3 Technology of high-rise construction 3.1 Planning 3.1.

1 Planners The complexity of the trades to be coordinated has become several times greater since then. Take, for example, the new block built for Sdwest-Landesbank in Stuttgart: many disciplines and different experts were involved solely in the project planning: Architects Planning engineers for the supporting structures (engineering design and structural analyses) Construction and site management (resident engineer) Planning of the technical building services (particularly heating, ventilation, sanitation, cooling and airconditioning) Interior designers Construction physics and construction biology Planning and site management for data networks Planning of the lighting and materials handling Planning of the electrical and electronic systems Planning of the facades Surveying engineers Geotechnology, hydrogeology and environmental protection Design of outdoor facilities and vegetation Surveying of the actual situation in surrounding buildings If we were to include all the contractors and specialists involved in the project as well, the list would probably be ten times longer. And if we then consider that bankers, construction authorities, legal advisers and even advertising agencies or brokers must also be coordinated in the course of the entire planning and construction of a skyscraper project, it soon becomes clear that highly professional management is essential for such a project. Project management companies have come to play an increasingly important role in recent years as they take over the entire organization, structurization and coordination of construction projects. They act as professional representatives for the client and embody the frequently voiced desire for the entire project to be coordinated by a single partner. 3.1.2 Regulations and directives The various laws, regulations, directives and standards in force must be taken into account when planning and erecting a building. The planning engineers are also obliged to observe what are known in Germany, for instance, as the generally accepted technical rules for construction; in other words, generally applicable technical and trade rules must be taken into account and observed in addition to the standards and regulations. Although each country has its own regulations and directives governing the construction of high-rise buildings, they are all basically similar in content with a few differences depending on the local circumstances. It is standard practice in some countries to base the bidding and planning phase for projects on foreign standards (particularly on the American ANSI Codes and UL Standards, British Standards or the German DIN standards) or to include various elements of these foreign standards in the national system of standards. As a rule, these regulations are primarily designed to ensure personal safety and then to protect the building against damage and defects. In addition to the requirements imposed by public authorities, there are also requirements imposed by
insurance companies with the aim of ensuring greater protection for property. These requirements can be classified in four groups:
FIRE PROTECTION AND OPERATIONAL SECURITY

Many of the construction regulations concern fire protection. There can be many thousands of people in a highrise building at any one time. If a fire breaks out, they must all be able to leave the building in the shortest possible space of time and without risk of injury. This is why regulations concerning the number and execution of escape routes and fire escapes, fire compartments and the choice of materials must be

observed (see Section 4.2.5). Operational security encompasses regulations governing the safety of elevators and escalators, the execution of stairs, railings and parapets or the installation of emergency lighting. Some regulations also include CO2 alarm systems for underground parking lots; indeed, there are even regulations governing the non-slip nature of floor coverings in traffic areas, sanitary rooms and kitchens.
STABILITY AND CONSTRUCTION PHYSICS

The regulations governing the stability of a building are usually met by the requisite structural analyses. In addition to demonstrating the internal structural strength of the construction and safe transfer of loads to the subsoil, the stability calculations must also include possible deformation due to thermal expansion, wind loads and live loads or dead weight, for example. This is closely related with demonstrating the safety of the construction, for instance by taking steps to limit the (unavoidable) cracks in concrete elements.
PROTECTION AGAINST NATURAL HAZARDS

The regulations and directives governing protection against natural hazards are usually closely associated with the demonstration of stability. Windstorms and earthquakes are the most serious natural hazards for high-rise buildings. As a rule, the assumed loads and design rules for the load cases of earthquake and windstorm will be specified by the regulations in order to ensure that the building will withstand windstorms or earthquakes up to certain load limits. At the same time, this will serve to rule out the risk of bodily injury due to falling parts of the building, especially parts of the facade.
SOCIAL ASPECTS AND PROTECTION OF THE SURROUNDINGS

