# Has your city contributed to the evolution of Tall Buildings?



## Illadelph (Dec 3, 2005)

Example: Philadelphia's PSFS Building was the First Modern Skyscraper in the U.S. and City Hall is the Worlds Tallest Masonry Building without steel.. 548 ft of concrete... Give your cities example of it's Greatness.. 

City Hall









PSFS









http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/PSFS_Building.html
http://www.aviewoncities.com/philadelphia/psfsbuilding.htm


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## Jules (Jun 27, 2004)

Contributing to skyscrapers? Well, we did create them. 










Home Insurance Building, 1885


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## XCRunner (Nov 19, 2005)

And we have the greatest collection of them on earth.


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## Illadelph (Dec 3, 2005)

William Le Baron Jenney was born in Fairhaven, Massachusetts exactly 170 years ago, on September 25, 1832. His formative years were full of travel. After some basic education, he joined the California Gold Rush of 1849, where he watched firsthand as San Francisco was rebuilt with bricks after a fire destroyed its wooden structures. He visited the Philippines, too, then studied architecture and engineering in Massachusetts and France. He came back to the New World to work briefly as a railroad engineer in Mexico, but then returned to France to get more experience and continue his studies.

Upon the commencement of the U.S. Civil War, Jenney returned to his homeland and enlisted in the Union army as an engineer. He served on the staffs of Generals Grant and Sherman, and left the army in 1866 with the rank of major.

In 1868, Jenney moved to Chicago to practice engineering and architecture. After Chicago burned down in 1871, his workload increased tremendously and he was hired to design several prominent office buildings.

Jenney's most important building, which some of his previous projects had foreshadowed, was the Home Insurance Company Building (1884-85). It was the first building in which the floors and walls were supported by a metal skeleton -- columns made of iron, and beams made of iron and steel. The building's metal skeleton was immediately imitated by other architects, who made it the structural basis of the world's early skyscrapers. In fact, the Home Insurance Company Building is often considered the world's first skyscraper, even though it was only nine stories tall. (Two more stories were added in 1891. The building was demolished in 1931.)

Jenney's later buildings were also influential, but his most lasting effect was on the minds of younger architects. Many of the great architects of the "Chicago school" of architecture worked for Jenney, and his ideas permeated their work. He died in 1907, at 74 years of age.

Related links:


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## dubaiflo (Jan 3, 2005)

Dubai hasn't done yet, but it will in an iconic way


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## TalB (Jun 8, 2005)

NYC's first skyscraper was the Potter Bldg on Park Row in 1886. Since then the area started to build up. However, it wasn't until the construction of the World Bldg in 1890, that placed NYC on top of the world. After that, other skyscrapers were built to be the WTB until that streak ended after 1974 when the Sears Tower surpassed the now destroyed 1 WTC. Nevertheless, Manhattan turnned into an island of skyscrapers that continues to build up as it did then.


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## kids (Dec 12, 2004)

I think so..Well, they were building buildings like this in 1800 in Manchester










1820










but i think they were building buildings like this all over at this time.


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## Taller Better (Aug 27, 2005)

Well, I guess Toronto contributed with the CN Tower. The first "skyscraper" in Canada was built in Montreal, around 1885. It had the first elevator, too:










and this old banking tower in downtown Toronto was the tallest building in the
British Empire for many years:


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

*Hong Kong* is home to some unconventional designs :

Norman Foster's HSBC :



















Lippo Centre, which was inspired by koalas climbing trees :










I. M. Pei's geometric Bank of China














































... and of course, 2 IFC


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

Another thing that HK has contributed is the evolution of the Asian skyscraper which started with The Jardine House. 










The Jardine House, upon completion in 1973 became the tallest in Asia.

Singapore then rivaled HK in the evolution of both Asian skylines and skyscrapers and the city had the tallest buildings in Asia during the 80s. The tallest hotel at that time was also in Singapore which was the Westin Stamford Hotel.

But Hong Kong retook the crown with the completion of the Bank of China Tower which was the first building in Asia and outside The United States to break the 300 m mark. The BoC also put HK on the skyscraper map and symbolized the Asian scraper.

And with the Lippo Centre, the building was developed by former Australian multi millionaire Alan Bond and was originally called The Bond Centre. Thus the Australian influnce in it's design. But the Lippo Group bought the building and the name was change. Alan Bond is currently incarcerated.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

HSBC was the building that got the world's attention on architecture in Hong Kong in the 1980s. Even today, the HSBC is still a major feature in modern architecture books.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

hkskyline said:


> HSBC was the building that got the world's attention on architecture in Hong Kong in the 1980s. Even today, the HSBC is still a major feature in modern architecture books.


Very true. And it's still ultramodern even if it's an 80s scraper.


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## redstone (Nov 15, 2003)

OUB Centre, built 1986 by Kenzo Tange.

Was the tallest building outside US and Canada, with it's sleek futuristic design.


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## redstone (Nov 15, 2003)

OCBC Centre by IM Pei. I'll say it's one of the most iconic brutalist towers in the world.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

Incorporating green designs in buildings is becoming increasingly popular. One new Hong Kong building has taken a small step by installing solar panels to power the curtains at *1 Peking Road*.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

redstone said:


> OCBC Centre by IM Pei. I'll say it's one of the most iconic brutalist towers in the world.


I don't consider the OCBC Centre as brutalist. It's actually a beautiful office tower and a landmark scraper for Singapore.

And with the OUB, it was the tallest in Asia before the BoC was completed.


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