing wall structures (up to approximately 28 stories)
• Core structures (and bridge structures)
• Suspension buildings
• Skeleton structures and flat slab building structures
Rigid frame (up to ≈ 30 stories)
• Braced frame structures: frame with shear wall/core (45 stories)
Staggered wall-beam structures (up to ≈ 40 stories)
Frame with shear, band and outrigger trusses (up to ≈ 60 stories)
• Partial tubular systems (up to ≈ 65 stories)
Exterior framed tubular (up to ≈ 90 stories)
Bundled framed tubes (up to ≈ 110 stories)
Exterior diagonalized tubes (up to ≈ 115 stories)
• Mega-structures
Hybrid structures

The bearing wall was the primary support structure for high-rise
buildings before the steel skeleton and the curtain wall were introduced in the
1880s in Chicago. The traditional tall masonry buildings were massive
gravity structures where the walls were perceived to act independently; their
action was not seen as part of the entire three-dimensional building body. It
was not until after World War II that engineered thin-walled masonry
construction was introduced in Europe.
Bearing wall construction is used mostly for building types that require
frequent subdivision of space such as for residential application. Bearing
wall buildings of 15 stories or more in brick, concrete block, precast large-
panel concrete, or cast-in-place reinforced concrete are commonplace
today; they have been built up to the 26-story range.

16-story Monadnock Building,
Chicago, 1891, John Wellborn
Root, clear expression of
structure (no decoration)

Plan forms range from slab-type buildings and towers of various shapes to any
combination. The wall arrangements can take many different forms, such as the cross-
wall-, long-wall-, double cross-wall-,tubular-, cellular-, and radial systems.

The walls may be continuous or perforated to various degree, as is suggested in the
study of the effect of lateral load action upon walls with openings.

Study of gravity force flow along walls:The nature of gravity force flow can be visualized as the
flow of water which is distributed when an object is submerged in the uniform current thereby
displacing the flow lines. The resulting flow net depends on the type of opening in the wall and
support conditions. The degree of disturbance, that is the crowding of the stream lines, indicates
the increased speed or the corresponding intensity of load action

18-story Nederlandse
Gasunie, Groningen, 1994,
Alberts + Van Huut Arch., is
organically shaped to
reflect the constant
movement under the
change of sun and
weather. The slender
building, 1:6.7, consists of
load bearing concrete walls
anchored front to back by
nearly ½ m thick diaphragm
walls. The 60-m glass wall
in front, which appears
almost like a waterfall, is
carried by an enormous
steel space frame covering
the atrium space.

Dormitory of Nanjing University,
Zhang Lei Arch., Nanjing
University, Research Center of
Architecture

Neuer Zollhof, Duesseldorf, Germany, 1998, Frank
O. Gehry, looks like an unstable collage, they are
solid concrete walls for the middle portion of the
building group, The walls of the center building
have a surface whose shape is much like that of
folds of hanging fabric, where the undulating wall
is clad in polished stainless steel

Unite d’Habitation, Marseille,
France, 1952, Le Corbusier, is
450 ft (137 m) long, 80 ft (24 m)
wide and 184 ft (56 m) high and
the cross walls are spaced at
circa 4 m.

Typical cross shear wall structure

The behavior of ordinary
cross shear walls

Zollverein School of Management & Design, Essen, 2006, SANAA : Kazuyo Sejima +
Ryue Nishizawa, SAPS / Sasaki, Tokio, B+G Ingenieure / Bollinger und Grohmann

Apartment
building,
Heerlen,
Netherlands

WALDEN 7, 1974. Sant Just Desvern. Barcelona, Ricardo Bofill. The building is a vertical labyrinth
consisting of seven interior patios linked on all levels by vertical and horizontal circulation routes. The
dwellings, the combination of square 30 m2 modules, come in different sizes, ranging from the single-
module studio to the four-module apartment, either on one floor or duplex.

Visual study of the structure of Walden 7

LA MURALLA ROJA, 1973. Calpe, province of Alicante, Spain, Ricardo Bofill

Visual study of LA MURALLA ROJA
Visual study of LA
MURALLA ROJA

Black castle,
Spain, Ricardo
Bofill

Visual study of Stufendomino Lyngberg, Bonn- Bad Godesberg, Wetzel Wohnbau, 1975

The fractal space of Moshe Safdie’s Habitat 67 in Montreal, Canada, consists of load bearing precast concrete
boxes which were stacked 12 stories high and are tied together by post-tensioning. The vertical elevator shafts
and stair cores together with elevated horizontal streets give lateral support in frame action to the asymmetrical
assembly.

Visual study of box-type wall arrangements

Ramot Housing Complex, 1970s,The
Cube and the Dodecahedron in My
Polyhedric Architecture, Zvi Hecker

Sky Village (380 ft), Rødovre, Copenhagen, 2011, MVRDV

Sky Village—as the mixed-use building is being called—steps out in more than one direction.
Designed by Rotterdam-based MVRDV and its Danish codesigners, ADEPT, the 380-foot-tall
“stacked neighborhood” features a combination of apartments, offices, retail, and parking.
The basic design starts with a square grid of 36 units, or pixels, each two stories tall and
measuring 251⁄2 feet wide by 251⁄2 feet long, a dimension arrived at for its flexibility for use
as a suitable parking grid, housing unit, and office type. The four central pixels make up the
core. Surrounding pixels are removed and stacked on top of each other in various
configurations, though no single floor comprises all 36 pixels. The building gets “fattest”
about a third of the way up, where floors contain up to 26 pixels. “We’re very fond of
Legos and use them in the office for conceptual designs,” says Anders Peter Galsgaard, one
of the Copenhagen-based engineers. “We try to build the same way.”

Galsgaard also likens the structure to a Christmas tree, with a very stiff base, in
this case consisting of two levels of underground parking, and a main trunk, the
cast-in-place concrete core made up of elevators, stairs, and shafts. The pixels,
which have a column at each of the corners and diagonal bracing on two
sides, will hang from the core from steel trusses rather than cantilever in the
traditional sense. According to Galsgaard, “Hanging the pixels this way creates a
lot of compression in the core, so even under very high wind loads there is very
little tension, which allows us to use steel more efficiently.”