The regulations governing social aspects and protection of the area surrounding high-rise buildings are designed above all to prevent any indirect risk or threat to people. Such regulations may concern planning aspects, such as the minimum distance between a high-rise building and neighbouring buildings, or they may take the form of rules defining the maximum permissible influence that a building can have on the microcosm surrounding it. Depending on the location of the high-rise building, corresponding statutory instruments may also govern the effects on air traffic safety or the buildings influence of radio communications. This exceedingly concise outline of applicable regulations illuminates only some of the rules to be observed when building a skyscraper. If all the regulations governing highrise construction were to be stacked one on top of the other in printed form, they would themselves be as high as a multi-storey building. 3.1.3 Technical analyses and special questions Planning a high-rise building would be inconceivable today without the help of experts and technical consultants. Extensive soil analyses are required to determine the strength of the subsoil before deciding on the location for a high-rise building. In the majority of cases, cores are drilled into the load-bearing subsoil to obtain soil samples. The drilling profile of the geological strata making up the subsoil and laboratory analyses of the soil samples provide the basic data for the soil report which is in turn used as the basis for planning the supporting structures and choosing a suitable foundation structure with due regard for the loads exerted by the high-rise building. The forces acting on the high-rise structure in the event of an earthquake must be taken into account when erecting high-rise buildings in areas prone to seismic activity. The same applies to wind loads and particularly to the dynamic effects of windstorm or earthquake loads. The additional vibration loads can result in overall loads of the same order of magnitude as the load exerted by the dead weight of the structure. The situation is particularly critical if the vibrations reach the resonant frequency of the building: in such a case, the vibrations can intensify until the entire building collapses. The collapse of the Tacoma Bridge in Washington State, USA, was probably the most spectacular case of destruction due to resonant vibration in a man-made structure. In many cases, these effects cannot be determined by ordinary computation. Even computer simulation cannot always help. Sometimes a decisive element may be lacking to obtain a mathematical approximation; in other cases, the computer may be too slow or the storage capacity inadequate. This frequently makes it necessary to carry out model experiments in a scientific laboratory. Models of the highrise buildings are exposed to artificial earthquakes on a vibratory table or subjected to a simulated hurricane in the wind tunnel. A detailed knowledge of mathematics and physics is necessary to ensure that the same physical properties and serviceable results are obtained despite the reduction in scale. For this reason, these studies can only be carried out by highly specialized test institutes. 3.1.4 Construction licensing procedure The construction licensing procedure is normally specified in the construction laws of the country concerned. As a rule, the principal will file an application with all the requisite documents (description, plans, analyses, etc.) to the relevant construction supervisory authority. The involvement of specialists is obligatory in the case of larger and more complicated projects, such as those involving high rise buildings. Such specialists include experts from the municipal fire brigade, water authorities, trade supervisory offices, environment protection agencies or similar offices in other specific fields. These specialists review the applications for a construction licence and specify any additional requirements to be met. The licence is then sent to the principal together with the

requirements specified by the specialists; responsibility for complying with these requirements rests with the principal or owner of the building. 3.1.5 Other constraints Even in our high-tech era, the planning and construction of a high-rise building are not dictated only by naked factual constraints. Tradition, religion and even the belief in spirits and demons still play a not insignificant part in many countries. Take, for example, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank building in Hong Kong: during the planning phase, a geomancer or expert on fung shui (i.e. wind and water) repositioned the escalators and moved executive offices and conference rooms to the other side of the building on the basis of astrological investigations and measurements in order to guarantee an optimum sense of well-being for clients and employees. However, it must be said that such intervention is limited by technical and structural requirements. In western countries, too, the owners are guided by similar considerations when the 13th floor is omitted from the planning or the technical installations are deliberately located on this floor in order to avoid the unlucky number 13. 3.2 Execution 3.2.1 Foundations Although the foundations are out of sight once the building is completed, they are of immense importance for ensuring that the dead weight and live loads of the building are safely transmitted to the native subsoil. These loads are not inconsiderable. The dead weight of a high-rise building can amount to several hundred thousand tonnes. This value may be exceeded several times over by the live loads which are taken as the basis for designing the building and include the loads from equipment and furnishings, people or moving objects, as well as wind or earthquake loads. Moreover, these loads often exert different pressures on the subsoil, thus resulting in uneven settlement of the building. In order to avoid such developments where possible, these buildings must be erected on subsoil of high load-bearing capacity, such as solid rock. Yet even if a strong native subsoil is found near the surface, shallow foundations will frequently be disregarded in favour a system that transfers the load to deeper layers on account of the high bending moments to be absorbed from horizontal forces. This can be done in several ways. One is to produce round or rectangular caissons which are lowered to the required depth and bear the foundation structure. Pile foundations are probably the most widely used method, however. The piles can either be prefabricated and then inserted in the native soil or they can be produced on site in the form of concrete drilling piles. Which method is chosen will ultimately depend on both the structural concept and the soil conditions prevailing on site. Drilling piles in a whole variety of forms can be used when working with large pile diameters and very long piles. Modern equipment can easily ram piles measuring up to 2 m in diameter to depths of well over 50 m. The piles are then combined into appropriate pile groups in accordance with the loads to be transmitted by the building. Although the load-bearing capacity can be roughly calculated on the basis of soil characteristics, the maximum permissible pile load is determined by applying test loads to the finished piles with the aid of hydraulic presses and comparing the resultant settlement with the permissible settlement. Diaphragm walls are another means of producing deep

