17 September 2021

Sustainable Tall Building Design Exemplars

Will Miranda & Daniel Safarik, CTBUH

Some 97 cities worldwide, including most of the world’s megacities with a population of 10 million or more, have signed onto the C40 Cities Climate...

01 March 2020

Modern Skyscrapers in the Late 19th Century

Gerard Peet, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences Nederlands

Skyscrapers are often seen as a typically American phenomenon. This paper aims at demonstrating that in terms of technology major developments are European and that,...

01 March 2020

The Future of Workplace in Vertical Cities: Hanging Gardens, Roof Terraces and Vertical Plazas

Stephan C. Reinke, Stephan Reinke Architects

As the workplace evolves in our vertical cities, the need for “think spaces” and the public realm to meet, create and innovate will become integral...

30 January 2020

Tall Building Predictions for 2020

CTBUH Research

The combined brains of the CTBUH editorial and database staff boldly predict what might happen across the global skyscraper industry in 2020. Check out our...

28 October 2019

How Can a Tall Building Improve the Public Realm and Private Lives?

Karen Cook, PLP Architecture

During the last decade, the City of London has experienced a surge in daily commuters from less than 400,000 to nearly 500,000, with another 100,000...

31 January 2019

Does A Large-Scale Fire Propagation Test Ensure A Fire-Safe Cladding?

Abhishek Chhabra, Thomas Bell-Wright International Consultants

Substantial tall-building façade fires have continued to take place, even after the world was shocked by the Grenfell Tower tragedy in London in 2017. Much...

28 July 2018

A Vertical Transportation Analytical Tool For the Construction of Tall Buildings

Julien Grange & Oscar Savage, Multiplex Construction Europe

The construction phase of 22 Bishopsgate, London, presented many challenges, but one of the greatest issues to overcome was the requirement to ensure comfortable and...

28 July 2018

Out of Thin Air: The Potential for High-Rise Housing Over Rail Lines

Bill Price, WSP

Cities are facing a crisis in providing housing and managing population growth. The author’s team has identified sufficient land associated with railway infrastructure to yield...

01 July 2018

A Human-Scaled Future for Dense Development

Ivan Harbour, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners

Critics of height argue that it de-humanizes our cities. Yet a critical mass is a necessity for vibrant city life, and height is a key...

30 April 2018

How to Protect High-Rise Egress Routes?

Grzegorz Sypek, SMAY Group

Recent, tragic high-rise fires have underscored a fundamental issue: the lack of protected escape routes in tall buildings. As we build a greater volume of...

30 April 2018

Planning for a Taller London

Jules Pipe, Greater London Authority

In the past decade, London has grappled with growing pains and critical questions about how its urban landscape should be developed. More than 200 buildings...

27 April 2018

Debating Tall: Landscrapers vs. Skyscrapers

Amy Webb, New York University; Julian Chen, Henning Larsen Architects

What does the office of the future look like? The leading tech industry giants all seem to agree the main goal is “connectivity” that forges...

01 December 2017

The Impact of Supertall Density on City Systems

Bill Price, Andrew Bickerdyke & Meike Borchers, WSP; et al.

This paper discusses several topics associated with the densification caused by supertall buildings and their impact on city systems. The paper covers five key areas...

30 October 2017

Rethinking CTBUH Height Criteria In the Context of Tall Timber

Robert M. Foster, University of Queensland; Michael H. Ramage, University of Cambridge; Thomas Reynolds, The University of Edinburgh

Recent developments in the design and construction of progressively taller buildings using engineered timber as a structural material raise important questions about the language that...

28 July 2017

Debating Tall: A Skyline Commission for London?

Barbara Weiss, Barbara Weiss Architects; Karen Cook, PLP Architecture

As hundreds of buildings over 20 stories are set to rise in London over the next few years, the Skyline Campaign, a non-profit organization, has...

02 June 2017

A “Fabric-First” Approach to Sustainable Tall Building Design

Philip Oldfield, University of New South Wales

This research suggests the most effective way for improving energy efficiency in tall buildings is a “fabric-first” approach. This involves optimizing the performance of the...

20 April 2017

Bioclimatic Comfort Design for High-Rises

Jeroen Janssen, AKT II Ltd.

Building in an ever more urbanized world, with high-rise buildings increasing in both height and number, makes it essential to ensure we create comfortable urban...

01 February 2017

Reaching for the Sky: The Determinants of Tall Office Development in Global Gateway Cities

Richard Barkham & Dennis Schoenmaker, CBRE Global Research; Michiel Daams, University of Groningen

There are numerous hypotheses about the social and economic processes that lead to the development of skyscrapers, but empirical evidence is scarce. In this article,...

