A skyscraper is usually a very tall building. In general, residential buildings with a height greater than 27 meters and civil buildings with a height greater than 24 meters can be called high-rise buildings. Skyscrapers are usually higher than 300 meters. They are super tall buildings.
When the central tower was built in the 11th century, it was only four stories high, which was a rare tall building at that time. The walls of the tower are made of stone, and each floor must be able to support the weight of all the floors above. The bottom wall is 5.2 meters thick. Buildings with load-bearing walls can be up to five stories high.
Because the lowest wall, no matter how thick, cannot support a higher structure. Only by using the frame to support the upper weight, coupled with lighter walls, it is possible to build tall buildings. Medieval wood-frame houses were the first steps in that direction. Only in the 19th century, when steel production increased and was reliable, did a radical solution emerge.
The first load-bearing building with an integrated iron frame was a four-story boathouse built in 1860 in Sheerness, England. It is 16 meters high, with cast iron columns and wrought-iron beams with a span of 9 meters, bolted tightly in place. But the skyscraper was born in the United States.
The first skyscraper with a load-bearing frame was the 10-story Home Insurance building built in Chicago in 1884 -1885. The lower 6 layers of iron columns connected are wrought-iron beam frames, and the upper 4 layers are steel frames.
Since then, steel-frame skyscrapers have been built in the United States. The 55-story Goethe-style Woolworth Tower in New York City, which was completed in three years and stood 230 meters high, was the tallest building in the world when it was completed in 1913.
The Great Economic Panic of 1929 was the boom period of American construction, and skyscrapers also developed rapidly along with the American economy. In 1931, the 102-story Empire State Building was completed in New York City. After that, it stood as the tallest building in the world for 40 years and became the symbol of skyscrapers and even New York.
The completion of the Sears Tower in Chicago in 1974 replaced the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York as the tallest building in the world, bringing the title of world number one back to Chicago, the birthplace of the skyscraper.
In recent years, the economic strength of emerging countries in Asia has gradually risen, and the ranking of super-tall skyscrapers has shifted from the dominance of America to Asia and the United States.
Completed in 1998, the Twin Peaks Tower in Kuala Lumpur transferred the American continent, which was competing for the highest height in the world, to Asia. The Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which opened in 2010, is the world's tallest skyscraper.
The Montauk Building, the first 10-story building in Chicago designed by Burnham and Rutter, was of this type. Since then, there has been the term "skyscraper".
The tallest building in the world is now the Dubai Tower. Dubai Tower is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. There are 162 floors and a total height of 828 meters.
It is the tallest building that has been built in the world. Dubai Tower in appearance is a six-petal desert flower, the effect is very beautiful. The Burj Khalifa is filled with hotels and restaurants on the 37th floor and apartments on the 45th to 108th floors.
The second tallest building in the world is Shanghai Tower. Shanghai Tower is located in Shanghai, China, with a total height of 632 meters and 128 floors. The exterior spirals upward and looks like a guitar pick from the top.
The third tallest building in the world is the Mecca Royal Clock Tower Hotel. The Mecca Royal Clock Tower Hotel, a complex building in Mecca, has held several world records for the world's tallest clock tower, hotel, and largest clock face since it opened in 2011.