foundations. These walls are produced directly in the ground and are between 60 and 100 cm thick. They are produced in sections with the aid of special equipment and a stabilizing bentonite slurry. The result is a continuous wall in the ground. This method is used in particular when subsoil of high load-bearing capacity is only found at considerable depth. Diaphragm walls and piles are also used to safeguard the foundation pit required for construction of the underground part of the building. The effort entailed can be considerable, particularly if the neighbouring buildings are very close. Rotating drills are mostly used today to minimize vibrations when installing the retaining wall. Foundation pits can easily be produced to depths of 30 m or more using this method. 3.2.2 Supporting structure 3.2.2.1 Load-bearing parts The steel skeleton permitted hitherto inconceivable flexibility in construction and layout planning. It also permitted series construction up to great heights, since the vertical dead weight was considerably lower than when using solid masonry and did not make it necessary to grade the sectional steel profiles in these areas. The tradition of steel skeleton structures predates the first high-rise building to have been erected by this method, namely the Home Insurance Building in Chicago (1885): mills and granaries, as well as engineering structures (bridges, silos) had already been built in England with an iron framework towards the end of the 18th century. The first frame structures used for the steel skeleton were flexurally rigid frames corresponding in height to one floor. New Yorks Empire State Building, which was completed in 1932, is one example which clearly shows the advantage of this new method, namely the short time required for the construction work. Moreover, the complete separation of outside wall and supporting structure permitted absolute freedom of design for the facade. Instead of requiring around 300 kg of steel per square metre of base area as in the past, modern supporting structures only require roughly 125 kg of steel on average. As the buildings became taller and taller, however, the main problem was no longer the vertical loads but such horizontal loads as wind and earthquake forces, as well as their transmission. This led to the development of what was known as the core method. The individual floors with their secondary supporting structure, namely the columns, are suspended from a central core as the primary supporting element, normally in the form of a reinforced concrete or steel structure with reinforcing shear walls. The columns merely transmit vertical loads, while the core transmits both vertical and horizontal loads. Its primary function is to reinforce the building in horizontal direction. The cores and their surrounding walls normally accommodate vertical service installations, such as elevators, stairs, primary service shafts for electric power and HLS (heating, lighting, sanitation). A similar supporting effect is obtained with the aid of horizontal reinforcing elements in the form of shear walls, which may be considered as an open core. However, such supporting structures are rarely found in taller buildings. Since the middle of the 20th century, a number of improvements in the supporting structures for skyscrapers have been introduced by the architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) in Chicago. One such development by SOM is the outrigger truss: a rigid superstructure known

as the outrigger is mounted at the top of a reinforcing core with movably connected floors and columns. The outrigger connects the columns to the core. They are suspended from the outrigger and are therefore under tension, thus eliminating the risk of buckling that is associated with pressure elements. A supporting system in the form of such an outrigger truss yields further advantages over a simple core construction when it comes to transmission of the horizontal loads. The bending stress applied to the core area in the lower floors is considerably reduced when using an outrigger truss. The outrigger itself usually accommodates such technical floors as the heating and ventilation systems. The Fort Wisconsin Center built in Milwaukee in 1962 is one example of an outrigger truss structure. The production of such suspended structures gave rise to a number of innovations, such as the lift-slab process for concrete structures. The load-bearing cores are first of all erected with the outrigger on top; the individual floors are then concreted on the ground, one above the other (separated by a release spray). Finally, they are raised to their installation position by means of hydraulic jacks and then connected to the core (see Section 3.2.2.2). Supporting steel structures in the form of tubes are often used for extremely tall buildings. In this case, the supporting structure is located in the outer facade, which is consequently designed in the form of a load-bearing facade with small openings. The result is an enclosed, intrinsically rigid tube without any unnecessary space-filling columns inside. The World Trade Center in New York is an example of such a structure. The outer walls are studded with vertical steel columns roughly one metre apart. A generously dimensioned development area was obtained on the ground floor by collecting the descending columns. Americas tallest skyscraper, the Sears Tower in Chicago (443 m high), is a further development of the conventional tube: it is a bundled tube. The layout of the building is subdivided into a number of tubes to relieve the columns in the corners of the building when subjected to horizontal loads; this results in more uniform distribution of the load over the facade columns. In this case, however, the interior can no longer be designed with the same flexibility as when using a single tube. The truss tubes perfected by Fazlar Khan (SOM) in the John Hancock Center in Chicago are another further development of the basic tube. These tubes are additionally reinforced by diagonal struts in the facade plane and are a structural feature that has almost become a hallmark of SOM buildings. It was only in the mid-1970s that concrete began to be more widely used in constructing skyscrapers. Until then, the length of time required for concrete construction and the associated financing problems were the main reasons for the predominant use of steel structures in the construction of high-rise buildings. New developments in shuttering, however, resulted in dramatically shorter construction times. The octagonal concrete core of the Messeturm in Frankfurt, for example, was erected with the aid of a slipform which was hydraulically raised one metre every day. The latest developments in supporting structures for highrise buildings include composite structures of steel and concrete, for instance in the form of steel sections embedded in concrete. 3.2.2.2 Special construction methods
BMW HEADQUARTERS, MUNICH

