The Latest On Supertall Skyscrapers For 2016

Supertall skyscrapers are nothing new to cities around the world, but they just hit a big milestone and are growing at a more rapid pace than ever before. New York City is home to seven supertall buildings, now that 432 Park Avenue is complete. The designation of “supertall” is defined as standing at least 300 meters in height, and the world now has 100 of these buildings reaching towards the sky.

One thing that’s particularly interesting to note is that half of these buildings have been built in the past five years. In contrast, the world’s first 50 of these buildings took around 80 years to construct.

New York Taking the Lead

New York has emerged as a leader of new supertall skyscrapers for 2016, including the Upper East Side’s first supertall on East 60^th Street. However, not everyone is thrilled about supertall buildings coming to their neighborhood, and an example of this is the proposed 1,066-foot building planned for downtown Brooklyn.

Supertall buildings are being used and planned for offices, apartments, and retail space, with most structures categorized as “mixed use.” For example, a new mixed use supertall building has been proposed by a Chinese developer and is being planned near South Street Seaport outside the Seaport Historic District.

Supertall and Super Slender

Not only are buildings getting taller each year, but they’re also getting skinnier. The tallest residential building in NYC, 432 Park Avenue is one of many buildings that features a slender design. The 45 Broad Street building is another slim building that’s been planned to rise 86 stories and have a gold frame to house new apartments.

Real estate prices are consistently on the rise and cities like New York are seeing a severe lack of space to expand out to horizontally. Therefore, the sky is the limit when it comes to new construction.

Super Strength Building Materials

In the past, engineers worried about the stability of ultra-slim structures, but advances in lateral resistant technology have eased these concerns. High-strength concrete provides compressive and structural support to keep these buildings stable and reliable.

Building Information Modeling (BIM) has also aided design and construction professionals to construct supertall buildings using 3D models. BIM technology helps streamline the development and construction of supertall skyscrapers by optimizing how different components will work together on the actual structures.

Growing to Megatall Heights

It often seems that cities and countries are trying to out-do each other when constructing new skyscrapers, or maybe they’re just working within their own economic and real estate limitations. However, supertall buildings may not be the most impressive kids on the block soon.

There’s a movement to create megatall buildings right now, which are defined as standing at least 600 meters tall. Right now there are three megatall buildings in the world: Burj Khalifa in Dubai, Makkah Royal Clock Tower in Mecca, and the Shanghai Tower. Four more megatall buildings are in the works, including the Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and the Wuhan Greenland Center in Hubei Province, China. Stay tuned to learn about advances in megatall buildings and the ongoing race for the tallest building in the world.

Photo credits: Citizen59 and Jon-Arne Belsaas via Flickr

 

Find out what led to the rise of supertall and megatall buildings