Cristel Aniela Andreea Gr 3305

Flatiron Building
( Skyscrapers )

Flatiron Building
A skyscraper is a very tall, continuously habitable building. There is no official definition or a precise cutoff height above which a building may clearly be classified as a skyscraper. However, as per usual practice in most cities, the definition is used empirically, depending on the relative impact of the shape of a building to a city's overall skyline. Thus, depending on the average height of the rest of the buildings and/ or structures in a city, even a building of 8 meters height !appro"imately #$# ft% may be considered a skyscraper provided that it clearly stands out above its surrounding built environment and significantly changes the overall skyline of that particular city. The word skyscraper originally referred to a nautical term tall mast or its main sail on a sailing ship. The term was first applied to buildings in the late &'th century as a result of public ama(ement at the tall buildings being built in )hicago and *ew +ork )ity. The structural definition of the word skyscraper was refined later by architectural historians, based on engineering developments of the &88 s that had enabled construction of tall multi,story buildings. This definition was based on the steel skeleton-as opposed to constructions of load, bearing masonry, which passed their practical limit in &8'& with )hicago's .onadnock /uilding. 0hiladelphia's )ity Hall, completed in &' &, still holds claim as the world's tallest load,bearing masonry structure at &$1 m !238 ft%. The steel frame developed in stages of increasing self,sufficiency, with several buildings in )hicago and *ew +ork advancing the technology that allowed the steel frame to carry a building on its own. Today, however, many of the tallest skyscrapers are built almost entirely with reinforced concrete. 0umps and storage tanks maintain water pressure at the top of of skyscrapers. A loose convention in the 4nited 5tates and 6urope now draws the lower limit of a 7skyscraper7 at &2 meters !2 ft%.8&9 A skyscraper taller than

: meters !'83 ft% may be referred to as supertall. 5horter buildings are still sometimes referred to as skyscrapers if they appear to dominate their surroundings The somewhat arbitrary term skyscraper should not be confused with the slightly less arbitrary term highrise, defined by the 6mporis 5tandards )ommittee as 7...a multi,story structure with at least &# floors or :2 meters !&&2 feet% in height.78#9 All skyscrapers are highrises, but only the tallest highrises are skyscrapers. Habitability separates skyscrapers from towers and masts. 5ome structural engineers define a highrise as any vertical construction for which wind is a more significant load factor than weight. *ote that this criterion fits not only highrises but some other tall structures, such as towers The word skyscraper often carries a connotation of pride and achievement. The skyscraper, in name and social function, is a modern e"pression of the age,old symbol of the world center or a"is mundi; a pillar that connects earth to heaven and the four compass directions to one another

.odern skyscrapers are built with materials such as steel, glass, reinforced concrete and granite, and routinely utili(e mechanical e<uipment such as water pumps and elevators. 4ntil the &'th century, buildings of over si" stories were rare, as having great numbers of stairs to climb was impractical for inhabitants, and water pressure was usually insufficient to supply running water above 2 m !&$3 ft%. However, despite the lack of sanitation, the first highrise housing dates back to the &$ s in some places. =n 6dinburgh, 5cotland, for e"ample, a defensive city wall defined the boundaries of the city. >ue to the restricted land area available for development, the houses increased in height instead. /uildings of && stories were common, and there are records of buildings as high as &3 stories. .any of the stone,built structures can still be seen today in the old town of 6dinburgh The oldest iron framed building in the world is The ?la"mill !also locally known as the 7.altings7%, in 5hrewsbury, 6ngland. /uilt in &1'1, it is seen as the 7grandfather of skyscrapers@ due to its fireproof combination of cast iron columns and cast iron beams developed into the modern steel frame that made modern skyscrapers possible. 4nfortunately, it lies derelict and needs much investment to keep it standing. An :& .arch # 2, it was