The headquarters of BMW A.G. differs from conventional buildings to create an impressive corporate symbol in the

form of a 100-m-high four-cylinder structure. The requirements for appropriate office organization yielded a basic outline in the shape of a clover leaf. Stairways, elevators and sanitary areas are accommodated in the central core. In this way, all the offices can be reached by the shortest possible route. Trendsetting methods were also used for the construction work. A reinforced concrete version was chosen as the most economical solution. According to the design concept, the entire building with 18 office floors and a technical floor was to be suspended from a girder cross at the top of the roughly 100-m-high core via four central king posts. This is a modification of the outrigger truss (Section 3.2.2.1). The entire load of the building is transmitted to the foundations via the core as the central element; it also absorbs all wind forces. A mighty girder cross with a projection of 16 m is mounted at the top of the core. The four king posts are secured to this central girder cross, each king post comprising 105 threaded steel bars with a load-bearing capacity equal to a suspended weight of 4,600 Mp. Small outer columns are additionally located between the floors. These outer columns are designed as compression columns above the technical floor (12th floor) and as king posts below. Time and costs were the decisive reasons for choosing this innovative construction method. All 19 floors were successively produced at the foot of the shell and core; the first floors were even produced complete with facade and glazing during construction of the supporting cross. The finished floors were then connected to the supporting cross via the king posts and raised one floor at a time every week with the aid of hoisting gear so that another floor could be produced in the space vacated at the foot of the core and then connected to the floor above (lift-slab method). Completion of the facade, glazing, installation and interior finishing proceeded on the suspended floors, unimpeded by the structural works and lifting operations. In addition to reducing the construction time required, this method also eliminated the need for expensive tooling and assembly work.
LA GRANDE ARCHE, PARIS

This building, which has already been mentioned in Section 2, takes the form of a giant cube open on two sides with edge lengths of 110 m. It was completed at the end of 1989 on the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution and took 5 years to build (see photo on page 18). The building has a weight of more than 300,000 Mp and is mounted on neoprene bearings, the loads being transmitted 30 m into the subsoil via twelve concrete pillars. The cubes main support is in the form of four prestressed upright reinforced concrete frames 21 m apart. They are complemented by horizontal members measuring roughly 70 m at ground and roof level. Each of these members is 9 m high, the equivalent of a 3-storey building. Since the two vertical sides of the cube would be without roof-level transverse bracing during construction, the required stability for that phase of the work was produced by means of horizontal steel truss reinforcements. A total of 37 office floors are accommodated in the two 18-m-wide wings of the cube (each with an area of 42,000 m2). 3.2.2.3 Facade The skeleton construction which has increasingly been used since the turn of the century has inevitably given rise to new possibilities for the facade. The size, shape and number of windows were no longer limited by structural requirements following the introduction of curtain facades,

since the loads were now primarily transmitted by posts and columns.
PLANNING

Most facade designs today are still based on empirical know-how and are not tested until the design has been established in detail. The tests are carried out on true-toscale models of individual facade elements in order to test adequate resistance to air and water, load-bearing capacity and the possibility of excessive deformation or glass breakage when subjected to corresponding loads, e.g. with the aid of firmly anchored aircraft engines.
DESIGN

Todays modern facades are characterized by external wall elements equal to one floor in height and inserted between the respective structural floors. Non-supporting metal facades suspended in front of the building have increasingly become established for economic reasons, particularly in high-rise construction. The scope for design is enlarged by coloured or mirrored window panels and linings of natural stone, ceramic tiles or brick. Almost any desired appearance can be produced.
TECHNICAL PROPERTIES

Modern facades must meet complex requirements as regards construction technology, engineering design and construction physics. Thanks to its lightness and almost unlimited possibilities for profile design, aluminium has largely become the material of choice for the outer framework. The panes are made of high-grade glass filled with noble gases or with a surface coating that reflects infrared light. On the inside, modern facades are highly impermeable to water and water vapour in order to prevent damage due to moisture. Despite the large areas of glass, protection against the sun is more important than heat loss today due to good thermal insulation of modern facades. Even where soundproofing and fire protection are concerned, glass and metal facades are at least the equal of conventional constructions. Modern facades also require a sophisticated ventilation and cooling system. The air-conditioned or twin facade is a case in point. Here an additional facade of laminated glass is arranged in front of the conventional facade, thus creating a space through which air can circulate. More complex ventilation concepts for routing air into and out of the building may be realized by including additional vertical and horizontal bulkheads. Individually controlled ventilation flaps are capable of providing a more natural and far less complex exchange of air.
PRODUCTION AND ASSEMBLY