CORE STRUCTURES
Many multi-core buildings with their exposed service shafts have been
influenced by the thinking of the Metabolists in Japan of the 1960s, who
clearly separated the vertical circulation along cores and the served spaces.
Their urban clusters consisted of vertical service towers linked by multilevel
bridges, which in turn contained the cellular subdivisions.

Many multi-core buildings with their exposed service shafts
have been influenced by the thinking of the Metabolists of the
1960s, who clearly separated the vertical circulation along
cores and the served spaces. Their urban clusters consisted of
vertical service towers linked by multilevel bridges, which in
turn contained the cellular subdivisions. The linear bearing wall
structure works quite well for residential buildings where
functions are fixed and energy supply can be easily distributed
vertically. In contrast, office and commercial buildings require
maximum flexibility in layout, calling for large open spaces
subdivided by movable partitions. Here, the vertical circulation
and the distribution of other services must be gathered and
contained in shafts and then channeled horizontally at every
floor level. These vertical cores may also act as lateral
stabilizers for the building.

Visual study of core structures

The linear bearing wall structure works quite well for residential buildings where functions are
fixed and energy supply can be easily distributed vertically. In contrast, office and commercial
buildings require maximum flexibility in layout, calling for large open spaces subdivided by
movable partitions. Here, the vertical circulation and the distribution of other services must be
gathered and contained in shafts and then channeled horizontally at every floor level. These
vertical cores may also act as lateral stabilizers for the building.
Joint Core System, Arata Isozaki, 1960

Study of central core structures

There is an unlimited variety
of possibilities related to the
shape, number, arrangement,
and location of cores. They
range from single-core
structures (e.g. core with
cantilevered floor framing) to
multiple core structures.

A.N. Richards Medical Research Laboratory, Philadelphia, Louis Kahn

A.N. Richards Medical
Research Laboratory,
Philadelphia, Louis Kahn

SHIZUOKA PRESS & BROADCASTING CENTER,Tôkyô, 1967, Kenzo Tange

Torre de Collserola, Norman Foster, 1992, guyed mast

Knight’s of Colombus Building (23
stories), New Haven, 1970, Kevin Roche

Marina Towers (179 m, 62 stories), Chicago, 1964, Bertrand Goldberg Marina City. The first 18 stories of
each tower consist of continuously rising circular slabs for parking. The remaining 62 stories consist of
pie-shaped apartments with cantilevered balconies which give the towers a scalloped form. (Chicago,
Illinois)

Kisho Kurokawa, Nakagin Capsule
Tower, Tokyo, Japan, 1972, The 14-
story high Tower has 140 capsules
stacked at angles around a central
core. Kurokawa developed the
technology to install the capsule
units into the concrete core with only
4 high-tension bolts, as well as
making the units detachable and
replaceable.

Federal Reserve Building, Boston, 1972, Stubbins Arch, Le Messurier Struct. Eng., 3-story
transfer trusses carry 30 floors to the end cores

OCBC Center (197.7 m (649 ft), Singapore, 1976, I.M. Pei, Arup,,
concrete mega-frame

Torre Caja Madrid, 250 m (820 ft) and
45 floors, 2008, Foster, Halvarson and
Partners

Chicago firm collaborates to design Spain's tallest building
The Torre Repsol high-rise building was designed by the architectural firm Foster and Partners to be the
new corporate headquarters for Repsol YPF S.A., Spain's largest oil company. The tower—located in
Madrid on the former training grounds of the Real Madrid soccer team—is part of a new business park
called Cuatro Torres, which includes three other new office towers. At 250 meters (820 feet), Torre Repsol
will be the tallest of the four new buildings, as well as the tallest in Spain.
Halvorson and Partners of Chicago collaborated with Foster and Partners to design a unique and iconic
building, which would be used to consolidate the oil company's many smaller offices into one central
location. Ultimately, the tower's design would include five parking levels below grade and 34 office floors
(a total of approximately 110 square meters) divided into three distinct office blocks of 11, 12, and 11
floors. Each office block is supported on a set of two-story steel trusses that span between two reinforced
concrete cores.
The trusses transfer all of the tower's gravity loads to the two cores, which are the only vertical load-
carrying elements that extend to the foundation. The trusses also link the cores together, and in essence,
behave as a large moment-frame to resist east-west lateral forces. The typical office floor plate
cantilevers to the north and south of the cores with only two exterior columns on the north and south
faces.
Buildings in Madrid are typically founded on drilled piers that bear on a stiff clay layer called Tosca. At the
Cuatro Torres site, the Tosca clay is approximately 20 meters below grade, and it was presumed that a
mat foundation supported on drilled piers would be the appropriate foundation.

Concrete cores and transfer trusses
The two reinforced concrete cores, located on the east and west sides of the building, are the only vertical load-carrying elements of
the tower that extend down to the mat foundation; achieving one of the owner's objectives—a column-free lobby. The eight gravity-
load columns on the typical office floor plate are transferred to the cores by three sets of two-story-deep trusses. In plan, each core
measures 22 meters in the north-south direction and 10 meters in the east-west direction; with wall thickness of 1,200 millimeters at
the base to 400 millimeters at the top.
North-south lateral loads are resisted by pure cantilever action of two cores, and since the gravity load for the entire building is
carried by the cores, there is no uplift or tensions in the core walls, even with an aspect ratio of 11 to 1.
For east-west lateral loads, the cores are too narrow to provide adequate strength and stiffness as pure cantilevers, and the transfer
trusses are used to link the two cores together, such that the system behaves like a large moment-frame to resist lateral forces.
At each of the three truss levels, the system of trusses consists of the following: two primary trusses that span east-west—32 meters
between the cores; and two secondary trusses that cantilever 10 meters north and south from the primary trusses and transfer the
eight gravity columns back to the primary trusses. Ideally, the primary trusses would be simple span between the cores; however,
since the primary trusses also interact with the cores to resist lateral loads, the top chord of the truss would need to be connected to
the core. Connecting the top chords of the truss to the core walls would induce negative bending moments in the truss under gravity
loads, resulting in top-chord tensions at the connection to the core. To minimize the gravity-load negative moments, the top-chord
connection of the primary trusses to the core has been detailed to allow horizontal movement; this connection was not fully tightened
until the full structural dead load had been applied to the truss. Therefore, in the permanent condition, top-chord tensions only result
from live loads and east-west lateral loads.
The connection of the primary trusses to the cores is one of the most critical in the building. Transmitting the large gravity and lateral
loads to the cores is accomplished with a robust and positive connection of the truss chords to an embedded, built-up steel column
within each core (four total). During erection, the tension force that would develop in the bottom chord of the primary truss actually
resolves itself as a horizontal thrust against the cores, since the bending stiffness of the cores is larger than the axial stiffness of the
truss chord. The thrust on the cores caused complexity with the diaphragm-to-core connection details of the floors above and below
the truss levels. To eliminate this thrust, post-tensioning tendons are provided along the bottom chord of the primary truss and
anchored to the embedded column in the cores. In addition to minimizing the axial thrust, the post-tensioning provides a level of
redundancy for the critical truss to core connection.
At each level where the truss top and bottom chords attach to the core, a 1,900-millimeter-thick slab is provided within the core. The
thick slabs provide a means of engaging the full cross-section of the core to resist the truss chord forces. The 1,900-millimeter slabs
are reinforced with both mild reinforcement and post-tensioning tendons in two directions.

Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, 1973, I. M. Pei, constructivist sculpture

STC Building, New Delhi,
1989, Raj Rewal

Hypobank (21 stories), Munich, Germany, 1981, Walter and Bea Betz

Triangle building,
Friedrichstr/ Mauerstr.
Berlin, 1996, Josef Paul
Kleihues

Sendai Mediatheque, Kasuga-machi, Aoba-ku,
Sendai-shi, Japan, Toyo Ito + Mutsuro Sasaki,
2001; the transparent facade allows the
revelation of diverse activities that occur within
the building. Along this main facade the six 15.75-
inch-thin floor slabs seem to be floating within the
space connected only by the 13 vertical tube
steel lattice columns that rise up from ground
floor to roof, similar to the trunks of trees of a
forest. The tubes are both structure and vector for
light and all of the utilities, networks and systems
that allow for technological communication and
vertical mobility, including elevators and
stairs. Each vertical shaft varies in diameter and
is independent of the facade, allowing for a free
form plan which varies from floor to floor.

Visual study of Urban Megastructure and Bridge Structures

Yamanashi Communications
Center, Kofu, Japan, 1967,
Kenzo Tange

University Clinc (Klinikum), Aachen, Germany, 1981, Weber + Brand

University Clinc (Klinikum), Aachen,
Germany, 1981, Weber + Brand

Visual study of bridge buildings

The Hong Kong Club and Office Building, Hong Kong, 1983, Harry Seidler, 112-ft (34 m)
curved prestressed concrete girders are shaped according to the intensity of force flow
and carry the loads to four huge S-shaped corner columns

SUSPENSION BUILDINGS
The application of the suspension principle to high-rise construction rather than
roof structures is essentially a phenomenon of the late 1950s and 1960s. The
structuralists of this period discovered a wealth of new support structure systems
in the search to minimize the material and to express lightness allowing no visual
obstruction with heavy structural members. The fact that hanging the floors on
cables required only about one-sixth of the material compared to columns
in compression, provided a new challenge to designers.
Tree-like buildings with a large central tower, from which giant arms are
cantilevered at the top or intermediate levels, to support tensile columns, are
quite common today. The typical suspension systems use the
• rigid core principle (single or multiple cores with outriggers or beams, mega-
frames, tree-like frames, etc.),
• guyed mast principle,
• tensegrity or spacenet principle.

Visual study of suspension structures

Westcoast Transmission Tower, Vancouver, Canada, 1969

Hospital tower of the University of Cologne, Germany, Leonard Struct. Eng.

Lille Europe Tower (115 m), Lille, France, 1995, Claude Vasconi, where the floors are
suspended from a huge cross-beam on top which, in turn, is supported by the end cores

Standard Bank Centre (35 stories),
Johannesburg, South Africa, 1970, Hentrich-
Petschnigg

The 22-story, 100-m high, BMW Building in Munich,
Germany (1972, Karl Schwanzer) consists of four suspended
cylinders. Here, four central prestressed suspended huge
concrete hangers are supported by a post - tensioned bracket
cross at the top that cantilevers from the concrete core.
Secondary perimeter columns are carried in tension or
compression by story-high radial cantilevers at the
mechanical floor level. Cast aluminum cladding is used as
skin.

Visual study of the Narcon
Building, Hannover, 1984,

Visual study of the Narcon
Building, Hannover, 1984

Olivetti Building (5 floors), Florence, Italy, 1973, Alberto Galardi

Old Federal Reserve Bank Building,
Minneapolis, 1973, Gunnar Birkerts, 273-ft
(83 m) span truss at top

Singapore Tower, 2007 - ,
Rem Koolhaas (OMA)

Lookout Tower Killesberg (40 m), Stuttgart, 2001, Schlaich

SKELETON STRUCTURES,
FLAT SLAB BUILDING STRUCTURES
When William Jenney in the 10-story Home Insurance Building in Chicago
(1885) used iron framing for the first time as the sole support structure
carrying the masonry façade walls, the all-skeleton construction was born.
The tradition of the Chicago Frame was revived after World War II when the
skeleton again became a central theme of the modern movement in its search
for merging technology and architecture. A typical expression of this era are
Mies Van der Rohe’s buildings, which symbolize with their simplicity of
expression the new spirit of structure and glass.

