# Thinnest construction of the world?



## Obelixx (Apr 14, 2005)

Which is the thinnest construction of the world?
(The thinness of a construction is defined from the ratio of height to diametre, whereby its maximum must be taken, if diametre changes with height)

My candidate for free-standing structures is Spire of Dublin ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spire_of_Dublin ) with a relatio from height to width of 40 (width measured at base)


Here are some thinness-values for some guyed masts:
Radio Mast Konstantynow ( http://en.structurae.de/structures/data/index.cfm?id=s0000672 ): 134
Balashikha Transmission Mast ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balashikha_Transmission_Mast ): 128
Main Radio Mast Mühlacker ( http://en.structurae.de/structures/data/index.cfm?ID=s0010708 ): 162

Which is the upper limit for thinness for free-standing and which is the upper limit for guyed construction?

It should be remembered that a blade of grass can have a very high thinness value (approximately 500)!


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## Skybean (Jun 16, 2004)

Highcliff, Hong Kong


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

There are alot of scrapers in HK that are thinner.

Here are some


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## Skybean (Jun 16, 2004)

What about height - width ratio. Surely highcliff has the highest ratio. It is over 820ft tall!


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

Skybean said:


> What about height - width ratio. Surely highcliff has the highest ratio. It is over 820ft tall!


Yes The Highcliff's width is thin but what about it's length?


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## Obelixx (Apr 14, 2005)

I searched the thinnest construction in the world and it need not to be habitable. I believe that non of the shown skyscrapers has a length-to-width-ratio of 40!


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## Marathoner (Oct 1, 2005)

WANCH said:


> There are alot of scrapers in HK that are thinner.
> 
> Here are some



WANCH,

These are not the thinnest buildings in HK. I've seen some even thinner in Wanchai (in Hennessy Road) & Sheung Wan. They are all commercial buildings. Pity I don't have pics of them to show here.


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## AltinD (Jul 15, 2004)

The ABBCO Rose Rotana Hotel Dubai will definitelly be a candidate, as far as height-to-width ratio is concearn:










Currently at 255 meters, total height on top of spire will be 333 meters, propably the top of the roof at 300 m.


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## miamicanes (Oct 31, 2002)

Forget antennas and masts... pencil-thin buildings are a lot more interesting.

Can anybody identify any tall, thin residential buildings that could legally be built today in America? (the killer requirements being two ADA-compliant elevators AND two fully-independent fire-rated stairways, at least one of which can be reached without passing through a room or hallway with an elevator, all consuming a staggering amount of space on each floor).


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## Clashman (Sep 6, 2004)

I'm not sure if this would make that requirement, but this building in Shenzhen is pretty thin:










The Waterview Tower in Chicago is shaping up to be a pretty skinny building in it's own right, once it gets finished. I'd imagine that one would have to be ADA compliant:


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## Bertez (Jul 9, 2005)

From Toronto......


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## Scruffy88 (Oct 6, 2005)

Trump World Tower is pretty thin compared to its height


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## Clashman (Sep 6, 2004)

The John Hancock in Boston is another one:


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## spyguy (Apr 16, 2005)

Waterview is sort of like a triangle. The side shown in the rendering is a bit thinner than the opposite side.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

Marathoner said:


> WANCH,
> 
> These are not the thinnest buildings in HK. I've seen some even thinner in Wanchai (in Hennessy Road) & Sheung Wan. They are all commercial buildings. Pity I don't have pics of them to show here.


Yes there are not the thinnest but I'm just giving samples of "pencil scrapers" in HK


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## miamicanes (Oct 31, 2002)

Hmmm... ok, for someone who might know... suppose you had a 100 x 100 foot lot, with a zoning loophole that allowed unlimited height and unlimited FAR above a 2-3 story pedestal that could fill every inch of the lot, but ONLY if the tower's footprint above the pedestal were 50 x 50 feet or less. If you were going to have one residence per floor, and knew you could sell them for a million dollars apiece, how high could you build it before you started losing money on each additional floor? And, just as importantly, what's the MINIMUM height that would be cost effective?

The smallest tower I'm aware of is actually going up in Miami now -- www.lyghte.com

I suspect it comes close to maxing out the economics, because as far as I know, the area where it's being built is "height-unlimited", and has so much FAR it's almost academic. Personally, I think micro-towers, with one or two residences per floor, are immensely cool. Tall, but still kind of human-scaled, in a way. For buildings like this, I'm curious as to how much of the cost is due to actual construction costs, and how much is due to the land alone costing a few million. If most of the cost is land-related, imagine how cool it would be if McMansion developers started building towers like this in suburbia 

It's not much of a pic, but it's the best linkable one I could find:


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## spud (Mar 2, 2006)

beethams tower in manchester...just under 600ft high and not very wide on the norrow side as you can see


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## Dino Domingo (Jan 5, 2005)

Bertez said:


> From Toronto......


Toronto's One King West has an 11 to 1 (11:1) height-to-width ratio, the world's tallest, thinnest building when it was completed almost two years ago. 

I think there's a building in Asia or Eastern Europe that just recently took that title.

Does anyone know which one it is?


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## Victhor (Sep 11, 2002)

Benidorm, Torre Levante, 120m tall, 9.5m wide in both sides. And there are a lot of pencil towers in Benidorm, but they are shorter than in Hong Kong.


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## NYC-GDL (Aug 26, 2005)

this one is a residential tower in mexico city..  is around 200 m.


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