Tower block in the context of Structural system


Tower block in the context of Structural system

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⭐ Core Definition: Tower block

A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdiction. It is used as a residential or office building, or has other functions, including hotel, retail, or with multiple purposes combined. Residential high-rise buildings are also known in some varieties of English, such as British English, as tower blocks and may be referred to as MDUs, standing for multi-dwelling units. A very tall high-rise building is referred to as a skyscraper.

High-rise buildings became possible to construct with the invention of the elevator (lift) and with less expensive, more abundant building materials. The materials used for the structural system of high-rise buildings are reinforced concrete and steel. Most North American–style skyscrapers have a steel frame, while residential blocks are usually constructed of concrete. There is no clear difference between a tower block and a skyscraper, although a building with forty or more stories and taller than 150 metres (490 ft) is generally considered a skyscraper.

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Tower block in the context of 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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Tower block in the context of 2011 Norway attacks

The 2011 Norway attacks, also called 22 July (Norwegian: 22. juli) or 22/7 in Norway, were two domestic terrorist attacks by far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik against the government, the civilian population, and a Workers' Youth League (AUF) summer camp, in which a total of 77 people were killed.

The first attack was a car bomb explosion in Oslo within Regjeringskvartalet, the executive government quarter of Norway, at 15:25:22 (CEST). The bomb was placed inside a van next to the tower block housing the office of the then prime minister Jens Stoltenberg. The explosion killed 8 people and injured at least 209 people, 12 severely.

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Tower block in the context of Pirate radio in the United Kingdom

Pirate radio in the United Kingdom has been a popular and enduring radio medium since the 1960s, despite expansions in licensed broadcasting, and the advent of both digital radio and internet radio. Although it peaked in the 1960s and again during the 1980s/1990s, it remains in existence today. Having moved from transmitting from ships in the sea to tower blocks across UK towns and cities, in 2009 the UK broadcasting regulator Ofcom estimated more than 150 pirate radio stations were still operating.

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Tower block in the context of Vancouverism

Vancouverism is an urban planning and architectural phenomenon in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is characterized by a large residential population living in the city centre in mixed-use developments, typically narrow, high-rise residential towers atop a wide, medium-height commercial base, significant reliance on mass public transit, creation and maintenance of green park spaces, and preserving view corridors.

The architect Bing Thom described Vancouverism this way:

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Tower block in the context of Sony City

Sony City, also known as the Sony Corporate Office Building, is a high-rise, cube-shaped building that is the global headquarters of Sony, located in Tokyo, Japan. It opened its doors to employees in 2006 and has been used as the headquarters of other companies owned by Sony based in Japan. Sony City, standing at a mere 100 meters tall, is not among the most towering buildings in Tokyo as the city itself is a hub for skyscrapers. However, the Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat has accredited the building for its unique, modern design.

Sony City is equipped with a helipad on its roof, which is a common feature for many tall corporate headquarters in Tokyo. The helipad adds convenience and serves as a practical facility for rapid transportation to and from the building.

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Tower block in the context of List of tallest structures in Japan

Japan has more than 300 high-rise buildings above 150 m (490 ft). Unlike China, South Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia with skyscrapers exceeding 400 m (1,300 ft) in height, Japan's skyscrapers are a little shorter. All buildings above 50 m (160 ft) must also be as earthquake-proof as possible and adhere to other strict structural standards.

The tallest building in Japan is currently the 325.5 m (1,068 ft) tall Azabudai Hills Mori JP Tower, located in the Toranomon district of Tokyo. The 390 m (1,280 ft) Torch Tower is set to be completed in 2027 as the country's new tallest building.

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Tower block in the context of DC Towers

The DC Towers, also known as the Donau City Towers, is a mixed-use skyscraper complex in the Donaustadt District of Vienna, Austria. The towers were designed by French architect Dominique Perrault. Werner Sobek AG was responsible for the structural engineering as well as the facade and height access planning of DC Tower 1.

DC Tower 1, the tallest skyscraper in Austria at 220 metres (720 ft) or 250 metres (820 ft) including the antenna spire, was officially finished with an opening ceremony on 26 February 2014 attended by architect Perrault and former astronaut Buzz Aldrin. Due to the 2008 financial crisis, ground breaking was delayed several times. Eventually, construction was started on 17 June 2010.

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Tower block in the context of Milton Keynes

Milton Keynes (/knz/ KEENZ) is a city in Buckinghamshire, England, about 50 miles (80 km) north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms the northern boundary of the urban area; a tributary, the River Ouzel, meanders through its linear parks and balancing lakes. Approximately 25% of the urban area is parkland or woodland and includes two Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). The city is made up of many different districts.

