When you go to a big city, there are skyscrapers
everywhere. For many people, especially those in larger cities, life without
skyscrapers would not be the same at all. These massive buildings used to not
be a part of our daily lives. Due to massive developments in the 1880s,
skyscrapers were not only made possible, but they were going up faster and in
larger numbers than ever before. Though there were some issues to take into
consideration as the skyscrapers became taller, overall it was a positive
development. Today skyscrapers are very beneficial and important to the
function of many cities, even though there are some cons to these giant
buildings.
There were many things that allowed for the growth in
skyscrapers. One of the most important new developments though, was the mass
production of steel; this process was called the Bessemer process. Without the
new techniques to mass produce, there would have never been enough steel to
construct all of the buildings. Another new invention was a safety feature on
the elevator. Elevators had been around for years, and were normally powered by
steam. They were not used for people though, only things like taking factory
items to a different floor. The issue with elevators was that if a cable were
to break, they plummeted to the bottom of the elevator shaft. Elisha Graves
Otis created a safety for the elevator. This meant that even if a cable broke,
the elevator would not fall. It was also helpful to have electric lighting in
these buildings. Now that there was the capability to build a skyscraper, there
also needed to be a demand, and there was. The white collar work- force was
growing quickly and needed office space. In the big cities, there were so many
people, that they had no where else to build, except up. These skyscrapers
became work spaces that sold out very quickly.
Many famous skyscrapers were built between 1880- 1920.
These buildings include the Flat Iron Building (612 feet,) which is a famous
building in Times Square, NYC. In addition, the Metropolitan Life Insurance
Company Building (700 feet) and the Woolworth Tower (792 feet) were also built
in this time. Skyscrapers such as the Empire State Building and the Chrysler
Building were not built until 1930. In New York City, buildings were much
taller than they were in Chicago. Another difference between the New York City
skyscrapers and the Chicago ones was many people considered Chicago's
skyscrapers to be prettier than New York's. As these massive buildings went up,
New York was criticized for having ugly towers, instead of the aesthetically
appealing buildings that Chicago was building.
Flat Iron Tower 20th Century
Flat Iron Tower Today
Metropolitan Life Tower 20th Century
Metropolitan Life Tower Today
Woolworth Tower 20th Century
Woolworth Tower Today
Part of the reason that New York was building all of the
taller buildings, was Chicago put a 150 foot height limit on their skyscrapers.
This meant that New York City was left to build all of the extremely tall
buildings.Chicago's buildings tended to be wider skyscrapers, while New York's were skinnier. During this time, the creation of a steel frame became essential to
building sturdy, practical, tall buildings. The frames used to be held by giant
walls on the lower floors of the buildings. This not only limited height, but
also limited floor space on the lower floors. Once this problem was eliminated,
the skyscrapers not only became more spacious, but also taller allowing for
more office buildings on the top floors. Though this seemingly fixed one
problem, it also created another. As the buildings began to mold what we know
as New York's skyline, they also began to destroy what was known as the skyline
in the 19th and 20th centuries. Aside from the aesthetic change, these
buildings were also casting really bad shadows, and people were complaining
about loss of light and air. A specific example of this is the 538 foot
equitable building which cast a 7 acre shadow. Due to these issues, the idea of
zoning was born and the Tenement House Act of 1901 was created limiting the
size of the skyscrapers. For many years this was effective, but after the
population grew over 3 million people in 100 years, the laws changed a little
bit.
Chicago Skyscrapers
New York Skyscrapers
Today, skyscrapers are extremely important to city life.
Without them, we would not have nearly as much office space, and many times
living space. While they are great for space, and many times they are much
prettier these days, occasionally they do pose some issues. One statistic says
that about 70% of landfills is building debris. A man named Phillip Fisher, who
is an architect, believes that skyscrapers are just objects and they are part
of the object "life cycle." He thinks that this "life
cycle" takes the object from materials, to parts that give it its shape,
to the assembly line, and then it becomes junk. He also thinks that after 25
years, many skyscrapers are useless. Though there are obviously many many
skyscrapers that have not fallen, turned into junk, or gone to the landfill
after 25 years, it is a possibility. This also represents an opinion that is
not similar to the majority of people's. Some people love skyscrapers, but most
people just do not think about it that in depth, to many, it is just a
building. There are people though, who feel strongly that skyscrapers are not a
good thing, and those are some of the reasons why.
Overall, the development of skyscrapers has been a very
good thing for our country and many other countries. It allows for massive
growth in places with limited space. Throughout the years though, the ways we
build, view, and use skyscrapers has changed. The skyscraper received its name
in 1888, and in that time "skyscraper" was a word used to describe a
building that was 10-20 stories, when these days it describes a building that
is typically 40-50 stories. In addition, skyscrapers used to just be used as
office spaces, but we now use them as residential space too.. Finally, for the
most part, steel used to be the only material used, but now concrete and glass
are also very popular materials when building skyscrapers.
Steel Frame Design developed in the late 19th and early 20th century, paired with the modern day building material, glass.
Though there will always be cons, or issues brought up when
developing something new, many times the outcome is worth it. In this case,
that is very true. There were problems that arose during the development of
skyscrapers such as loss of lighting and air, but this is something that was
overcome. In today's world, the main complaint about skyscrapers would be that
they end up in landfills or they are just "junk," yet they are still
a huge part of our world. City life would not be possible without
skyscrapers.
Works Cited
Barrs, Karen.
"The History of Skyscrapers." Infoplease.
Infoplease, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.
<http://www.infoplease.com/spot/skyscraperhistory.html>.
"Bessemer
Process (metallurgy)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/63067/Bessemer-process>.
"Early
Skyscrapers." Wikipedia.
Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Oct. 2013. Web. 13 Dec. 2013.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_skyscrapers>.
"Lawrence
Nield on the Impact of Skyscrapers Official." Dailymotion. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.
<http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xhqxc0_lawrence-nield-on-the-impact-of-skyscrapers_creation>.
"NYC Zoning
- About New York City Zoning." NYC Zoning - About New York City Zoning. The City of New York, n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.
<http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/zone/zonehis.shtml>.
"Skyscraper
(building)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2013.
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/547956/skyscraper>.
Photos
No comments:
Post a Comment