Skyscrapers

Research a tall building. Draw or copy a picture of your skyscraper. Collect details about its circulation core, structural system and skin. Make a research poster or create an outline for a skyscraper paper. Use the library and the internet to collect at resources for your research. Write a three page paper or submit a poster to the gallery.

Once you better understand why and how tall buildings are built, consider researching and writing about the tallest building in your city!

Would you like to live in the sky? While “mile high” buildings have been conceptualized by architects like Frank Lloyd Wright, Jean Nouvel and others, today’s buildings are not yet there. Which building is considered the first true skyscraper? Who designed it and where was it built? What structural system was used? What materials were used? Research the history of skyscrapers and discover the inventions that made living vertically possible! Look at the tallest skyscrapers built and draw their silhouettes!

Would you like to live in the sky?

Using 3x5 note cards ($1,000 per unit) and a 1’ strip of tape ($5,000 per unit), design and build a tower to support as much weight as possible as far off of a table top for the least amount of money. You can bend, fold, and tear, but you can only use your hands and the tape to assemble.

Submit a photograph of your tower with its height, total weight supported and cost.

A low-rise building rarely deals with wind loads, whereas a skyscraper must take into consideration this factor in its design. The term skyscraper comes from a nautical term for a tall mast or sail on a sailing ship. In your sketchbooks, design and draw your own skyscraper. It will be a downtown office building overlooking the lakefront. Show a building core (which contains elevators, fire stairs, and men and women facilities), as well as the room layouts of a typical floor. Decide what type of structure you will use and show it in your section drawing. Show both a plan, and a section. Also draw a series of 3D perspective drawings of your design. Submit your drawings.

Skyscrapers make an efficient use of land by placing people and their activities (living, working, learning, playing) vertically. But the increased density of people also increases the need for and use of energy and resources. Architects and engineers are now working to design skyscrapers that use far less energy even to the point of zero energy towers. What can you imagine would collect water on tall buildings? How could tall buildings collect, store and use power from the wind? How can solar energy be harnessed for heating and hot water? How can the constant temperature of the earth be used to offset heating and cooling? Design a skyscraper that uses these strategies for lowering energy consumption and reducing the carbon footprint of a skycraper. Be sure to draw a section noting the energy saving details that you design into its foundation, skin and roof.

• Define a skyscraper.
  • any tall building
  • a building that is over 15 stories
  • a tall and continuously habitable building
  • a building over 400 feet tall
• Wind load is:
  • how fast the wind is blowing
  • the load caused by wind from any vertical direction
  • how heavy the force of wind is on the building
  • the load caused by wind from any horizontal direction
• Buildings over four floors must be supported by a:
  • skeletal frame
  • rigid frame
  • truss system
  • wall system
• Skyscraper comes from the nautical term for a:
  • tall ship
  • tall mast or sail on a sailing ship
  • device used to measure wind speed
  • look out deck on a sailing ship
• Developments of skyscrapers happened because of:
  • the use of steel
  • the use of reinforced concrete
  • water pumps
  • elevators
  • all of the above