17 October 2016

City Hubs

Keith Griffiths, Aedas

Our lives are adapting to a convenient, vibrant, and connected live-work dynamic, and our cities must change and respond to those new requirements. Much of...

17 October 2016

High Intensity Urban Order

Patrik Schumacher, Zaha Hadid Architects

Density via high-rise structures remains a primary agenda in our era of urban concentration. It is crucial to understand the societal forces that drive concentration:...

17 October 2016

Exploring Geometry and Form in Tall Buildings

Chris Wilkinson, Wilkinson Eyre Architects

Using four tower designs on four continents – the Guangzhou International Finance Center in China, the Crown Sydney Resort Hotel in Australia, 45 Bay Street...

17 October 2016

1 Undershaft – The City of London’s New Skyscraper Where the Public Comes First

Eric Parry, Nick Jackson & Tanya Parkin, Eric Parry Architects

The paper will describe the aims underpinning the proposed development at 1 Undershaft in the City of London. The project will be exemplary in putting...

17 October 2016

21st Century Vertical Lifestyles - Intergenerational, Integrated Communities

Stephan Reinke, Stephan Reinke Architects Limited

How does the 21st Century youth culture of social media integrate and merge with an ever increasing tech savvy senior population? As our cities and...

17 October 2016

The Rejuvenation of a Tall Building

Albert Williamson-Taylor, AKT II Limited

The incredibly rapid urbanization observed in many of the larger cities in the world is forcing society, and the construction industry in particular, to think...

17 October 2016

The Integrated Smart Design Technologies for Tall Building Structural Design

Pamg Liu, YuCheng, Dorothee Citerne & Leo Zhang, Arup

A series of integrated smart design tools has been developed to satisfy different design requirements and to achieve an optimal balance between economics and safety....

17 October 2016

The New Super Skinny Skyscraper Trend: Some Wind Engineering Considerations

Stefano Cammelli, Sara Bisio & Yiqing Wang, BMT Fluid Mechanics Ltd.

A new and almost unprecedented model for skyscrapers is currently being explored within the Manhattan real estate market: these are the so-called super slender ultra-luxury...

17 October 2016

A “Fabric-First” Approach to Sustainable Tall Building Design

Philip Oldfield, University of New South Wales

This research suggests the most effective way for improving energy efficiency in tall buildings is a “fabric-first” approach. This involves optimizing the performance of the...

17 October 2016

Remodel, Recycle or Rebuild? - Addressing the Fire Safety Challenges of Repurposing Skyscrapers

Simon Lay, Olsson Fire & Risk

Some of our established world cities are already facing the challenge of older tall building stock that is no longer relevant to the most commercially...

17 October 2016

Megacities: Setting the Scene

Daniel Safarik, Shawn Ursini & Antony Wood; Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat

The rise of the megacity presents unprecedented opportunities to understand the human urbanization phenomenon, and to observe the effects of multicore, polycentric cities growing together...

04 February 2016

The Other Side of Tall Buildings: The Urban Habitat

Daniel Safarik, CTBUH

A growing number of tall buildings recognized by the CTBUH, through its international awards programs and research, are noteworthy not so much because of their...

26 October 2015

Developing an Icon – The Story of the Shard

Irvine Sellar, Sellar Property Group

London is considered one of the world’s safest harbors for investment capital. However, it has also been one of the lightning rods in the rapidly...

26 October 2015

Making Cities – Examples of Urban Development in London

David Partridge, Argent

The paper uses the example of Argent’s work at King’s Cross to explore issues of density in mixed use city development, and the creation of...

26 October 2015

The Network of Urban Spaces Surrounding Tall Buildings

James Parakh, City of Toronto Planning Department

This paper investigates the Network of Urban Spaces Surrounding Tall Buildings, the Tall Building as Place Makers how Tall Buildings meet the street. As contributing...

26 October 2015

The Promise of Public Realm: Urban Spaces in the Skyscraper City

Stephan Reinke, Stephan Reinke Architects

This paper will reveal the importance of integrating the Ground Plane, Mid-Level and Rooftop Urban Public Spaces in the City. We will explore the NYLON...

26 October 2015

Context, Climate, Culture – Investigating Place in Tall Building Design

Robert Goodwin, Perkins + Will

Should a tower in Moscow look like one in Dubai? Once one entered a city and marveled at the unique magic of its architecture –...

