Skyscraper in the context of "Prudential building in Warsaw"

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⭐ Core Definition: Skyscraper

A skyscraper is a tall building with many habitable floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least 100 metres (330 ft) or 150 metres (490 ft) in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise buildings. Skyscrapers may host offices, hotels, residential spaces, and retail spaces. Skyscrapers are a common feature of large cities, often due to a high demand for space and limited availability of land.

One common feature of skyscrapers is having a steel frame that supports curtain walls. These curtain walls either bear on the framework below or are suspended from the framework above, rather than resting on load-bearing walls of conventional construction. Some early skyscrapers have a steel frame that enables the construction of load-bearing walls taller than those made of reinforced concrete. Modern skyscraper walls are not load-bearing, and most skyscrapers are characterized by large surface areas of windows made possible by steel frames and curtain walls. However, skyscrapers can have curtain walls that mimic conventional walls with a small surface area of windows. Modern skyscrapers often have a tubular structure, and are designed to act like a hollow cylinder to resist wind, seismic, and other lateral loads. To appear more slender, allow less wind exposure and transmit more daylight to the ground, many skyscrapers have a design with setbacks, which in some cases is also structurally required.

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Skyscraper in the context of Louis Sullivan

Louis Henry Sullivan (September 3, 1856 – April 14, 1924) was an American architect, and has been called a "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism". He was an influential architect of the Chicago School, a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, and an inspiration to the Chicago group of architects who have come to be known as the Prairie School. Along with Wright and Henry Hobson Richardson, Sullivan is one of "the recognized trinity of American architecture." The phrase "form follows function" is attributed to him; it encapsulated earlier theories of architecture and he applied them to the modern age of the skyscraper. In 1944, Sullivan was the second architect to posthumously receive the AIA Gold Medal.

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Skyscraper in the context of Chicago

Chicago is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the third-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 2.74 million at the 2020 census. The Chicago metropolitan area has 9.41 million residents and is the third-largest metropolitan area in the country. Chicago is the seat of Cook County, the second-most populous county in the U.S.

Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837 near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed. It grew rapidly in the mid-19th century. In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire destroyed several square miles and left more than 100,000 homeless, but Chicago's population continued to grow. Chicago made noted contributions to urban planning and architecture, such as the Chicago School, the development of the City Beautiful movement, and the steel-framed skyscraper.

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Skyscraper in the context of Financial district

A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies, and other related finance corporations have their headquarters offices. In major cities, financial districts often host skyscrapers and other buildings of architectural importance and are called financial centres; such major centres also include important financial utilities such as stock exchanges and the offices of the main financial regulatory authorities.

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Skyscraper in the context of Collapse of the World Trade Center

The World Trade Center, in Lower Manhattan, New York City, was destroyed after a series of terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, killing almost 3,000 people at the site. Two commercial airliners hijacked by al-Qaeda members were deliberately flown into the complex's Twin Towers, at the time among the five tallest buildings in the world. The plane impacts dealt significant structural damage to the skyscrapers and started large fires in the towers, eventually resulting in both undergoing a total progressive collapse.

The North Tower (WTC 1) was the first building to be hit when American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into it at 8:46 a.m., causing it to collapse at 10:28 a.m. after burning for one hour and 42 minutes. At 9:03 a.m., the South Tower (WTC 2) was struck by United Airlines Flight 175; it collapsed at 9:59 a.m. after burning for 56 minutes.

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Skyscraper in the context of Heating and air conditioning

Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC /ˈˌvæk/) systems use advanced technologies to regulate temperature, humidity, and indoor air quality in residential, commercial, and industrial buildings, and in enclosed vehicles. Its goal is to provide thermal comfort and remove contaminants from the air. HVAC system design is a subdiscipline of mechanical engineering, based on the principles of thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer. Modern HVAC designs focus on energy efficiency and sustainability, especially with the rising demand for green building solutions. In modern construction, MEP (Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing) engineers integrate HVAC systems with energy modeling techniques to optimize system performance and reduce operational costs. "Refrigeration" is sometimes added to the field's abbreviation as HVAC&R or HVACR, or "ventilation" is dropped, as in HACR (as in the designation of HACR-rated circuit breakers).

HVAC is an important part of residential structures such as single family homes, apartment buildings, hotels, and senior living facilities; medium to large industrial and office buildings such as skyscrapers and hospitals; vehicles such as cars, trains, airplanes, ships and submarines; and in marine environments, where safe and healthy building conditions are regulated with respect to temperature and humidity, using fresh air from outdoors.

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Skyscraper in the context of Calque

In linguistics, a calque (/kælk/) or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language while translating its components, so as to create a new word or phrase (lexeme) in the target language. For instance, the English word skyscraper has been calqued in dozens of other languages, combining words for "sky" (or "clouds") and "scrape" in each language. Examples include wolkenkrabber in Dutch, gratte-ciel in French, Wolkenkratzer in German, grattacielo in Italian, matenrō (摩天楼) in Japanese, drapacz chmur in Polish, arranha-céu in Portuguese, neboskreb (небоскреб) in Russian, rascacielos in Spanish, skyskrapa in Swedish, and gökdelen in Turkish.

Calques, like direct borrowings, often function as linguistic gap-fillers, emerging when a language lacks existing vocabulary to express new ideas, technologies, or objects. This phenomenon is widespread and is often attributed to the shared conceptual frameworks across human languages. Speakers of different languages tend to perceive the world through common categories such as time, space, and quantity, making the translation of concepts across languages both possible and natural.

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Skyscraper in the context of Urban park

An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a city park, municipal park (North America), public park, public open space, or municipal gardens (UK), is a park or botanical garden in cities, densely populated suburbia and other incorporated places that offers green space and places for recreation to residents and visitors. Urban parks are generally landscaped by design, instead of lands left in their natural state. The design, operation and maintenance is usually done by government agencies, typically on the local level, but may occasionally be contracted out to a park conservancy, "friends of" group, or private sector company.

Depending on size, budget, and land features, which varies considerably among individual parks, common features include playgrounds, gardens, hiking, running, fitness trails or paths, bridle paths, sports fields and courts, public restrooms, boat ramps, performance venues, or BBQ and picnic facilities. Park advocates claim that having parks near urban residents, including within a 10-minute walk, provides multiple benefits.

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Skyscraper in the context of Nishi-Shinjuku

Nishi-Shinjuku (西新宿; lit.'West Shinjuku') is a neighborhood and skyscraper business district in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, Japan. The neighborhood is located west of Shinjuku Station and consists of 8 chōme (丁目), or Streets. The region was previously called Tsunohazu (角筈).

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Skyscraper in the context of NTT Docomo Yoyogi Building

The NTT Docomo Yoyogi Building (NTTドコモ代々木ビル, Enu Tī Tī Dokomo Yoyogi Biru) is a skyscraper located in the Sendagaya district of Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. At 240 meters (790 ft) tall, it is the ninth tallest building in Tokyo.

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