History keeps disproving predictions that the supertall skyscraper, as a developer’s building type, was destroyed when the two 110-story towers of New York City’s World Trade Center went down. Last year alone, 66 towers taller than 200 meters opened their doors, breaking the 2007 record of 48. Of these, eight are taller than 300 m, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, which is the keeper of the tall-building flame. CTBUH predicts 97 more 200-m-plus high-rises will have ribbon-cuttings next year, including more than 20 taller than 300 m, which the group dubs “supertalls.” “Immediately following the
Structural engineers in earthquake zones, long struggling to push the needle forward on seismic design of tall buildings, are celebrating the availability of a new design methodology. They are hailing the tool, in the form of an 84-page guide for performance-based seismic design of high-rises, as a great step forward in developing better-performing buildings that are more economical and constructible. In addition, engineers expect the guide to take some of the agita Photo: Mark Defeo Guide will ease approvals, which were difficult and lengthy for One Rincon Hill (right) and two Infinity towers (left). Guidelines for Performance-Based Seismic Design of
An extensive program to survey and monitor the structural behavior and dynamic responses of the world’s tallest structure—the 828-meter Burj Khalifa in Dubai—has done more than validate the structural engineer’s design concepts. It could help improve future supertowers, says the keeper of the program. The monitoring system, which includes myriad sensors, will become a model for assessing critical and essential facilities, predicts Ahmad Abdelrazaq, an executive vice president of Samsung C&T Corp., Seoul, the burj’s lead builder. Photo: Courtesy Of Emaar Properties Monitoring shows performance of the 828-m-tall Burj Khalifa is better than expected. The program “has given us information
Gustavo J. Parra-Montesinos is coming to the rescue of concrete-frame designers and contractors in earthquake country, long bedeviled by rebar-congested coupling beams that span openings in seismic shear walls.
The U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Jeffrey M. Baker is an agent of change. Thanks to his vision and leadership, building teams across the U.S. can avail themselves of the first field-tested, replicable performance-based design-build model for affordable, ultra-energy-efficient buildings.