Skyscrapers: Structure and Design - Hardcover

Wells, Matthew

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0300106793 ISBN 13: 9780300106794

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2005

Synopsis

An investigation of thirty skyscrapers from around the world—both recently built and under construction—that explains the structural principles behind their creation

Skyscrapers, ever taller, astound us with their immensity and beauty. Despite the challenges associated with their design and safety, there is continued growth in the size and number of tall buildings being built around the world. In this fascinating book, Matthew Wells, a practicing structural engineer, explains the principles behind the construction of skyscrapers and the ways they are designed to withstand such forces as earthquakes, high winds, and fire.
 
Beginning with a concise architectural and cultural history of the skyscraper, Wells then offers thirty case studies of high profile buildings recently built  or under construction by some of the world’s most renowned architectural firms, including Foster and Partners; Zaha Hadid Architects; Cesar Pelli and Associates; the Renzo Piano Building Workshop; and Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill. Each is illustrated in color alongside accompanying text, drawings, plans, and details that show how the building is constructed and what particular innovative design features it incorporates in order to address such issues as sustainability, the needs of mixed-use sites, local vernacular traditions, and technological advancements in building materials.
 
Skyscrapers features these buildings and more:
• Commerzbank, Frankfurt, Germany
• Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• London Bridge Tower, London
• Turning Torso, Malmö, Sweden
• AOL Time Warner Center, New York
• New York Times Building, New York

About this title

About the Author

Matthew Wells is a practicing structural engineer and author of 30 Bridges (2002).

Reviews

At first, the title seems broad. And, well, it is; there are plenty of skyscrapers out there. But only 30, some of which are still under construction, receive detailed treatments by Wells, a practicing structural engineer. Wells dedicates most of his text to construction principles, which architecture and engineering buffs will appreciate. The text is supplemented by lively photos as well as architectural plans and blueprints. Behind the visual comprehensiveness, though, is a downside: the language is often stilted. For instance, in the write-up of the Swiss Re building in London, Wells writes, "The striking silhouette records how a design process that draws together the ideas of disparate thinkers and inventors, identifying their essences and then reconciling these with tested methods to make a new whole, can create a radical-looking building while remaining within an essentially conservative remit." Such roundabout language, unfortunately, is used throughout the book. Still, even without the verbal finesse, the book's worth a look for its technically sound and well-presented information. 75 b/w and 175 color illustrations.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Drawing from construction in the past decade, Wells critiques 29 notable new skyscrapers, including a ski jump in Austria and a spirelike tower in Dublin, Ireland. Exhibiting no dominant aesthetic or engineering trait (except in East Asia, where the title for world's tallest building is avidly contested), the collection of structures draws Wells' analysis of each edifice's distinctive features and its compatibility with its neighborhood. He discerns a trend, however, in several designs' application of aerodynamics to lessen wind loads; one radical building (the Wing Tower in Glasgow, Scotland) freely pivots, behaving like a weathervane. Another curvy shape in London (the Swiss Re^B Headquarters) looks like an artillery shell crossed with a Faberge egg. An office building, it at least has a practical purpose, something lacking in one outright folly Wells describes. Go to Las Vegas and see the Stratosphere Tower, which, crowned by a roller coaster, seems to symbolize its own artificiality and that of the city it bestrides. Whatever statement contemporary buildings make, Wells' generously illustrated album translates it for architecture fans. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0300106793
• ISBN 13: 9780300106794
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 192