Due to the extensive know-how required with regard to material properties and construction physics and on account of the great manufacturing depth, modern facades are only produced by specialized companies based on the architects design and in accordance with functional, as well as structural aspects before subsequently being assembled. The degree of prefabrication in modern facades is considerable. The frames, glazing, parapet lining, sunshades and anti-glare finish, as well as thermal insulation and sealing are all assembled into single-storey facade elements in the manufacturers plant. In many cases, such technical equipment parts as radiators, air outlets and the ducting for electrical and electronic equipment are also already integrated at this stage. In the meantime, fixing elements can be mounted on the shell of the high-rise building. These elements can usually be displaced in three planes to compensate the dimensional tolerances occurring in the shell. The facade elements as such are fitted without the help of scaffolding,

thus greatly reducing the time required for this work. The frame profiles are assembled with labyrinthine indentations to compensate the deformation arising in the building as a result of wind and live loads, as well as temperature differences. Permanently elastic rubber profiles ensure that the facade remains impermeable to air and water. 3.2.2.4 Roof There are no fixed rules governing the roofs of high-rise buildings. The roof design depends only on the architects draft and on the purposes and functions to be fulfilled by the roof. Most roofs are flat. The electromechanical drive system for the elevators is usually installed on the roof; in some cases, there is also a rail around the perimeter of the building to accommodate the equipment required for cleaning the facade, as well as the pertinent connections and facilities. A heliport or parking space can also be set up on the flat roof of large high-rise buildings. It is sometimes even used in Japan for golfing practice. Air-intake towers for air-conditioning systems, on the other hand, have become less common on modern highrise buildings. Due to the great height of buildings, airconditioning and heating systems are now decentralized and spread over several individual floors. Moreover, every installation and every superstructure on the roof means another opening in the intact roof skin and this can give rise to leakage problems, particularly on flat roofs. It is therefore advantageous to transfer such systems to lower floors. Overhead glazing is another type of roof commonly found in high-rise buildings. Such roofs keep out the elements while at the same time creating spacious assembly areas, usually in the centre of the building. Atriums and convention halls are two pertinent examples. High-rise buildings with a sloping roof are usually rounded off by an antenna system with appropriate lightning protection. 3.2.3 Interior finishing Walls, ceilings and floors in high-rise buildings are no different to those in other buildings. The choice of materials and structures depends on the intended use of the building rather than on its form (high-rise, low-level or cubic). Since particular importance is attached to flexible use of high-rise buildings, the partition walls, floor structures and (usually suspended) ceilings will be of corresponding design. When considering the interior finishing, a distinction must basically be made between load-bearing or supporting elements which are required for structural reasons and those which merely partition off the rooms and installations. Load-bearing elements are almost exclusively made of concrete or steel today, as well as of combinations of these materials. Due to the relatively small area available per floor, fireresistant elements (fire walls) are usually only to be found in the core areas incorporating the elevators, stairwells, service and installation shafts, sanitary and ancillary rooms. A vertical breakdown into fire compartments is mostly obtained with the aid of fire-resistant floor constructions (for further details see Section 4.2.4). The installations for air-conditioning, ventilation, lighting and fire alarms are usually located between the load-bearing ceiling and a suspended false ceiling into which the lamps are normally integrated. Small-scale electrical installations are contained in trunking in the screed flooring; elevated false floors are installed if numerous connections

are required, such as in computer centres. Cables can then be routed as desired in the space below the floor; the equipment is connected to sockets in so-called floor tanks. False floors are to be found almost everywhere in modern office towers, since cables can be rerouted without difficulty, as is increasingly required on account of the rapid pace of change in office and communications technology. Moreover, the space below the floor can also be used for ventilation and air-conditioning installations, particularly in computer centres. Particular attention must be paid to the question of fire protection in such false floor constructions. Connection of the flexible partition walls to both the suspended ceiling and the elevated false floor can pose problems. From the point of view of soundproofing and thermal insulation, it would be better to install the partition walls between the load-bearing floors. However, since the suspended ceilings and false floors normally extend over the entire area and are not confined to any single room on account of the technical installations, the partition walls must also be fitted between the suspended ceiling and false floor. This consequently makes it necessary to use soundproofing and thermally insulating floor coverings, as well as ceiling materials. Facade elements into which technical components have already been incorporated by the manufacturer (see Section 3.2.3) are conveniently linked to the remaining network by means of screw-in and plug-in connections. However, it is becoming increasingly rare for such technical service connections to be installed in the external walls, as they do not permit as flexible use of the room as floor tanks. 3.2.4 Service systems 3.2.4.1 Installations
ENERGY AND WATER SUPPLY

Unlike the case with normal multi-storey buildings, the technical service components in high-rise buildings must meet special requirements if only on account of the height since the required supply of energy, water and air and the effluent volume are incomparably larger. The twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, for instance, with around 50,000 employees and 80,000 visitors every day, requires more than 25,000 kWh of electricity every hour. These utilities must also be transported to the very last floor in sufficient quantities, under adequate pressure and at sometimes totally different temperatures. The planning effort required on the part of the service engineers responsible for the supply and disposal services in high-rise buildings is therefore very much greater than in the case of smaller and medium-sized projects. The costs for electrical and electronic systems in the recently completed Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, currently the tallest building in the world, amount to more than US$ 90 per square metre and that does not include any other services. The pressure load on the individual components is reduced through subdivision into several pressure stages with technical service centres in the basement or on the ground floor, on intermediate floors and on the roof.
VENTILATION AND AIR-CONDITIONING