Visual study of skeleton structures

The skeleton structure in plan

Typical skeleton structures in elevation

3 Sp @ 20' = 60' 15Sp@12'=180'7Sp@25ft=175ft
180/2=90'
2(180)/3=120'
Analysis of frames

Lake Shore Drive Apts, Chicago, Ludwig Mies van der
Rohe, at Chicago, 1948 to 1951

The drawing of Mies van der Rohe’s 52-story, 212-m IBM Tower in Chicago (1973)
expresses the structural action and organization of the steel frame; the building is
controlled by the grid of 9 x 12 m; the grid seems almost to subdue the structural action

Beijing Jian Wai SOHO, Beijing, Riken Yamamoto, 2004

Beijing Jian Wai SOHO, Beijing, Riken
Yamamoto & Field Shop

New architecture next to
Tsinghua University, 2006

National Permanent Building (1977),
Washington, Hartman-Cox

Lloyd’s of London (20 floors), 1986,
Richard Rogers, Arup

Simmons Hall dormitory, MIT, (2002), Steven Holl, Guy Nordensen

Simmons Dorm, MIT, Boston, 2002, Steven Holl. The undergraduate residence is envisioned with
the concept of "porosity." It is a vertical slice of city, 10 stories tall and 382' long, providing a 125 seat theater, a
night café, and street level dining. The "sponge" concept transforms the building via a series of programmatic and
bio-technical functions. The building has five large openings corresponding to main entrances, view corridors, and
outdoor activity terraces. Large, dynamic openings are the lungs, bringing natural light down and moving air up.
Each of the dormitory's single rooms has nine operable windows. An 18" wall depth shades out the summer sun
while allowing the low angled winter sun to help heat the building. At night, light from these windows is rhythmic

178 Mirador, Madrid, Spain
2004, MVRDV

Ching Fu Group Headquarters,
Kaohsiung, Taiwan, 2007, Richard
Rogers

The Colonnade (28 stories),
Singapore, 2001, Paul Rudolph

Wisma Dharmala Sakti (30 stories), Jakarta,
Indonesia, Paul Rudolph – adopted local
character of Indonesian architecture

Lippo Center (44 floors, 172
m), Hong kong, 1988, Paul
Rudolph, he Lippo Centre is
popularly referred to as the
"Koala Buildings" because the
shapes look like koala bears
climbing a tree trunk.

The Netherlands Architectural
Institute, Rotterdam, 1993, Jo
Coenen Arch.: The building
complex is divided into several
sections suggesting its
continuation into urban
context. The concrete skeleton
dominates the image
supplemented by steel and
glass. The main glazed
structure appears to be
suspended, and allows the
concrete load-bearing structure
behind to be seen. The high,
free-standing support pillars
and the wide cantilevered roof
appear more in a symbolic
manner rather as support
systems. The building complex
clearly articulates its presence
to the context.

Visual study of the skeleton as assembly: the various systems can only suggest the
infinite variation in which the linear beam and column elements can be formed and
related to one another

Flat slab building structures:
from a behavioral point of view
flat slabs are highly complex
structures. The intricacy of the
force flow along an isotropic
plate in response to uniform
gravity action is reflected by
the principal moment contours

BRACED FRAME STRUCTURES
The most common construction method is, to resist lateral force action through
bracing; it is applied to all types of buildings ranging from low-rise structures to
skyscrapers. At a certain height, depending on the building proportions and the
density of frame layout, the rigid frame becomes too mushy and may be
uneconomical so that it must be stiffened.

Typical Braced
Frame Structure

The difference in stiffness between frame and braced frame

Shear wall - frame interaction

Concrete Frame-Shear Wall Interaction: self-weight case

Example Rigid Frame Shear Wall interaction

Example hinged steel frame braced by concrete shear wall a

Multi-bay concrete shear wall steel frame building: under gravity and lateral load action

Bracing systems for tall buildings

Visual study of braced frame structure

Housing, Isle of Dogs, London, Docklands, UK, 1989, Campbell etc.

Office Building, Central Beheer, Apeldorn, Holland, 1987, Herman Herzberger

Visual study of shear wall/ core – frame interaction systems in plan: typical structures
are shown, in some cases the core is the stiffest element and resists nearly all the
lateral loads, in other building the resistance to lateral force action is shared.

Example of core – frame structure

Visual study of floor framing systems

Richard Daley Center, Chicago,
1965, C.F. Murphy

Daley Center Building; this 31-story steel frame building is constructed in Cor-Ten
steel. It is a larger scale frame consisting of 89-ft. wide bays, the horizontal beams
being deep I-beams with web stiffeners. The steel sculpture in the plaza in front of
the building is by Picasso. (Chicago, Illinois)

Inland Steel Building, Chicago, 1957, Walter Netsch + Bruce Graham (SOM)

First National Bank Building (844 ft, 60 stories). Chicago, 1969, C. F. Murphy, This 60-
story building completed in 1969 has a concrete frame with a curved taper giving the
structure a broad base. (Chicago, Illinois) First National Bank Building. View of the
half-width of the base of the building. At the right is the center line of the building,
and this line is vertical (also seen to the right in GoddenF22). The sloping members
to the left are the main outside columns which form the continuous taper of the
building width. (Chicago, Illinois)

Transamerica Pyramid,
San Francisco, 1972,
William L. Pereira

AT&T, New York,
Johnson/Burgee

Staggered wall-beam buildings: story-high wall beams span the full width of the building on
alternate floors of a given bay and are supported by columns along the exterior walls; there
are no interior columns. One can visualize the apartment units to be contained between the

STEEL PLATE SHEAR
WALLS
Steel plate shear walls

Visual study of façade trussing: lateral
bracing of buildings need not to be
restricted to internal cores, shear walls,
etc, it may also be expressed on the
façade, serving aesthetic as well
structural functions

Visual study of façade
trussing

Century Tower, Tokyo, 1991, Norman Foster

Central Plaza, Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia, 1996, Ken Yeang

NTV Nittele Tower, Tokyo, 2003,
Richard Rogers

Turmhaus am Kant-Dreieck mit
Wetterfahne aus Blech, Berlin,
Josef Paul Kleinhues, 1994

Capita Centre , Harry Seidler &
Associates , 1989, Sydney, 34 levels
above ground (including a 3 storey
lobby), 2 levels of basement ,
rectangular reinforced concrete core,
external columns, lateral bracing truss
- material composite structural
steel/concrete
The external truss runs vertically over
the East facade and consists of three
"chords" which read as columns; the
top, middle and bottom, at 12 m
spacings. In between these run
diagonal webs which act as lateral
bracing.
The members are of similar
construction to the columns, being
made up of a welded steel box section
that is rigidly bolt fixed to the steel
floor structure and then encased in
concrete.

