The world of skyscrapers: sensitive and symbolic

Let's try to figure out who and why today stimulates the competition to overcome new and new height marks.

High-rise design: from a matchbox to a trash can

The first office buildings appeared in Chicago at the end of the 10th century. The world's first skyscraper - the Home Insurance Building in Chicago - was designed by engineer William Le Baron Jenney. After a century and a half, calling a 1885-story skyscraper is even somehow strange, but in XNUMX it seemed like a real miracle.

There was no lightness and heavenlyness in the form of the "father of skyscrapers" - now this building, which, unfortunately, was demolished in 1931, is the most suitable epithet "squat". Almost square in cross-section, with plastered walls, the building, however, became revolutionary from an engineering point of view. The load-bearing structure was a non-flammable, light, strong steel skeleton, and the brick walls simply hung on it and practically did not carry any load. This is what allowed the builders to push the floors up.

And they ran away! Just five years later, New York took away the palm of championship from Chicago, and after the triumphant opening of the 18-story Pulitzer Building, skyscrapers began to sprout like mushrooms on the body of the Big Apple. Already then, city planners tried to direct the ambitions of developers in a reasonable direction.

As early as the beginning of the 1916th century, namely in XNUMX, the city authorities of New York adopted the "Zoning Resolution", according to which developers were prohibited from building high-rise "Chinese walls" - skyscrapers with wide fronts that would block the sun from pedestrians and transform streets on gloomy damp canyons with eternal drafts.

The iconic 60-story 500 Fifth Avenue tower, completed in 1931, is still the tallest Art Deco building, but every ledge was designed with street projection in mind. The high-rise construction boom continued even into the early years of the Great Depression. And only the Second World War cooled this mad race.

The first prisms sparkling with glass and metal appeared later — in the 30s. To this day, the International Style, inspired by the German émigré architects Walter Gropius and Mies van der Rohe, remains the most popular in the design of high-rise buildings.

"The problem of erecting a tall office building is one of the grandest, one of the most beautiful opportunities that the creator of nature, in his grace, ever offered to the proud human spirit." - Louis Henry Sullivan, architect, "the father of America's skyscrapers"

As early as 1935, Le Corbusier offended vulnerable Americans, declaring: "Your skyscrapers are too small and too numerous!". But in 1947, the scandalous Frenchman was involved in the work of the commission, which was engaged in the main construction of the world - the first headquarters of the United Nations Organization. A plot of land in Manhattan was bought with the money of John Rockefeller, Jr., and the US government allocated $65 million for the implementation of this global project.

But in order to consolidate cooperation between countries at the level of architectural DNA, an international project group was created. The head of the group was the American architect Wallace Harrison. A kind of competition arose between him, the Frenchman, and his student Oscar Niemeyer, which ended in a conflict and the expulsion of Le Corbusier from the design team.

In the past, Corbeau complained to friends that his colleagues were putting sticks in his wheels, preventing him from creating something truly great. After the master plan was approved, the French architect was deprived of the authorship of the 39-story building of the UN secretariat, which the residents of the city later nicknamed the matchbox. But if you look at the result, it is obvious: the very architecture of the complex speaks eloquently that Le Corbusier was involved in the design of the tower, and the design of the assembly is the work of Niemeyer.

Lever House and Seagram Tower also remain iconic examples of international high-rise architecture of the XNUMXth century. We regularly meet echoes of this style in modern projects. And the "box shape" itself remains popular, not giving up positions to "liquid" bionic lines. Sometimes architects share unexpected revelations about their impressions.

For example, the authors of the 432 Park Avenue skyscraper project, Raphael Vignoli and Harry Macklow, were brave enough to admit: the design of their building was inspired by ... a trash can. But not just any dirty noname basket, but Josef Hoffmann's iconic Gitterwerk paper basket, created by him in 1905.

 

The era of supertols

The first decades of the XXI century. marked the era of mass construction of supertalls and megatalls. According to the international measurement standards for tall buildings developed by the CTBUH (Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat), supertalls are buildings between 300 and 600 m high, and anything higher is already called megatall.

So far, only three similar ones have been built in the world - the Burj Khalifa (Burj Dubai), the Shanghai Tower and the Clock Tower in Mecca. The Jeddah Tower in the Arabian desert, under the supervision of SOM's Adrian Smith, is about to break the kilometer mark. But the latest news from Saudi Arabia is contradictory: it seems that construction is still frozen.

Instead, there is enough news from the world of super cars. In this category, the USA is still losing the championship to the Eastern Tigers. 80% of the top 462 in the CTBUH supertall rating are located in Asian countries. The tallest building in Europe is currently the XNUMX-meter "Lakhta Center" in St. Petersburg (in Western Europe - the London Shard), which was completed just a few months ago.

Increasingly, the desire to create self-valued cultural-contextual architecture can be traced in the design of superfloors

Despite the pandemic and the panic that gripped the world, 2020 and the beginning of 2021 became mega-harvesting in terms of the number of presented skyscraper projects. Herzog & de Meuron, BIG, SOM, Foster + Partners, Heatherwick Studio, MVRDV, etc. - it is easier to list those who did not join the next high-altitude race.