The systems should be designed in such a way as to ensure flexible division of the areas (large rooms, individual rooms) so that their use can subsequently be changed without extensive conversions. A variety of ventilation and air-conditioning systems can be installed, depending on the purpose for which the building is used. The high-rise headquarters of the Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt am Main, for instance, is supplied by

a two-channel high-pressure system in which the air is injected from above and discharged through corresponding exhaust air windows. A second, independent two-channel high-pressure system additionally blows air into the rooms from the false floors. The concept used in the Messeturm in Frankfurt am Main is completely different: in this case the required air is supplied via what is known as a one-channel continuous-flow system in combination with a fan-coil four-conductor system in the outer facade. In principle, all air-conditioning and ventilation systems must meet the same basic requirements: The air in the room must be continuously renewed (a three to sixfold exchange of air is normally required per hour). The outside air flow must be guaranteed with a minimum fresh air flow of 30 to 60 m3/h per person. The risk of drafts must be minimized and any nuisance due to the transmission of sound eliminated. It must be possible to shut off individual plant segments when the corresponding parts of the building are not in use.
SUPPLY OF HEAT AND COOLING

Unlike the case with the majority of normal multi-storey buildings in which the installed heating capacity is several times the required cooling capacity, the ratio is normally reversed completely in most high-rise buildings, due above all to the larger ratio of window area to total exterior area. The energy required for this purpose, such as heating, steam, refrigeration and electricity, must be supplied with due regard to cost-efficiency and the minimum possible environmental impact due to emissions. A number of alternative solutions are drawn up during the planning phase and compared in order to determine the most costefficient source of energy on the basis of the investment costs and expected annual costs for operation and maintenance of the equipment. The essential difference between high-rise buildings and other buildings in terms of designing the components (particularly fittings, pumps, gaskets) lies in the higher pressure stage. A water column in a 300-m-tall building, for instance, exerts a stagnation pressure of 30 bar. The fittings on the lower floors must therefore be dimensioned for the maximum stagnation pressure (possibly with the aid of pressure reducers). This makes for a major difference in costs.
SANITATION

Pressure stages are also required for the sanitation, thus permitting the use of smaller pumps. Sanitary dispensing points must additionally be isolated from the building as such for soundproofing reasons. The internal heat loads (e.g. hot exhaust air, exhaust heat from refrigeration systems) accumulated in high-rise buildings are commonly used to heat water with the aid of heat pumps or heat recovery systems. Studies undertaken in the USA have shown that the height does not have any effect on the flow rate and rate of fall, since faecal matter and effluent do not simply drop to the ground under the force of gravity, but more or less wind their way downwards along the pipe walls.
CONTROL SYSTEMS

Todays complex, ultra-modern control systems are primarily based on intelligent digital controllers. This technology permits a direct link between DDC (direct digital control) substations and the centralized instrumentation and control which also takes over energy management

functions, such as: optimization of the overnight and weekend temperature reduction, linking the heating of service water with re-cooling of the refrigeration system, operation of the external blinds. 3.2.4.2 Deliveries, vehicles Although most high-rise buildings are centrally located and within a convenient distance to public transport systems, a sufficient number of parking spaces must still be provided for employees, suppliers and visitors. The number of parking spaces required is usually stipulated in the construction regulations in relation to the number of jobs or useful office space; similar ratios also apply to other business premises, shops, restaurants and meeting halls. The ratio may be more than 5:1 i.e. one parking space for more than five jobs if the building is well supplied by public transport, such as direct connection to the underground railway. Even in such cases, however, several hundred or a few thousand parking spaces may still be required for large high-rise buildings. The recently completed Petronas Towers in Malaysia, for instance, is set to accommodate around 70,000 workers. In extreme cases, if adequate public transport is not available, it may be necessary to provide one parking space for every job. For financial reasons, the size of a high-rise building is often also dictated by the number of parking spaces required. Depending on the nature, location and execution of the garages and on the buildings structural system (nature of the subsoil), the manufacturing costs for one parking space can easily amount to around DM 50,000. This means that the cost of building 2,000 parking spaces can reach as much as DM 100m with complex engineering and location on several levels, including the required ramps and traffic areas. Traffic links must be created not only for the parking spaces, but also for delivery traffic to the building, as well as for refuse-collection vehicles. High-rise buildings are commonly said to represent a town under one roof. That, however, also means that the traffic to, around and from the building is equal to that of a small town, the only difference being that the entire traffic is concentrated on a handful of access roads and adjacent traffic areas which must be able to handle this volume of traffic at peak periods. 3.2.4.3 Passenger transport, vertical development In addition to escalators and automatic walkways, which usually only serve to connect a few floors conveniently and without delays, passengers and goods are normally carried up and down by elevators in high-rise buildings. The comparison made above between a high-rise building and a small town also applies with regard to the number of people inside the building: in the course of a few hours every morning, tens of thousands of people stream into a megabuilding to start work and leave again within a very short space of time at the end of the day. They are supplemented by visitors, guests and customers, with the result that the elevators often have to transport well over 100,000 people every day. It is therefore not unfair to assert that the American inventor of our modern safety elevator, Elisha Graves Otis, was also one of the pioneers who paved the way in 1852 for high-rise construction. Asked what they feared most in a high-rise building, the respondents claimed that their greatest horror scenario was not a fire, but a malfunction in the elevator system. Such catastrophes may be exceedingly rare, but they cannot be excluded entirely. A fully occupied