Poly International Plaza (36
stories, 165 m), Guangzhou, China,
2007, SOM

Linked Hybrid Housing, Beijing, Steven Holl, 2009

SLICED POROSITY BLOCK, Chengdu,
China, 2012, Steven Holl Architects

The Leadenhall Building, London, 2010,
Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, Arup

Proposal for 75-story tower
next to MoMA, New York,
Jean Nouvel

High Line (HL) 23, 14
story, New York, 2009,
Neil M. Denari, Desimone
Consulting Engineers

Denari, like OMA, was faced with a narrow Manhattan lot, which was further
constrained by the presence of the High Line—a 22-block-long former railway
that rises almost 20 feet above grade—immediately adjacent to it. But unlike
OMA’s tower a few blocks east, which is completely (and surprisingly) as-of-
right, Denari’s building— his first ground-up design—required a number of
waivers. “There were a lot of restrictions for this site, but the developer was not
interested in conforming to the building code,” Denari admits. “He really wanted
to push boundaries.” Fortunately for both the architect and the developer, the
city was behind the project, particularly because of its relation to the High Line,
which is currently being transformed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Field
Operations from its disused state into a nearly 7-acre, elevated urban park.
Denari’s project also takes a much different structural approach than 23 East
22nd Street. “Because the building is wider at the top than at the bottom,
there is a natural instability,” explains Stephen DeSimone, president of
DeSimone Consulting Engineers, who is working with Denari. “By using
steel—which is a much lighter building material—you automatically
reduce the effect of the building wanting to topple over.” So, unlike 23 East
22nd Street, which can be described as a brute-force solution with its thick
concrete walls, HL23 is made up of slender structural members, including
canted steel columns (at a maximum 24-degree angle and located mostly along
the long, steel-clad eastern facade) and diagonal bracing (composed of 8-inch
pipes and forming a tripartite composition on the glazed north and south
elevations).

The building reaches overall stability only
upon completion of construction.
Throughout the construction process, guy-
wires provide supplemental bracing. They
will stay in place until the concrete slabs are
poured. Because of the small building footprint,
concrete is not used in the elevator core.
Instead, a steel plate acts as a sheer wall to
take horizontal and twisting loads—the first time
such an assembly has been used in a
residential building in New York City, according
to the engineers.
The structure is also integral to the envelope,
and was designed at the same time, with
facade consultant Front, to avoid any “reverse
engineering,” as Denari puts it. The sloping
east facade, which cantilevers a total of 14
feet 6 inches over the High Line (it is set
back 8 feet from the High Line platform at
the second floor), features custom-designed
stainless-steel panels with small window
openings. The north and south facades feature
extra-large glass panels measuring up to 111⁄2
feet tall.
As construction progresses, an independent
contractor lasers the structure to produce
surveys on an ongoing basis. “This building is
closer to a Swiss watch than most buildings,”
says Denari. “Ambitions are higher and
tolerances are smaller. None of the steel can be
even slightly out of place.”

Though the forms of each of these buildings are new, the technology that
makes them possible is not. And while they seem to push the limits of
structural engineering, they have only just begun to scratch the surface of
what’s possible for 21st-century buildings.

Prada Boutique Aoyama Tokyo,
Tokyo, Japan,2003, Herzog & de
Meuron, Takenaka Corporation.
structure: S & RC, 7 Fl. above, 2
Fl. below ground

Hinged frame + core/ outrigger building construction: the stiffness of the structure can be
greatly improved by using story-high or deeper outrigger arms that cantilever from the core
or shear wall at one or several levels and tie the perimeter structure to the core by either
connecting directly to individual columns or to a belt truss. This makes the structure act as
as a spatial structure similar to a cantilever tube-in-tube.

Composite and Mixed
Steel-Concrete Buildings

Allied Bank tower (71 stories),
Houston, 1983, SOM

Trump tower(68 stories), New York, 1982, Swanke Hayden Connel

Trump International Hotel and
Tower (415 m, 1362 ft, 92 floors),
Chicago, 2009, SOM

Visual study of composite
building structures

TUBULAR STRUCTURES
As the building increases in height in excess of circa 60 stories, the slender interior core and the
planar frames are no longer sufficient to effectively resist lateral forces. Now the perimeter
structure of the building must be activated to provide the task by behaving as a huge cantilever
tube. Much credit for the development of the system must given to the eminent structural
engineer Fazlur Khan of SOM in Chicago.
Various types of wall perforations and wall framing for tubes are shown in the next figure:
• Perforated shell tube (j): concrete wall tube, stressed skin steel tube, composite steel-
concrete tube
• Framed tube or Vierendeel tube (H)
• Deep spandrel tube (I)
• Framed tube with belt trusses (L)
• Trussed or braced tube (M)
• Latticed truss tube (N)
• Reticulated cylindrical tube (O)
• Combination (K)
Further organization of tubes according to behavior (cross section):
• Pure tubular concept: Single-perimeter tubes, tube-in-tube, bundled tubes (modular tubes)
• Modified tubes: interior braced tubes, partial tubes, hybrid tubes

The behavior of the cantilever tube

Tubular Structures: various
types of tubular systems are shown:
perforated shell tube ( stressed skin
steel tube, concrete wall tube,
composite steel-concrete tube), framed
or Vierendeel tube, deep spandrel tube,
framed tube with belt trusses, trussed
or braced tube, latticed truss tube, any
combinations. The organization
according to the cantilever cross-
section is: single perimeter tubes, tube-
in-tube, bundled or modular tubes, and
modified tubes (interior braced tubes,
partial tubes, hybrid tubes)

Cook County Administration Building (Brunswick Building), Chicago, 1964, Myron
Goldsmith (SOM), perimeter tube + interior core

One Shell Plaza,
Houston, 1971,
SOM

Standard Oil, Chicago,
Perkins + Will, Edward
Durell Stone

World Trade Center, New York,
1973, Minoru Yamasaki, before
9/11/2001

Shenzhen Stock Exchange HQ, 2011, OMA- Rem Koolhaas

780 Third Avenue Office
Building (50 stories), New
York, 1985, SOM

Alcoa Building (6 stories), San
Francisco, 1967, SOM

Swiss Reinsurance Headquarters,
London, Norman Foster

Hearst Tower, New York, 2005, Foster Associates Architects, Green Highrise: the diagrid frame used 20%
less steel than the average astructure, the building glass has a special coating that lets in natural light
while keeping out the solar radiation that causes heat. It is the double-wall technology that dissipates the
sun's heat; ventilation that runs under the floor rather than through overhead ducts; carbon-dioxide
monitors that assure adequate fresh air; and a system that collects and reuses rainwater and wastewater,
saving 10.3 million gallons of water each year.