26 October 2015

Capturing the Placemaking Potential of the New Skyscraper City

Stefan Krummeck & Benjamin MacLeod, Farrells

This paper is a comparative analysis between Qianhai and an earlier case with which Qianhai bears many similarities: Canary Wharf in London. Both were envisaged...

26 October 2015

How New Generations, Industries and Workplace Paradigms Are Redefining the Commercial High-Rise

Timothy Johnson, NBBJ

This paper will provide a data-driven analysis of building performance from three eras: the early 1900s, mid-twentieth century, and today. This longitudinal analysis will illustrate...

26 October 2015

The Vertical Master Plan

Temoor Ahmad & Neven Sidor, Grimshaw Architects; Steve Watts, Alinea Consulting; Adam Miller, Thornton Tomasetti

With over half of the world’s population now living in an urban environment, major world cities (especially) will always grow in population over time. To...

26 October 2015

It’s Not About the Skyline, It’s About the Base Condition

Terri Boake, University of Waterloo

The rapid densification of cities is a fairly recent phenomenon and seems in many cases to be progressing without regard to important already established urban...

26 October 2015

New Developments on Stainless Steel Façades with Regard to Reflectance, Corrosion and Aesthetics

Joern Teipel, Outokumpu

Stainless steel is a key material in modern skyscraper architecture, exploiting the material’s sustainability, functionality and aesthetics. After an outline on some general features of...

17 August 2015

Fire Safety Strategies for Penthouse Designs

Hadrien Fruton & Karl Wallasch, Hoare Lea

Penthouses, with their luxurious amenities and uninterrupted 360-degree views over the city skyline, tend to be larger than normal apartments and often have unique design...

31 December 2014

Interactive Study on Year in Review: Tall Trends of 2014

Daniel Safarik, Antony Wood, Marty Carver & Marshall Gerometta, CTBUH

An All-Time Record 97 Buildings of 200 Meters or Higher Completed in 2014 and 2014 showed further shifts towards Asia, and also surprising developments in...

06 November 2014

From Block to Blob and Back Again

Ben van Berkel, UNStudio

United Network Studio (UN Studio) is a Dutch architecture firm founded in 1988 by Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos, which in the 2000s established...

16 September 2014

Green Walls in High-Rise Buildings

CTBUH Research

The latest CTBUH technical guide, Green Walls in High-Rise Buildings, provides a thorough investigation of the methods used around the world for implementation of vertical...

26 February 2014

The New Context of Tall

Rem Koolhaas & David Gianotten, OMA

On the occasion of receiving the Best Tall Building Worldwide award at the 12th Annual CTBUH Awards Symposium and Dinner for CCTV Headquarters, Beijing, Rem...

31 December 2013

Year in Review: Tall Trends of 2013

Daniel Safarik, Antony Wood, Marty Carver & Marshall Gerometta, CTBUH

By all appearances, the small increase in the total number of tall-building completions from 2012 into 2013 is indicative of a return to the prevalent...

13 June 2013

The History of the European Skyscraper

Nathaniel Hollister, CTBUH

Due to the compact and historic nature of its cities, some unpopular designs, and an unfortunate association with public housing, Europe had historically been slow...

12 June 2013

Case Study: The Leadenhall Building, London

Andy Young, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners; Nigel Annereau, Arup; Andy Butler, Laing O’Rourke; Brian Smith, Davis Langdon

The Leadenhall Building leans back to make way for views to St. Paul’s Cathedral and other historic sites in a crowded section of the City...

12 June 2013

From “Dry and Safe” to “Tall and Sharp” / Owning an Icon

Kent Gardner, Evans Randall

The owners of two of London’s most significant skyscrapers, Irvine Sellar of the Shard and Kent Gardner of the Gherkin, spoke with CTBUH about the...

11 June 2013

The Special Nature of the European Skyscraper

Viewpoints: The London Conference

European architecture is at a crossroads. Its commercial and environmental realities are driving buildings ever-higher, but not all are convinced. In this article – contributed...

11 June 2013

Debating Tall: Limit Tall Buildings to the Outskirts of Historic Cities?

Phillippe Chaix, EPADESA; Sir Stuart Lipton, Chelsfield Partners

Tall building construction is on the rise in historic European cities. As economic pressures mount to build taller in the central city, we ask, should...

01 May 2013

Building Tall in a 2,000-Year-Old City

Peter Murray, Wordsearch

Much attention has been paid to London’s current wave of tall building construction. But the city has been getting taller – and more interesting –...