There are no ordinary projects, everyone wants to stand out either through innovative designs and technologies, compliance with sustainability trends, or through original design. Increasingly, the desire to create self-valued cultural-contextual architecture can be traced in the design of superfloors.

 

A self-growing skyscraper by Guess Line Architects

Ukraine is not on world maps with the locations of super-tall buildings. But in April, the designers of the Lviv bureau Guess Line Architects won the International eVolo Skyscraper Competition. The people of Lviv designed a unique skyscraper of the future: self-sufficient, formed from a living tree that grows rapidly, it is erected by itself.

The designers predicted that in the near future there will be an opportunity to accelerate the growth of trees by programming the habit form. If furniture and even bridges are already grown from trees, why can't a living skyscraper be grown in 15-20 years? This futuristic idea was admired by the jury. The founder of Guess Line Architects, Andriy Lesyuk, answered several questions from the editor of PRAGMATIKA.MEDIA.

PRAGMATIKA.MEDIA: Why was a skyscraper the model for the projection of your abstract idea of ​​a living building, and not some cottage that would seem more real?

Andriy Lesyuk: In fact, the decision to visualize the idea in the form of a skyscraper was dictated by the task of the competition, because the essence of the competition was to present one's vision of a unique high-rise building and submit an original architectural concept, using new materials, technologies and methods of organizing space.

Moreover, the alternative of growing a living skyscraper as a self-sufficient full-fledged architectural object seemed more complicated, large-scale and maximally surreal (compared to the realization of the idea with the help of small architectural forms).

We challenged ourselves and removed established barriers, because in order to solve such a problem as initiating a new architectural discourse, it is important to learn to depart from reality and think more comprehensively, sometimes relying only on the wildest and most fantastic ideas.

PM: In your opinion, will the Ukrainian cities of the future grow upward, or will we adopt the concept of urban development with the help of medium-rise buildings, which is popular in Western Europe?

A.L.: It would be appropriate to answer that everything will depend on the direction of change of many factors, such as the tendency to create large agglomerations, the increase or decrease in the number of the population, the creation of a program for the preservation of monuments of architectural heritage, etc. a logical scenario for the growth of "living" cities is the option of placing skyscraper trees with their height adjusted to the surrounding buildings.

In larger cities that are being developed with the help of high-rise buildings, giant skyscraper trees will solve a number of important environmental and urban planning issues. Thus, analyzing the active process of urbanization and the reduction of the percentage of greening as a phenomenon that provokes a number of environmental problems, we decided that by integrating genetically modified trees during the stage of their growth and development into high-rise architecture, it is possible to restore the balance between the digitized metropolises of the future and the Earth's resources, which are gradually depleted.

PM: Usually architects prefer to deal with inert and predictable building material. It is unlikely that a person will ever be able to program an object of living nature with such accuracy. Why and why should we strive for it at all?

A.L.: That is why the idea of ​​tree programming as a method of creating architecture turned out to be a winning one, because it is something new, little researched, unpredictable and unusual. It is important to understand that every new idea that becomes advanced over time is always ahead of the time in which it was born: it goes through protracted stages of analysis, criticism and refutation. Will a person ever be able to program an object of living nature with such precision?

Already today, genetic engineering makes it possible to grow structures of this type, so in the near future the idea of ​​growing a skyscraper tree as a separate living organism with its own root system, mechanisms of irrigation and care, development features aimed at adapting to use in architecture, will not seem fantastic at all.

Such a skyscraper is a group of unique fast-growing and tall deciduous trees of hard varieties, which are planted in groups in specially prepared soil (to obtain resources) and in the process of their growth form a unique architectural volume. The plant will transport water and nutrients from the roots to the top. At the same time, the growth of the circumference will gradually increase the strength of the tree structure, increasing its self-supporting properties.

During development, branches of neighboring trees will graft at different levels and form a network structure — a kind of conjugation that will strengthen the structure and continue its growth. Depending on the load and the required portion of power supply of the connections, it is possible to select different types of connections between branches.

In this way, the branches of the hybrid "trees of the future" will form the structure of a living skyscraper, form level, separate biomorphic structures and feed on the resources of soil, water and sun, forming an ecosystem that is essential for large agglomerations. Growing, the living skyscraper can connect with neighboring buildings and, together with its unique form, form green overhanging communications over the block.

"Beautiful or terrible, the modern skyscraper is a powerful force with a strong magnetic field. It absorbs all the factors that drive and characterize modern civilization. A skyscraper is where art and the city meet.” — Ada Louise Huxtable, Architecture Critic, Pritzker Jury Member

Build or run

The world construction market often paradoxically reacts to crises. The Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building were built during the Great Depression, as global development itself created jobs. It was expected that the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 would put an end to the construction of high-rise buildings.