announced that 6nglish Heritage would buy the ?la"mill so that it could be redeveloped The first skyscraper was the ten,story Home =nsurance /uilding in )hicago, built in &883B&882. Chile its height is not considered unusual or very impressive today, the architect, .aDor Cilliam Ee /aron Fenney, created the first load,bearing structural frame. =n this building, a steel frame supported the entire weight of the walls, instead of load,bearing walls carrying the weight of the building, which was the usual method. This development led to the 7)hicago skeleton7 form of construction. After Fenney's accomplishment the sky was truly the limit as far as building was concerned 5ullivan's Cainwright /uilding building in 5t. Eouis, &8' , was the first steel frame building with soaring vertical bands to emphasi(e the height of the building, and is, therefore, considered by some to be the first true skyscraper The 4nited Gingdom also had its share of early skyscrapers. The first building to fit the engineering definition, meanwhile, was the then largest hotel in the world, the Hrand .idland Hotel, now known as 5t 0ancras )hambers in Eondon, opened in &81: with a clock tower 8# metres !#$' ft% in height. The &#,floor 5hell .e" House in Eondon, at 28 metres !&' ft%, was completed a year after the Home =nsurance /uilding and managed to beat it in both height and floor count. &811 saw the opening of the Hothic revival style .anchester Town Hall by Alfred Caterhouse. =ts 81,metre,high clock and bell tower dominated that city's skyline for almost a century .ost early skyscrapers emerged in the land,strapped areas of )hicago, Eondon, and *ew +ork toward the end of the &'th century. Eondon builders soon found building heights limited due to a complaint from Iueen Jictoria, rules that continued to e"ist with few e"ceptions until the &'2 sK concerns about aesthetics and fire safety had likewise hampered the development of skyscrapers across continental 6urope for the first half of the twentieth century !with the notable e"ceptions of the #$,storey /oerentoren in Antwerp, /elgium, built in &':#, and the :&,storey Torre 0iacentini in Henoa, =taly, built in &'3 %. After an early competition between *ew +ork )ity and )hicago for the world's tallest building, *ew +ork took a firm lead by &8'2 with the completion of the American 5urety /uilding. >evelopers in )hicago also found themselves hampered by laws limiting height to about 3 storeys,

leaving *ew +ork to hold the title of tallest building for many years. *ew +ork )ity developers then competed among themselves, with successively taller buildings claiming the title of 7world's tallest7 in the &'# s and early &': s, culminating with the completion of the )hrysler /uilding in &': and the 6mpire 5tate /uilding in &':&, the world's tallest building for forty years. ?rom the &': s onwards, skyscrapers also began to appear in Eatin America !5Lo 0aulo, )aracas, .e"ico )ity% and in Asia !Tokyo, 5hanghai, Hong Gong, 5ingapore% =mmediately after Corld Car ==, the 5oviet 4nion planned eight massive skyscrapers dubbed 75talin Towers7 for .oscowK seven of these were eventually built. The rest of 6urope also slowly began to permit skyscrapers, starting with .adrid, in 5pain, during the &'2 s. ?inally, skyscrapers also began to appear in Africa, the .iddle 6ast and Aceania !mainly Australia% from the late &'2 s and early &'$ s 5till today no city in the world has more completed individual free,standing buildings over 3'# ft. !&2 m% than *ew +ork )ity. 839. Hong Gong comes in with the most in the entire world,829 if one counts individually the multiple towers that rise from a common podium !as 6mporis does%, in buildings that rise several stories as a single structure before splitting into two or more columns of floors. The number of skyscrapers in Hong Gong will continue to increase, due to a prolonged highrise building boom and high demand for office and housing space in the area. A new building comple" in Gowloon contains several mi"ed,use towers !hotel,shops,residential% and one of them will be &&8 stories tall )hicago's skyline was not allowed to grow until the height limits were rela"ed in &'$ K over the ne"t fifteen years many towers were built, including the massive 33#,meter !&,32&,foot% 5ears Tower,8$9 leading to its current number of buildings over 3'# ft. )hicago is currently undergoing an epic construction boom that will greatly add to the city's skyline. 5ince # , at least 3 buildings at a minimum of 2 stories high have been built. 819 889 The )hicago 5pire, Trump =nternational Hotel and Tower !)hicago%, Caterview Tower, .andarin Ariental Tower, #',:' 5outh Ea5alle, 0ark .ichigan, and A<ua are some of the more notable proDects currently underway in the city that invented the skyscraper. )hicago, Hong Gong, and *ew +ork )ity, otherwise known as the 7the big three,7 are recogni(ed in most architectural circles as having the most compelling skylines in the

