Chapter two

Literature Review
2.1 tall building: -
2.1.1 introduction: -
Throughout history, human beings have built tall monumental
structures such as temples, pyramids and cathedrals to honour
their gods. Human beings have always been struggling to push
the limits of nature in their age-old quest for height, from the
legendary Tower of Babel in antiquity, purportedly designed
with the aim of reaching heaven, to today’s tallest building.
Today’s skyscrapers are monumental buildings too, and are
built as symbols of power, wealth and prestige. [1]

“Tall building”, “high-rise building” and “skyscraper” are

difficult to define and distinguish solely from a dimensional
perspective because height is a relative matter that changes
according to time and place. While these terms all refer to
the notion of very tall buildings, the term “skyscraper” is the
most forceful. The term “high-rise building” has been
recognized as a building type since the late nineteenth
century, while the history of the term “tall building” is very
much older than that of the term “high-rise building”. As for
the use of the term “skyscraper” for some tall/high-rise
buildings reflecting social amazement and exaggeration, it
first began in connection with the 12-storey Home Insurance
Building, built in Chicago towards the end of the nineteenth
century (Harbert, 2002; Peet, 2011). [1]
2.1.2 Definition:
It is difficult to distinguish the characteristics of a building
which categorize it as tall. After all, the outward appearance
of tallness is a relative matter. In a typical single-story
neighborhood, a five-story building may appear tall. A 50-
story building in a city may be called a high-rise, but the
citizens of a small town may point proudly to their skyscraper
of six stories. In large cities, such as Chicago and Manhattan,
and now in United Arab Republic, with a vast number of tall
buildings, a structure must pierce the sky around 100–120
stories if it is to appear tall in comparison with its immediate
neighbors. A tall building cannot be defined in specific terms
related to height or number of floors. There is no consensus
on what constitutes a tall building or at what magic height,
number of stories or proportion a building can be called tall.
Perhaps the dividing line should be drawn where the design
of the structure moves from the field of statics into the field
of structural dynamics. [2]
From the structural design point of view, it is simpler to
consider a building as tall when its structural analyses and
design are in some way affected by the lateral loads,
particularly the sway caused by such loads. Sway or drift is
the magnitude of the relative lateral displacement between a
given floor and the one immediately below it. As the height
increases, the forces of nature particularly due to wind, begin
to dominate. Therefore, structural framework for super-tall
buildings is developed around concepts associated entirely
with resistance to turbulent wind. [2]
2.1.3 Factors affecting growth, height, and structural
form: -
The feasibility and desirability of high-rise structures have
always depended on the available materials, the level of
construction technology, and the state of development of the
services necessary for the use of the building. As a result,
significant advances have occurred from time to time with
advent of a new material, construction facility, or form of
service. [3]

The socioeconomic problems that followed industrialization

in the nineteenth century, coupled with an increasing
demand for space in the growing U.S. cities, created a strong
impetus to tall building construction. Yet the ensuing growth
could not have been sustained without two major technical
innovations that occurred in the middle of that century: the
development of higher strength and structurally more
efficient materials, wrought iron and subsequently steel, and
the introduction of the elevator (cf. Fig. 1.1). Although the
elevator had been developed some 20 years earlier, its
potential in high-rise buildings was apparently not realized
until its incorporation in the Equitable Life Insurance Building
in New York in 1870. For the first time, this made the upper
stories as attractive to rent as the lower ones, and,
consequently, made the taller building financially viable. [3]
2.2 Design:

-Strength and stability

-Stiffness
[1] M., H., Günel, H., E., Ilgin, “Tall Buildings: structural
systems and aerodynamic Form’’
[2] B., S., Taranath, “Reinforced concrete design of tall
buildings”
[3] B., S., Smith, “Tall Buildings structural – Analysis and
Design”