In the 1960s, the government decided that a further generation of new towns in the south east of England was needed to relieve housing congestion in London. Milton Keynes was to be the biggest yet, with a population of 250,000 and area of 22,000 acres (9,000 ha). At designation, its area incorporated the existing towns of Bletchley, Fenny Stratford, Wolverton and Stony Stratford, along with another fifteen villages and farmland in between. These settlements had an extensive historical record since the Norman Conquest; detailed archaeological investigations before development revealed evidence of human occupation from the Neolithic period, including the Milton Keynes Hoard of Bronze Age gold jewellery. The government established Milton Keynes Development Corporation (MKDC) to design and deliver this new city. The Corporation decided on a softer, more human-scaled landscape than in the earlier English new towns but with an emphatically modernist architecture. Recognising how traditional towns and cities had become choked in traffic, they established a grid of distributor roads about 1 km (0.6 mi) between edges, leaving the spaces between to develop more organically. An extensive network of shared paths for leisure cyclists and pedestrians criss-crosses through and between them. Rejecting the residential tower block concept that had become unpopular, they set a height limit of three storeys outside Central Milton Keynes.

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Tower block in the context of Structure fire

A structure fire is a fire involving the structural components of various types of residential, commercial or industrial buildings, such as barn fires. Residential buildings range from single-family detached homes and townhouses to apartments and tower blocks, or various commercial buildings ranging from offices to shopping malls. This is in contrast to "room and contents" fires, chimney fires, vehicle fires, wildfires or other outdoor fires.

Structure fires typically have a similar response from the fire department that include engines, ladder trucks, rescue squads, chief officers, and an EMS unit, each of which will have specific initial assignments. The actual response and assignments will vary between fire departments.

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Tower block in the context of Downtown Las Vegas

Downtown Las Vegas (commonly abbreviated as DTLV) is the central business district and historic center of Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. It is the original townsite, and the Downtown Gaming Area was the primary gambling district of Las Vegas prior to the Strip. As the urban core of the Las Vegas Valley, it features a variety of hotel and business highrises, cultural centers, historical buildings and government institutions, as well as residential and retail developments. Downtown is located in the center of the Las Vegas Valley and just north of the Las Vegas Strip, centered on Fremont Street, the Fremont Street Experience and Fremont East. The city defines the area as bounded by I-15 on the west, Washington Avenue on the north, Maryland Parkway on the east and Sahara Avenue on the south.

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Tower block in the context of New Brunswick, New Jersey

New Brunswick is a city in and the county seat of Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. A regional commercial hub for Central New Jersey, the city is both a college town (the main campus of Rutgers University, the state's largest university) and a commuter town for residents commuting to New York City within the New York metropolitan area. New Brunswick is on the Northeast Corridor rail line, 27 miles (43 km) southwest of New York City. The city is located on the southern banks of the Raritan River in the heart of the Raritan Valley Region.

As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 55,266, an increase of 85 (+0.2%) from the 2010 census count of 55,181, which in turn reflected an increase of 6,608 (+13.6%) from the 48,573 counted in the 2000 census. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated a population of 55,846 for 2023, making it the 719th-most populous municipality in the nation. Due to the concentration of medical facilities in the area, including Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and medical school, and Saint Peter's University Hospital, New Brunswick is known as both the Hub City and the Healthcare City. The corporate headquarters and production facilities of several global pharmaceutical companies are situated in the city, including Johnson & Johnson and Bristol Myers Squibb. New Brunswick has evolved into a major center for the sciences, arts, and cultural activities. Downtown New Brunswick is developing a growing skyline, filling in with new high-rise towers.

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Tower block in the context of Ernő Goldfinger

Ernő Goldfinger RA (11 September 1902 – 15 November 1987) was a Hungarian-born British architect and furniture designer. He moved to the United Kingdom in the 1930s, and became a key member of the Modernist architectural movement. He is most prominently remembered for designing residential tower blocks, some of which are now listed buildings.

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Tower block in the context of Lillington and Longmoore Gardens

Lillington Gardens is an estate in the Pimlico area of the City of Westminster, constructed in phases between 1961 and 1971 to a plan by Darbourne & Darke. The estate was formerly owned and managed by CityWest Homes.

The estate was among the last of the high-density public housing schemes built in London during the postwar period and is referred to as one of the most distinguished. Notably, seven years before the Ronan Point disaster ended the dominance of the tower block, Lillington Gardens looked ahead to a new standard that achieved high housing density within a medium-rise structure rather than a high-rise structure. It emphasised individuality in the grouping of dwellings and provided for private gardens at ground and roof levels.

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Tower block in the context of Computer tower

In personal computing, a tower unit, or simply a tower, is a form factor of desktop computer case whose height is much greater than its width, thus having the appearance of an upstanding tower block, as opposed to a traditional "pizza box" computer case whose width is greater than its height and appears lying flat.

Compared to a pizza box case, the tower tends to be larger and offers more potential for internal volume for the same desk area occupied, and therefore allows more hardware installation and theoretically better airflow for cooling. Multiple size subclasses of the tower form factor have been established to differentiate their varying sizes, including full-tower, mid-tower, midi-tower, mini-tower, and deskside; these classifications are however nebulously defined and inconsistently applied by different manufacturers.

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