elevator plummeted when a B25 bomber crashed into the Empire State Building in 1945 (see Section 4.8.2). In the beginning, when the high-rise buildings had no more than about 20 floors, every elevator led from the entrance level (not necessarily the ground floor) to every other floor in the building. The simple control technology was offset by a number of disadvantages: numerous elevators and elevator shafts were needed. The numerous stops and, above all, the low speed (with frequent braking and restarting) meant that it took a long time for the elevator to reach its destination. It was soon found that elevators like every mass transit system needed a sophisticated operating concept. The two operating systems commonly used today namely group and changeover operation only became possible with the development of powerful drive systems and controllers, as well as highly effective braking systems with multiple braking for safety reasons. In group operation, for which a separate shaft is (still) required for each elevator, the elevators or groups of elevators only serve certain floors: one group of elevators serves the first ten floors, for example, while a second group serves floors 10 to 20 from the entrance level, the next group then serves floors 20 to 30, etc. The groups must overlap on at least one floor so that people can transfer from the 17th to the 23rd floor, for example, although they must change elevators in the process. The advantage of this system is that the number of elevator shafts decreases towards the top of the building, thus counteracting the lower floor space frequently found on the top floors. In changeover operation, large and very fast express elevators serve a small number of central floors which are often also highlighted architecturally. In New Yorks Empire State Building, these elevators take no more than a minute to travel from the ground floor to the 80th floor. Local elevators serve the floors between the changeover floors. Here too, the elevators may serve groups of floors in exceptionally large high-rise buildings. If the equipment rooms are located alongside the elevator shaft, a number of local elevators can be operated one above the other in the same shaft; in this way, the number of shafts can be reduced while maintaining the transport capacity. Up to three elevators are contained one above the other in each of 36 open shafts in New Yorks World Trade Center. The volume of traffic is analysed by microprocessors, thus avoiding long delays. The floor area has been increased by 25% as a result of these sophisticated systems. At least one goods elevator with high load-bearing capacity and therefore lower speed is usually required to transport goods and to serve the building. Depending on the size of the high-rise building, there must also be a sufficient number of elevator cabins large enough to accommodate stretchers. Elevators should never be used to evacuate people following a catastrophe. It is therefore a statutory requirement in most countries that a warning be affixed to all elevators prohibiting use of the elevator in the event of a fire. Elevators are often directed automatically to the ground floor following a fire alarm and remain there with their doors open. So-called firemens lifts are additionally installed in high-rise buildings for use in the event of a fire (see Section 4.2.4). Apart from the statics, there is no other structural part or equipment in a building subject to so many regulations and technical controls as the elevator and with good

reason, too. Constant care and regular maintenance combined with stringent inspections by an independent test institution, such as the Technical Inspection Agencies (TV) in Germany, are an absolute must for the safe operation of high-rise buildings. 3.2.4.4 Waste disposal In the days when waste was collected without preliminary sorting on site, waste chutes were frequently installed in residential and administrative buildings, as well as in highrise buildings with up to 20 floors. Such waste chutes are not advisable in taller buildings due to the associated greater height of fall for paper or plastic bags tear open as they fall and considerable noise is generated by the waste as it falls and collides with the walls and bottom of the chute. The fire hazard is also enormous. Standard practice today is to collect the waste separately on each floor: paper, recyclable secondary materials, compostable organic waste and residual household waste which is collected in large containers and then transferred via the goods elevator (or service elevator) to a central collecting point (in the basement) alongside the delivery area or to the underground parking deck. The waste is compressed to a fraction of its original volume in special containers at the central collecting point. Mobile waste collecting bins are ready and waiting in the goods elevators in the World Trade Center in New York, for instance. In addition, there are five filling hoppers which can comminute all manner of objects, including desks. Too little attention is frequently paid to the problem of waste disposal when planning a building. The following rough estimate illustrates just how much waste can accumulate in a high-rise building: if each of the 5,000 assumed employees in a high-rise building produces only 2 kg of waste per day, that makes a total of no less then 10 tonnes to be disposed of every day. In addition, there is the waste from shops, kitchens and restaurants, as well as special waste from service facilities and filling stations for motor vehicles. A sophisticated logistical system is consequently needed simply to dispose of the waste. 3.3 Occupancy 3.3.1 Maintenance, administration When the high-rise building is completed, it is taken into service and occupied by the owner or tenants. Costs are continuously incurred during this time for maintenance and care of the building; these costs can have a significant effect on the financial result of the buildings operator. He must decide whether to employ his own staff to deal with the problems (e.g. cleaning, maintenance, security, administration) or whether to assign intrinsic functions to external service-providers (outsourcing). Both alternatives require an efficient building management capable of taking over the following responsibilities, particularly in the case of high-rise buildings: a) Technical building management Energy supply Disposal Equipment operation System communication b) Commercial building management Cost accounting Property accounting Rentals Contract management c) Infrastructural building management Cleaning services Caretaker services Security services