John Hancock Center (100 stories, 344 m), Chicago, 1968, Bruce Graham/ Fazlur Kahn (SOM)

Sears Tower (110 stories), Chicago, 1974, SOM

Fountain Place (219 m), Dallas, 1986, I.M. Pei, is of elaborate formal geometry where the
perimeter trussed steel frame for the lower 40-story portion is the primary support structure

Bank of America Center (238 m, 56 stories), Houston, 1984, P. Johnson, the tower has the appearance of
three adjoining towers, where the tallest tower consist of a perimeter tube closed on the inside with a
Vierendeel hat truss following the gabled roof line that ties the braced frame of the interior core to the
exterior tube; the intermediate tower consists of a channel-shaped partial tube and the low-rise tower has
a planar welded frame along the end face.

JP Morgan Chase Tower (75 stories,
305 m), Houston, 1982, I.M. Pei, mixed
construction

Messeturm (256 m), Frankfurt/M, 1991, Jahn/Murphy, tube-in-tube in concrete, 50% of wind
moments is carried by the perimeter tube

23 East 22nd Street
Residential High-Rise, New
York City (24-story, 355 ft =
107 m), 2010, Rem Koolhaas
(OMA), WSP Cantor Seinuk

The 355-foot-tall OMA building would tower over its neighbors on 22nd Street, a mostly residential block lined with a mix of
10- to 12-story structures and smaller town houses in the shadow of the Flatiron Building. The original motivation for the
growth spurt in the OMA building’s midsection was to provide a good mix of apartment units—a total of 18 luxury units,
including several duplexes and terraces—with varying floor plans and ceiling heights. OMA’s initial design included a much
more dramatic cantilever. Working from the earliest stages of design development with structural engineers at WSP Cantor
Seinuk, however, OMA modified that element so that the cantilever became more gradual. The first cantilever, on the
seventh floor, where the building sets back slightly, is the greatest, at 10 feet 5 inches, with successive ones above it
stepping out at every other floor for a total overhang of 30 feet 8 inches above the adjacent five-story town house to the
east. (The developer purchased air rights from a number of nearby
Spanning 10 floors of the 24-story building, the cantilever resembles an inverted staircase. At such a scale, the daring
design is impressive, but the concept is an ancient one. In a corbel, which predates vaults, a block or brick is partially
embedded in a wall, with one end projecting out from the face. The weight of added masonry above stabilizes the
cantilever and keeps the block from falling out of the wall. The same theory holds true for this building, though steel
plates are added at each of the cantilevered floors to counter overturning due to lateral, or wind, forces. In the absence of
such forces, the building would be completely stable without additional support because of plans to use post-tensioning
cables to anchor it into the bedrock.
The primary structure of the building, however, is not steel but concrete. The facades are composed of 12-inch-thick, high-
strength structural concrete and act as sheer walls (thinning out to 10 inches above the 21st floor). The structural strategy
can alternately be described as a tube with punched-out window openings or a series of stacked Vierendeel trusses
that form a tube. “The structure fits nicely with the architecture,” explains Silvian Marcus, C.E.O. of WSP Cantor Seinuk.
“Because the floor area is so small, putting the structure in the perimeter keeps the interiors free of columns. It also
suits the architects’ desire for varied fenestration.”
In fact, the vertical window openings, which mimic those of nearby buildings, play a significant structural role. The size of
the openings correlates to moments of stress. In areas under greatest stress, the window spacing is modified to
provide increased structural area and rigidity, supporting the building like a structural corset. In the tower’s
midsection, where the forces generated by the cantilevers are greatest, openings are smallest. There, ceiling heights
are also at their lowest at 11 feet. Where forces are minimal, as at the top of the building, ceiling heights increase to 15 feet,
and openings get bigger, creating loftlike interiors. All of the forces from the upper part of the building travel down the
east and west side walls to the building’s base, where a 46-foot-tall, column-free screening room for the Creative Artists
Agency is located. The box-in-box construction at the base acoustically isolates the screening room from the apartments.
Adds Long, “In some ways, the base is more complicated structurally than the cantilever above.”

MEGASTRUCTURES
AND HYBRID STRUCTURES
The term megastructure refers not to the visionary concepts of the 1960s
expressing the comprehensive planning of a community, but solely the support
structure of a building. However, the megastructure is still formulated on the basic
concept of a primary structure that supports and services secondary structures or
smaller individual building blocks. In the early 1970s, Fazlur Khan proposed to
replace the multicolumn concept by four massive corner column supporting
superframe. Theprinciple can be traced back to the John Hanckock Center in
Chicago.
Study of new generation of structures (hybrid structures): the current trend
away from pure building forms towards hybrid solutions as expressed in geometry,
material, structure layout, and building use, is apparent. In the search for more
efficient solutions for unique conditions, a new generation of structural systems has
developed with the aid of computers which, in turn, have an exciting potential of
architectural expression. Mathematical modeling with computers has made mixed
construction possible, which may vary with building height, thus allowing nearly
endless possibilities that one could have not imagined only a few years ago.

Hotel de las Artes (154 m, 44 floors),
Barcelona, Spain, 1992, SOM/Iyengar,
diagonally braced tube in the form of mega
portal frames

Proposal for the new World Trade Center in New York (2002), Rafael Vinoly

Overseas Union Bank Center (280 m, 63 floors), Singapore, 1986, 280m, Kenzo Tange, hybrid
system of steel frames with concrete walls to increase rigidity (the core consists of hybrid
steel frame with concrete wall zones) allowing for column-free floor space.