world. Ather large cities that are currently e"periencing maDor building booms involving skyscrapers include 5hanghai in )hina and >ubai in the 4nited Arab 6mirates Today, skyscrapers are an increasingly common sight where land is scarce, as in the centres of big cities, because of the high ratio of rentable floor space per area of land. 5kyscrapers, like temples and palaces in the past, are considered symbols of a city's economic power

The Flatiron Building, standing #82 ft !81 m% high, was one of the tallest buildings in the city upon its completion in &' #, made possible by its steel skeleton. =t was one of the first buildings designed with a steel framework, and to achieve this height with other construction methods of that time would have been very difficult

The ?latiron /uilding was designed by )hicago's >aniel /urnham in the /eau",Arts style. Eike a classical Hreek column, its limestone and gla(ed terra,cotta faMade is separated into three parts hori(ontally. 5ince it was one of the first buildings to use a steel skeleton, the building could be constructed to #82 feet !81 m%, which would have been very difficult with other construction methods of that time. The initial design by >aniel /urnham shows a similar design to the one constructed, but with a far more elaborate crown with numerous setbacks near the pinnacle. A clock face can also be seen. However, this was later removed from the design.

Close-up of Flatiron Building

?latiron /uilding Ane of the earliest buildings-and possibly the tallest in *ew +ork at the time-to utili(e a steel frame with non,load,bearing facades, the ?latiron was meant to resemble a classical column with a protruding and ornamented base and top. The ?latiron's facade is richly detailed rusticated limestone with gently undulating bays to break the sense of sheer wall. A continuous, triangular cornice runs around the building. The design was influenced by architectural trends introduced at the &8': Corld's )olumbian 6"position in )hicago and combines elements of ?rench and =talian Nenaissance architecture. 0robably the best and liveliest of )hicago Architect >aniel /urnam's designs, the building was meant to be named the ?uller /uilding because it was originally occupied by the ?uller )onstruction )ompany. A 3 story building at .adison and 21th 5treet now bears the ?uller )onstruction )ompany name. >aniel /urnam had been known as one of )hicago's great modernists, but after the death of his partner in their firm /urnam and Noot he became much more conservative and stodgy. The ?latiron /uilding's unusual shape and e"treme height, for its day, gave *ew +orkers concern that it would fall down so for a while it was known as 7/urnam's ?olly.7

=ts knife,blade wedge shape is the only way the building could fill the triangular property created by the intersection of ?ifth Avenue and /roadway, and that happy coincidence created one of the city's most distinctive buildings , it was originally named the ?uller /uilding, then later 7/urnham's ?olly7 !since folks were certain that architect >aniel /urnham's #&,story structure would fall down%. =t didn't. There's no observation deck, and the building mainly houses publishing offices, but there are a few shops on the ground floor. The building's e"istence has served to name the neighborhood around it ,, the ?latiron >istrict, home to a bevy of smart restaurants and shops.

Chy they used steel structure; to achieve this height with other construction methods of that time would have been very difficult =ts knife,blade wedge shape is the only way the building could fill the triangular property created by the intersection of ?ifth Avenue and /roadway, and that happy coincidence created one of the city's most distinctive buildings steel structures can be <uickly erected and ready to use in no time at all.