"Why would you build a tall building when you can target a plane at it?" Steve Kennard, director of recovery at the British developer Hadley Property Group, accurately described the panic that gripped the industry. When the Twin Towers fell, everyone thought, "That's it, it's game over." But still. The anger and grief of the Western world sublimated into hundreds of new projects.

Building skyscrapers is expensive, but profitable. First, the developer saves on the cost of the land, and secondly, on the architecture, because the replication of floor plans and communications reduces the cost per square meter. But above all, the construction of skyscrapers is deeply symbolic. It is a symbol of superiority, success and prosperity.

Confidence in positive development and demonstration of the value of long-term approaches to construction. In response to the terrorist attack, the Americans built One World Trade Center, where even the height itself is a symbol of the unbridled American spirit. 541 m is 1 feet: the number that represents the year of American Independence.

Here are the last two examples, which can also be considered symbolic. In New York, the almost completed supertall The Spiral is the headquarters of the producer of the coronavirus vaccine Pfizer. The project height of 314 m has already been reached, and the builders will be engaged in finishing and finishing works for another year. It is planned that everything will be completed already in 2022. A unique feature of the architecture of The Spiral, developed by Bjarke Ingels BIG, will be the landscaped terraces that wrap around the building in a stepped spiral.

The second example is the destruction of the Grand Hyatt New York hotel, which belonged to Donald Trump, for the construction of a new supertall. The building was Trump's first major construction project in New York: in 1980, he purchased the Commodore Hotel, an example of American high-rise architecture of the early XNUMXth century. — and mercilessly destroyed the architecture, gutted the interiors and sheathed the steel frame with black mirror glass. Well, this memorial is living out the last days.

SOM architects plan to replace Trump's "imperious" design with a democratic and sustainable one. A series of public terraces with gardens will be created around the supertall 175 Park Avenue.

SOM architects plan to replace the "imperious" design of Trump's Grand Hyatt New York with a democratic and sustainable one

It will be unfair if one gets the impression that measuring skyscrapers is a purely masculine activity, no matter how much journalists sneer at renis envy. In Chicago, Jeanne Gang, founder of Studio Gang, is nearing completion of the Vista Tower, and Dorte Mandrup presented plans for the Bestseller Tower in the quiet Danish province of Brande.

The 320-meter Bestseller from Mandrup is set to become the tallest building in Western Europe, where the high jump race has so far been held back. The building, the design of which, by the way, is also associated with the immortal masterpiece Gitterwerk, will beat the London Shard by Renzo Piano. Well, Zaha Hadid Architects designed the 400-meter Tower C complex for Shenzhen, China.

Although this project is solely the work of Patrick Schumacher, the tallest buildings personally designed by Zaha Hadid are the 315-meter International Youth Cultural Center in Nanjing, the residential tower One Thousand Museum Tower in Miami, and the 207-meter Leeza SOHO in Beijing.

 

Reach the sky in a week

It is difficult to design a new original supertol and present it effectively, but it is much more difficult to complete the construction in the shortest possible time. Time for another storm on the stock market, for another economic, political, social crisis. Have time before the fire has passed, because who will be interested in a morally outdated landmark?

That's why developers are keenly interested in the development of modular technologies, when the dirtiest and longest processes are taken outside the construction site, and real magic happens on the construction site itself: in a matter of weeks, another tower is erected on a vacant lot. Taking into account the pandemic, the advantages of this approach have only increased, because now, for the sake of safety, the developer must observe special logistics: prevent the accumulation of a large number of people on the site, in canteens, elevators and dormitories.

The Chinese flagship in the field of prefabricated construction Broad Sustainable Building is erecting skyscrapers in the Celestial Empire in a matter of hours in real time. 19 floors in a week? done 57 floors in 19 days? Please. However, months of work on the project and the process of manufacturing modules at the factory remain behind the scenes. But still, the speed of the Chinese is impressive.

The architect-visionary and professor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Carlo Ratti presented the project of the high-rise Playscraper tower last quarantine year, which is a sandwich of several modular blocks - tennis courts. He plans to order modular constructions in stainless steel cladding from Broad Sustainable Building.

This project will not just become a new icon for sports fans. It is an experiment with a new type of public space that expands vertically rather than horizontally,” said Carlo Ratti in a press statement.

The benefits of vertical expansion are gradually changing the atmosphere in even the most conservative European cities

The benefits of vertical expansion are gradually changing the atmosphere in even the most conservative European cities. Two years ago, for the first time since 1973, Paris allowed the construction of a skyscraper outside the Défense to begin. An exception was made for the Tour Triangle pyramidal tower, designed by Herzog & de Meuron as a new attraction for the 2024 Olympics.

What objectively restrains the vertical architectural growth in Ukraine and what does our dedication to low-rise and medium-rise architecture say? About permanent economic instability, lack of ambition, fear of change or loyalty to the traditional paradigm of a flat city? We will continue to develop the main theme of the volume in a series of blitz interviews with leading architects and developers of Ukraine.

 

/ The material is published on the pages #31 of volume PRAGMATIKA.MEDIA/