Skyscrapers - The history of the most wonderful buildings in the world

The author points out that skyscrapers play many roles — they are city icons, movie stars, symbols of corporate power, and places many people head to every morning for work. They express, in a way impossible for any other type of building, the hopes and grand dreams of the nation. Moreover, they are solutions to urbanization occurring in many parts of the world, where people flock to cities for economic opportunities. From here, skyscrapers were exported to different parts of the world after being a purely artistic form unique to America. While New York and Chicago were major experts in designing skyscrapers in the last century, the emerging cities today in the Far East and the Middle East are the new blank pages. They have seen the completion of dozens of super-tall buildings. This book is not intended to be a comprehensive guide but a selective review of prominent skyscrapers that pushed the art of very tall construction to the highest levels. It is arranged chronologically to show the stylistic development of skyscrapers from the strict structural beginnings of the late 19th century in Chicago’s border areas to the extravagant creations of Manhattan that symbolize its golden age between the two world wars. Then through the emergence of the international style, the active postmodern recycling, and the hybridization of modern, post-modern, and local styles. The book features many environmentally responsible skyscrapers, both practically and imaginatively, heralding the green towers that have not yet arrived. As a book of words and a book of images, the many images included aim to provide information beyond what can be obtained from the text. They document the final urban experience of the twenty-first century. The author discusses Dubai as an example of urban development worldwide, saying: “Dubai enjoys sunshine most of the year, and is a safe, friendly, and tolerant haven, striving to improve its infrastructure, building new airports, roads, and metro systems in preparation for further growth in the future.” Dubai was built on a single fundamental assumption: that high-quality, very tall architecture would attract business and tourists and make the emirate the Middle East’s financial and tourism hub. The city needed a symbol, so the idea of the “Burj Khalifa” as the tallest building on earth was conceived. This strategy succeeded in both literal and figurative imagery, making Dubai’s name a household word everywhere. The cover of the book features a beautiful picture of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, as the tallest tower in the world for 2012. The book states that the Burj Khalifa is the tallest building on earth for 2012, with a height that casts its shadow over the clouds below. Its legendary height creates a sense of wonder towards the building and its rich location near the coast. According to Adrian Smith, its sleek triangular shape was inspired by the triangular shape of the desert flower and traditional Islamic architectural ornamentation. The tower rises from a Y-shaped base, with its mass decreasing as it ascends through a series of setbacks. At the top, the central core appears and ends with a pinnacle of sculpted steel. The cladding, made of glass, aluminum, and perforated steel, includes vertical fins of stainless steel that cause the surface not to smooth out, allowing the wind to slide over it. Construction of the tower began in late 2003. The desert site posed construction challenges, starting with deep excavation of 32.8 feet (10 meters) through sand and sparse brackish water. Most of the foundation is located in groundwater containing chlorides that can corrode steel and sulfates that can attack concrete, and another issue was the northern wind, which creates seasonal sandstorms.