How tall buildings are built

Heavy steel cables used to lift elevators limit the height an elevator can safely travel to about 1, ft. Any taller and the size of the motor and the power needed to lift them along with the structure needed to support the weight becomes unfeasible. Getting occupants to higher floors without it taking forever or having to stop at multiple sky lobbies to switch elevators is challenging.

Double-decker elevator cars and computerized controls are used to efficiently get passengers to their desired floors while minimizing wait times. New breakthroughs in vibration reduction and pressure regulation are making faster travel speeds more comfortable and less vomit-inducing.

In , KONE, the Finnish elevator company, introduced UltraRope which features a carbon fiber core encased in a high-friction coating. Elevators using the UltraRope technology are being installed in the Kingdom Tower currently under construction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. This megatall skyscraper is expected to be the tallest building in the world when completed, reaching a height of 3, ft.

ThyssenKrupp, on the other hand, is tackling the heavy steel cable issue by getting rid of them completely. In addition to freeing elevators from height limits, it would remove the restriction of only being able to travel in two directions, up and down.

The technology will allow elevator cars to run horizontally as well as vertically and for multiple cars to operate in each shaft simultaneously. They plan to have a full-scale model ready for public demonstrations next year at their new test tower in Rottweil, Germany.

The test tower is expected to begin trial operations in December. Transrapid International is a joint venture between ThyssenKrupp and Siemens. The self-propelled elevator cars will feature a multi-level brake system and inductive power transfers from the elevator shaft to the individual cars. Technology is also playing a role in designing and building taller buildings.

Building Information Modeling BIM and 3D computer modeling allow architects and engineers to accurately assess how the building will perform in real-world environments, which can lead to a reduction in redundant structural elements that skyscrapers of the past had to rely on. Whether the trend of megatall buildings continues is anyone's guess.

Cost will continue to be a factor in going taller. While there are only four megatall buildings currently under construction, there are more than supertall skyscrapers, those over ft.

He has been writing about the construction industry for years, covering a wide range of topics from safety and technology to industry news and operating insights. Uptown Tower. Junkang Center. Oxley Tower 1. Wanling Global Center. Poly Financial Center Tower 1. Shengjing Finance Plaza T2. AMA Tower. Guangxi Financial Investment Center. IBN Bukit Bintang. Yuexiu Global Financial Center. One Za'abeel Tower 1. Wuhan Yangtze River Shipping Center.

Meixi Lake Changsha Jinmao Building. Jiulong Lake Knowledge Tower. Qingdao Landmark Tower. Brooklyn Tower. Nanjing World Trade Center Tower 1. Dongfeng Plaza Tower 2. Toranomon-Azabudai District Main Tower. Azrieli Spiral Tower. Tel Aviv. Huijin Center 1. Junchao Plaza. Science Gate Tower 1.

Science Gate Tower 2. Beibin Lu Main Tower. Guangzhou International Cultural Center. Jiuzhou Bay Tower. Yangzhou International Mansion. Xinchu Qingtian Plaza Tower 2. Hong Plaza Main Tower. The Spiral. Abu Dhabi Plaza. Greenland Center 1. Note: All listed data for proposed or under construction buildings is based on the most reliable information currently available. This data is thus subject to change until the building has completed and all information can be confirmed and ratified by the CTBUH.

Sign Up Join Shop Login. Interactive Map Cities Countries. At each floor, the vertical columns are connected to horizontal girder beams to help strengthen and reinforce the structure. For additional support, many buildings also use diagonal beams between the girders. In whole, this grid is known as the superstructure.

Weight of the building is then distributed to the vertical columns. As you increase the amount of floors a building has, you therefore increase the number of people occupying the building. With more people comes the increasing need to use elevators because who wants to climb more than 10 flights of stairs to get to work? The number of elevators required depends on a number of factors such as how many floors the building will have and how many people will be within the building. But, with increased elevator numbers this also reduces the amount of floor space for each floor as the elevator shaft takes up more space.

Designing tall buildings also requires attention to detail regarding elevators, stairways and how people will move in and out of the building. Another factor that many architects and engineers need to consider when building tall structures is the force of wind.

Buildings that look like sails or wings also have the tendency to act like what they look like, picking up wind and generating lift and becoming dangerous. Because of this, buildings rely on nooks, ornaments or small crannies within the building structure in order to catch wind and slow it down. In fact, some designers and engineers will create building prototypes and test them in wind tunnels to check on their durability and how they react to high winds.