 Secretarial and postal services A new market segment known as facility management has developed in recent years and caters to the needs of users in larger properties in particular. It differs from classic building management in that it is not limited solely to the occupancy phase, but is already in action during the planning phase and therefore covers the entire life cycle of the building right up to its demolition. Cost-efficient optimization of all processes during the occupancy phase of a high-rise building requires an efficient and powerful computer system including CAD (computer-aided design) applications. The latter is particularly important for internal planning changes, conversions, rehabilitation and changes in occupancy, as well as for permitting documentation of important information (e.g. layout drawings, general drawings of the building, security information, furniture inventories, telephone connections). New requirements are often imposed on the performance of technical equipment in a high-rise building in the course of its occupancy phase. Different times of day and seasons, as well as changing tenants require rapid adaptation of the heat, cooling, electric power and lighting. In office buildings, manufacturing premises and high-rise buildings, this adjustment is handled by freely programmable DDC systems which record all the data of the connected technical equipment, such as fans, burners, pumps, valves and external blinds, analyse these data and then optimize the corresponding process sequence. Unnecessary energy consumption is avoided, consumers are switched off when their offices are not in use and switched on again shortly before occupancy recommences. The recorded data are forwarded to either the centralized instrumentation and control in the building or via the public telephone network to an external control centre. Expensive call-outs on site can be reduced through remote programming by the maintenance company if faults arise or limit values change. If more complex maintenance work is required, the technician on duty can immediately see which spare parts are required to remedy the fault. 3.3.2 Conversions In the planning a high-rise building, care is normally taken to ensure that the building can subsequently be used in a relatively flexible manner. Internal conversions due to changes of use following a change of tenant or the changing needs of the present user should not be a problem. In this way, the operator of the building can also respond more effectively to changes in the property market. To ensure such flexibility, the service systems are centrally located in the building. The partition walls separating the individual rooms are non-supporting and can be relocated to permit subsequent changes in room size. As a rule, the buildings supporting structure is totally isolated from the system of partition walls inside the building. Where possible, reinforcing walls are located outside the useful floor area, such as in the core area. The columns are consequently the only remaining load-bearing elements causing a nuisance in the useful area. A column spacing of 6 to 7 m is widely used as a standard grid, meeting both architectural and structural requirements. If the conversion nevertheless affects the load-bearing structure of the high-rise building, it is essential to draw up a structural analysis for all building states during the conversion work in order to avoid damage. If other parts of the building remain in use during the conversion work, special precautions must be taken and the work efficiently coordinated to ensure that the conversion proceeds without

a hitch. The only possibility for expansion in densely populated cities is normally upwards i.e. by adding floors if additional space is required at a later date. In such cases, particular care must be taken to ensure that the additional loads can be absorbed by both the existing building and the existing foundation structure. It may even prove necessary to extend the foundations in such a case. This can be achieved by a technically complex method using additional piles which must be produced with the aid of special drilling equipment in the underground parking levels on account of the low working height. Demolishing old skyscrapers in inner city areas is an exceedingly complicated business. Such buildings are normally demolished by blasting after months of preparation and a great deal of expert knowledge so that the explosive charges are positioned at precisely the right points to ensure that the building collapses like a stack of cards without a single piece of rubble leaving the site. 3.3.3 Rehabilitation There are many reasons why a high-rise building should have to be rehabilitated. The criteria to be met here are basically the same as for conversions, i.e. the safety of the building and its residents or users must be assured completely and at all times during the rehabilitation work. Particularly high safety standards must be maintained in conjunction with asbestos abatement i.e. when removing the asbestos installed as insulation or for fire-protection purposes and replacing it with physiologically safer materials. Asbestos fibres are considered to be highly carcinogenic and are released in particular during demolition work. The technical equipment in the building, such as heating, sanitation or elevators, must also be rehabilitated after a certain period of time. In many cases, however, such renewal or modernization work is undertaken without shutting down the entire building. It is often sufficient to shut down only part of the building, and sometimes the work can even be carried out without interrupting operation of the building at all.