Petronas Towers (88 stories, 452 m), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 1996, mixed construction, core-outrigger:
the towers are each framed by a 152-ft (46 m) diameter concrete perimeter tube connected by floor
diaphragms to a high-strength reinforced concrete core nearly 75 ft (23 m) square. The core columns are
connected at the corners to the perimeter tube by four reinforced concrete Vierendeel trusses at the 38th
floor above ground. The slenderness of tower is 8.6!

Petronas Towers (88 stories, 452 m), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 1996, mixed construction, core-outrigger: the
towers are each framed by a 152-ft (46 m) diameter concrete perimeter tube connected by floor diaphragms to a
high-strength reinforced concrete core nearly 75 ft (23 m) square. The core columns are connected at the corners
to the perimeter tube by four reinforced concrete Vierendeel trusses at the 38th floor above ground. The

Jin Mao Building (88
stories, 1380 ft), Shanghai,
China, 1999, SOM, recalling the
ancient pagoda forms, gently
stepping back to create a
rhythmic pattern as it rises
upward. The tower is organized
into 8 segments (considered a
lucky number) where each one is
reduced in height by 1/8 of the
base height.
The composite
structure comprises a
concrete core, 8
concrete mega
columns, eight steel
columns, and steel floor
framing.

Visual study of mega structures

Examples of mega-structures: the Bank of Southwest Tower, Houston, proposal, Murp
hy/Jahn + LeMessurier, 1985; Medical Mutual, Cleveland, Stubbins + LeMessurier, 1980

Citicorp Center (59 stories), New York,1977, Stubbins + William LeMessurier

The Bank of Southwest
Tower (82 stories, proposal),
Houston, 1982, Murphy/Jahn,
LeMessurier Struct. Eng.,

Bank of China Tower (369 m, 70 stories), Hong Kong, 1989, I. M. Pei + L. E. Robertson; space-frame
braced tube organized in 13-story truss modules, where the 170-ft (52 m) square plan at the bottom of
the building is divided by diagonals into four triangular quadrants. The mixed construction of the
primary structure consists of the separate steel columns at the corners (to which the diagonals are
connected), which are encased and bonded together by the massive concrete columns. The giant
diagonal truss members are steel box columns filled with concrete.

Visual study of hybrid structures hybrid structures

A NEW GENERATION OF HIGH-RISE
BUILDING STRUCTURES as
ARCHITECTURE
These structures do not use new structure systems, but
employ them in a perhaps innovative fashion.

Hongkong Bank (180 m), Honkong, 1985, Foster + Arup, steel mast joined by suspension
trussesacting in portal frame action

Duesseldorf City Gate (67 m, 19
stories), Duesseldorf, Germany, H.
Petzinka + Fink Arch (and Ove Arup
for preliminary design of structure), is
presented as an introduction to the
new generation of high-rise
structures. The 56 m high interior
open space atrium is a typical
characteristic of this new generation
of urban buildings. The twisted
composition of the rhombus-like
arched building (circa 51 x 66 m in
plan) is laterally supported by two
triangular trussed framed core towers
or mega-columns which are
connected to form three portal frames
that is a Z-like bracing system in plan
view. The steel pipes of the trussed
frames are filled with concrete.

Messe-Torhaus (116 m, 30 floors), Frankfurt, 1985, O.M. Ungers

Seoul Broadcasting Center, Seoul, 2003, Richard Rogers Arch. And Buro Happold Struct. Eng

Samsung Samsung Jongro Tower, Seoul, 1999, Rafael Vinoly

Samsung Jongro Tower, Seoul, 1999,
Rafael Vinoly Arch, Structural Design
Group Co. Ltd, Tokyo, Japan: the 33-story
building is about 157 m high from
foundation level, 35 m wide, and 75 m long.
It consists of a mega-structure, that is three
cylindrical steel cores at the corners of a
triangular plan, which are tied together at
the top by a space frame head truss to form
a portal frame, which encloses infill
framing in between. The innovative glass
curtain (one of the largest in the world) is
suspended on vertical stainless steel rods
supported by cantilevered steel brackets at
the 11th floor and uses glass beams (or
blades) for support. The 45 m hanging
glass and steel curtain comprises panels 1
m tall and 2.2 m wide. The horizontal glass
beams are formed of 5 pieces of tempered
glass and span 11 m between columns.

Tower of the Arabs, Chicago Beach Hotel, Dubai,
United Arab Emirates, 1998 (Atkins & Partners
Overseas); the 56-story (321 m, 1053 ft high)
hotel is constructed on a man-made island

Nord Deutsche Landesbank am
Friedrichswall, Hannover, 2002, Behnisch
The 23-story multiuse tower's stepped-
glass profile and giant cantilevers pierce
the skyline of the city's Friedrichswall
district. In addition to an intriguing
appearance, the building features an
environmentally innovative design. A soil-
heat exchanger in the foundation
distributes cool air to upper levels, and a
daylight-redirection system is integrated
into a glare-eliminating sunshade.

New Museum of
Contemporary Art, New
York, 2008, Kazuyo
Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa
/ SANAA, Mutsuro
Sasaki Struct. Engineer

THE NEXT GENERATION OF
SKYSCRAPERS
In many cities of the world the traditional limits of zoning laws, requiring
staggered setbacks, are underway to be changed with structures that taper,
tilt, twist, forms that one could have never imagined providing the designer with
unprecedented ability to manipulate light and space. Other motivations are:
• Sustainable, green buildings
• Active control of seismic and wind vibrations: damping systems
• Wind energy
• Complex computer graphics

Helicoidal Skyscraper, Manfredi Nicoletti, 1974

Business Bay Signature Towers (a 75-
storey office development, 65-storey
hotel; and 55-storey residential building ,
Dubai, 2011, Zaha Hadid, Arup

Phare Tower (68 stories), La Défense, Paris. 2012, Thom Mayne’s (Morphosis, LA)

Shinjuku, Tokyo,
Kenzo Tange, 2009

Dubai Dancing Towers, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback Arch, Arup Eng., The four
towers: Ranging from 54 to 97 floors were inspired by the
flames and movement of candlelight

HIGH-RISE APARTEMENT TOWER (190 m, 623 ft, 54-floor), Malmö, Sweden, 2005,
Calatrava, based in form on the sculpture Turning Torso

Apeiron Hotel (28-floors,
185 m), Dubai. Sybarite
UK

CCTV Headquarters and TVCC Building (234 m, 54-floor),
Beijing, Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren, Arup Eng

GREEN HIGH-RISE BUILDINGS
• sky gardens
• collection of natural energy from daylight, wind, and sun heat:
wind turbines, solar collectors
• materials that store natural energy
• natural ventilation
• facades that reduce the building’s energy load
• etc.