01 May 2013

Office vs. Residential:The Economics of Building Tall

James Barton & Steve Watts, Davis Langdon

When it comes to tall buildings in London, the sky’s the limit, and not necessary in terms of height. With rents among the highest in...

01 May 2013

Engineering Tall in Historic Cities: The Shard

Kamran Moazami & Ron Slade, WSP

Can historic cities preserve their character and identity while embracing the modern tall building phenomenon? Two engineering-team leaders behind the Shard discuss the creative solutions...

13 January 2013

The Shard, London, UK

As the tallest skyscraper in Western Europe, The Shard takes its name from the four shards of the doubleglazed glass façade set at various angles,...

19 September 2012

Urban Models for the 21st Century

Stefan Krummeck, TFP Farrells Limited

Recently, Asia has witnessed an astonishing proliferation of high-rise buildings. Towers are growing in numbers and in height which presents enormous opportunities and great challenges....

19 September 2012

Embodied Carbon and High-Rise

Philip Oldfield, University of Nottingham

This paper examines the significance of embodied energy and carbon in tall buildings. It presents the life-cycle carbon analysis (including both operational and embodied emissions)...

27 April 2012

Debating Tall: Is UNESCO Going Too Far?

Paul Finch, Architectural Review and UK Design Council; Marie-Noel Tournoux & Patricia Alberth, UNESCO World Heritage Centre

Controversy has erupted over development proposals in London and Liverpool in the UK, which UNESCO says will damage views of World Heritage sites. Critics counter...

01 November 2011

Integrating Wind Turbines in Tall Buildings

Ian Bogle, Bogle Flanagan Lawrence Silver

The world is constantly changing. Our energy demands are increasing daily and global population is expected to increase by another 50% to 9 billion people...

11 May 2011

So You Want a Tall Building?

John Worthington, DEGW

Having devised tall building strategies for Rotterdam, Dublin and London, he is the kind of guy who is called in as cities start to think...

01 May 2011

The Importance of Real Life Data to Support Environmental Claims for Tall Buildings

Joana Gonçalves, Universidade de São Paulo (FAUUSP); Klaus Bode, BDSP Partnership

One of the main causes of energy efficiency failures is LEED rewarding projects for their predictions, but not for proving the savings. The operation of...

01 February 2011

Tall Timber Buildings: Applications of Solid Timber Construction in Multistory Buildings

Matthew Wells, Techniker

Standing nine floors and 29 meters (95ft) tall, the Stadtaus in London is indeed not very tall when regarded by height, but it does stand...

01 February 2011

The Origin of the Skyscraper

Gerard Peet, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands

The modern skyscraper is generally considered to be an American invention. Chicago and New York claim they once hosted the world's first skyscraper and many...

09 October 2010

The Economics of High-rise

Steve Watts, Davis Langdon

Includes comparative studies of high-rise construction costs based on location and building function. Key high-rise cost drivers = shape & geometry, size & regularity of...

03 March 2008

The Tall Building, Reconsidered.....

Simon Allford, Paul Monaghan & Jeremy Melvin, Allford Hall Monaghan Morris LLP

This paper examines the surprising revival of tall buildings in the UK since the late 1990s, through the work of Allford Hall Monaghan Morris. Founded...

03 March 2008

Towards More Sustainable Tall Buildings

Ken Dalton & Richard John, AECOM

The paper covers with the view that sustainability outcomes will only be fully successful if sustainability priorities are shared by the planners, investors, developers, landlords,...

03 March 2008

Steel-Concrete-Steel: Unique Hybrids at London Tallest

Kamran Moazami, John Parker & Rodolfo Giannini, WSP Cantor Seinuk

This paper presents the structural engineering design approach used to create the iconic tower named the ‘Shard at London Bridge’ (Architect: Renzo Piano Building Workshop)....

03 March 2008

It’s Not What You Build, But the Place Where You Build It: Urban Sustainability in London

Peter Rees, City of London Corporation

This paper argues that a wise property developer who wishes to avoid leaving a clumsy trail of carbon footprints across the planet will therefore choose...

05 November 2007

The Economics of Supertall Towers

Watts, Steve; Kalita, Neal & Maclean, Michael, Davis Langdon

This paper addresses global economic factors infl uencing the decisions leading to the development of super-tall towers, including population growth and urbanization, economic cycles and...

01 August 2004

New Paradigms in High Rise Design

Antony Wood, University of Nottingham

Tall Buildings are perhaps the most keenly debated building typology currently in existence. By relating this to recent tall buildings internationally, the paper concludes by...