DESIGN & FORM- SKYSCRAPERS
Skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building. Steel, glass, reinforced concrete and granite are the main materials of a modern skyscraper. Obviously, a tall building must have the equipment such as water pumps to supply water to the top of the building by pressure. Besides that, skyscraper also has elevators to bringing to any floors without climbing the stairs. Before the 19th century, skyscrapers that are up to six stories are few due to the insufficient water pressure that can pumps water up to 50 meters. During 17th century, the new steel frame that fireproof was introduced to made modern skyscrapers in England. Take an example, in 14th century, The Great Pyramid of Giza was 146m tall and its height was unsurpassed until at least thousands of years.
Steel, which is the major component of any building. The concept of skyscrapers is made up of many small boxes to form a large steel box. skyscraper could be built with both horizontal and vertical supports throughout by using steel. The first building that supported by a steel skeleton of vertical columns and horizontal beams is the Home Insurance Building in Chicago.
Home Insurance Building in Chicago
The second component of a skyscraper is reinforced concrete. Reinforced concrete is to give extra strength to the building. The building would fall down if without reinforced concrete. Reinforced concrete is the combination of the plain concrete and steel bars. The main function of this combined material is to provide the strength in tension. The second way of reinforcing concrete is prestressing. According to Portland Cement Association, compressive stresses are introduced into the concrete to reduce tensile stresses resulting from applied loads including the self weight of the member. Pre-tensioning is a method of prestressing in which the tendons are tensioned before concrete is placed and the prestressing force is primarily transferred to the concrete through bond. Post-tensioning is a method of prestressing in which the tendons are tensioned after the concrete has hardened and the prestressing force is primarily transferred to the concrete through the end anchorages. The first reinforced concrete skyscraper in the world is The Ingalls Building, built in 1903 in Ohio. This building is designed by Cincinnati architectural firm Elzner & Anderson and was named for its primary financial investor, Melville E. Ingalls.
The Ingalls Building
Elevators are a kind of machine that bring people to any floor. The lifts believe that were began by a simple rope that either pulled or pushed up the platform by hand or by animals. The traditional lifts were controlled by steam or water hydraulic pistons. Hydraulic lift is pressurizing the piston to raise or lower the lift. The new technology includes permanent magnet motors, machine room-less rail mounted gearless machines, and microprocessor controls. Different type of lifts will install into the building due to different factors. Hydraulic lift is suitable with the building that not more than 7 stories because hydraulic lift is usually slower than traction lift. Elevators are important in a tall building because it can reduce their footprint. Nobody willing to climb all the stairs to their destination, more elevators should install into the building as the building is taller. However, more elevators installed in the building will decrease the consumable space which can reduce the profitable. According the research from researcher, buildings such as the former World Trade Center Towers use Sky Lobbies, where express elevators take passengers to upper floors which serve as the base for local elevators. This allows architects and engineers to place elevator shafts on top of each other, saving space. Sky lobbies and express elevators take up a significant amount of space, however, and add to the amount of time spent commuting between floors. In 1857, the installation of the first passenger elevator in the Haughwout Department Store in New York City made it possible and practical to construct buildings more than four or five stories tall.
First Elevator
Curtain wall is like a transparent glass, metal or masonry attached to a building’s exterior structural frame. The curtain wall usually aluminum-framed wall. The main function of curtain wall is resist air and water infiltration while allows the natural light can penetrate into the building. During winter season, curtain wall allows the penetration of the light into the building, this can save the energy and electric to give warms to the building. In addition, curtain wall also designed to thermal expansion and contraction, thermal efficiency for cost-effective heating, cooling and lighting in the building. The first metal framed glass curtain walled building is Oriel Chambers in Liverpool. This building was designed by Peter Ellis.
Oriel Chambers
BY LIEW JIM CHIN
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