Session 2A: Learning from Tall Building History

29 October 2019
11:30 AM – 1:00 PM

Tall buildings can measure more than simply height—they are indicators of other factors too, from boom-and-bust cycles within their home cities, to dominant aesthetics and technologies of decades long-past. Exploring tall buildings as a tool to contextualize their surroundings is the crux of this session, and unfurls into pointed discussions on how and why we calculate the world’s tallest buildings, highlighting an often-secondary figure: the world’s biggest buildings in terms of gross area and what that says about the communities they are most prevalent in. Connection between dynamic solutions of the past and how they will evolve into the future are also discussed with a focus on how vertical long slots, which reduce wind loads, might be used in skyscrapers several years out.