International Prefecture Hall, Fukuoka, Japan,
1996, Emilio Ambasz Arch.: the green building -
garden city - the interaction of nature and
building - building is internally broken up with
atria - terraced gardens along the south side of
the building: the building in a way gives back
to nature what it has taken away – penetration
into the building

Menara Mesiniaga, Subang Jaya,
Malaysia, 1993, Ken Yeang, bioclimatic
design, garden spiral

Fusionopolis (15-story),
Singapore Green
Building, Ken Yeang

EDITT Tower (26-story),
Singapore, 2009-, Ken Yeang.

Residence Antilia (40-story, 245
m), Mumbai, India, 2009, Syed
Mobin Architects

Dancing Apartment, 2009 -, South
Korea, Unsangdong Architects

Commerzbank (259 m, 60 stories), Frankfurt, Germany, 1997, Norman Foster + Arup, the triangular steel
tower has a central atrium where the corner core columns support the Vierendeel trusses which, in
turn, carry the floors and skygarden while allowing column-free interior spaces.

Facades that Reduce the Building’s Energy Load
• Solar control facades
• Day-lighting facades
• Double-skin facades and natural ventilation
• Active façade systems (e.g. demand-responsive programs)

GSW Headquarters (21-story),
Berlin, 1999, Sauerbruch
Hutton, Arup

sky gardens
Headquarter RWE AG (31-story, 127 m), Essen, 1996,
Cristoph Ingenhoven;

Double façade system (breathing wall) is composed
of single pane clear glass fixed at the outside and the
operable double-pane glass inside. A louvered blind is
utilized in the 20-in (50 mm) buffer zone.

Al Faisaliah Tower 1 (44-story, 267 m, 876
ft), 2000, Riyadh, Foster + Happold

Doha High Rise Office Building (45-
STORY), Qatar, 2010, JEAN NOUVEL

The curtain wall is composed of four “butterfly” aluminum elements of different scales. This overall pattern
changes in order to provide maximal protection from the strong east and west sun. In other words, the glass-
clad building is wrapped in a metal brise-soleil based on a traditional Islamic pattern. Butterfly aluminum
elements 'echoing the geometric complexity of the mashrabiyya are set on the facade according to the specific
orientation of each part of the building - 25 % toward north, 40 % toward south, 60 % on east and west. Beneath
this layer, a slightly reflective glass skin complements the system of solar protection. Roller blinds are also
provided inside."

Sony Center am Potsdammer Platz, Berlin, Helmut Jahn, 2000

Sony Center am Potsdammer
Platz, Berlin, Helmut Jahn, 2000

Bahrain World Trade Center (50-
floors, 240 m) , Manama, Bahrain,
2008, Shaun Killa, with the world’s
first integrated wind turbines

Rotating wind power tower (250 m),
2009 - , Dubai, David Fisher, Dynamic
Architecture
The tower will allow each floor to rotate
freely allowing the building to shift its
shape; in between each floor horizontal
wind turbines will allow the building to
produce energy.

SUPER TALL (SLENDER)
BUILDINGS
BUILDING AERODYNAMICS
While major innovations in structural systems have permitted the increased
lateral loads to be efficiently carried, the dynamic nature of the wind that is the
phenomenon of vortex shedding, is still a factor, causing discomfort t to
building occupants and causing serious serviceability issues.
Mitigation of wind-induced motions caused primarily by the vortex-shedding
phenomenon, through modification of building aerodynamics:
• modification of building form
• use of auxiliary damping systems

Vortex-shedding phenomenon:
When a building is subjected to a wind flow, the originally parallel
wind stream lines are displaced on both transverse sides of the
building and the forces produced on these sides are called vortices.
At low wind speeds, the vortices are shed symmetrically (at the same
instant) on either transverse side of the building, and the building
does not vibrate in the across wind direction.
On the other hand, at higher wind speeds, the vortices are shed
alternately first from one and then from the other side. When this
occurs, there is an impulse both in the along the wind and across
wind directions. The across wind impulses are, however, applied
alternatively to the left and then to the right. This kind of shedding
which causes structural vibrations in the flow and the across
wind directions is called vortex shedding.
The problem of excessive building motions and their effect on comfort
of the occupants can be more difficult one to solve in the case of very
tall and slender buildings.

Modification of building form:
Investigation into the relationship between the aerodynamic
characteristics of a structure and the resulting wind-induced excitation
level. Aerodynamic modifications of a building’s cross-sectional shape,
the variation of its cross-section with height, or even its size, can
reduce building motion.
• slotted and chamfered corners
• fins
• setbacks
• buttresses
• horizontal and vertical through-building openings
• tapering the shape to reduce the frontal area at the top of the tower
• drop-off corners
• sculptured building tops

Shanghai World Trade Center
(101-story, 494 m, 1622 ft)
Shanghai, 2008, Kohn Pedersen
Fox, L.E. Robertson

92nd floor
87th
floor
Taipei 101 (509 m, 1671 ft, 101 floors),
2004, Taipei, Taiwan, CY Lee &
Partners + Thornton & Tomasetti

Twisting Scyscraper proposal for
Chicago, Calatrava, (2000 ft)

Burj Dubai concrete
tower (818 m, 2684 ft,
160 floors), 2009,
Dubai, United Arab
Emirates, SOM/ Baker

Nakheel Tower (1400 m, 4593 ft, 228 floors), Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 2010 - ,

Nakheel Tower (1400 m, 4593
ft, 228 floors), Dubai, United
Arab Emirates, 2010 - , I.M.
Pei/Woods Bagot + WSP Cantor
Seinuk,

the Capital Gate building
in Abu Dhabi (RMJM
architects

Vertical Building Structure, Wolfgang Schueller

Vertical Building Structure, Wolfgang Schueller

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