Editor’s Note: David Nicholson-Cole is a Professor in Architecture at University of Nottingham. The views expressed in this commentary are solely those of the writer. CNN is showcasing the work of The Conversation, a collaboration between journalists and academics to provide news analysis and commentary.
Story highlights
Glass skyscrapers are the primary high-rise style around the world, but they're energy inefficient.
New towers include a variety of eco-friendly innovations, such as renewable energy generation, solar shading and double-skin facades.
Due to urbanization, mixed-use skyscrapers are becoming the norm in Japan and China.
CNN
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Slick, glassy skyscrapers cast their shadows over the streets and spaces of cities all over the world.
These behemoths are notoriously inefficient: glass exteriors trap the sun’s rays during summer and haemorrhage heat throughout the winter, requiring year-round air conditioning and climate control.
Dark interiors necessitate vast arrays of bright lighting, while hundreds of computers whirr 24 hours, consuming even more electricity.
At a time when energy efficiency is a matter of global significance, it’s worth considering how these dark, glass giants came to dominate the urban landscape – and how we can build to fix these flaws in the future.
In fact, the modern skyscraper emerged from an architectural evolution, which started with the construction of Chicago’s tall office buildings during the 1880s.
courtesy Santiago Calatrava
Unlike OPA's house in a cliff, many of the most interesting designs in architecture have never been realized. Here's a look at the greatest buildings that never
were.
How different Chicago's skyline would have looked if Calatrava's 2005 design had been built. One thousand four hundred and fifty eight feet (444 meters) of slender twisted steel and glass, the Chicago Spire would have knocked the Willis Tower (formely the Sears Tower) down a peg, trumping it by a whole two meters and a whole lot of style. The 920,000 square foot structure would have featured residential apartments, retail space and a five-star hotel, with each floor rotating 2 degrees around a central core, turning 270 degrees through the height of the building.
But then the global financial crisis hit. Construction halted in 2008 with claims that heavy debts had been racked up. In this instance Donald Trump was right: the Chicago Spire had been "
financial suicide."
The Estate of R. Buckminster Fuller
A two mile-wide geodesic dome over Midtown Manhattan doesn't sound like the most practical way to reduce air pollution and regulate weather, but Buckminster Fuller and Sandao once went to great lengths mapping out plans for one in 1960. Spanning the East River to the Hudson and covering 62nd Street to 22nd Street, they planned for it to be built from shatterproof glass, mist-plated with aluminum to reduce glare from the sun. Weighing 4,000 tonnes, Fuller argued that the structure, built by a fleet of helicopters fitting each glass plate, would cost $200 million and be invisible to the naked eye for those inside. There were potential problems for the dome, however: Fuller stipulated that cars or engines of any kind were to be banned. Oh, and there was the chance the dome might float away. It's been argued that, because the dome's weight was comparable to that of the air beneath it, it could
float in hot weather, and would have to be anchored in place with cables. Surprisingly, the idea never took off.
courtesy Bibliothèque nationale de France
Spheres were integral to the work of mathematician Sir Isaac Newton, in life and, at one time, in death. The great scientist worked out the force holding us to the big sphere beneath our feet, and French architect Etienne-Louis Boullee thought it would be a fitting shape to remember him by.
In 1784 he drew up plans for a grand, 500 foot (150 m) cenotaph -- eight meters taller than Strasbourg Cathedral, the highest building at the time. Inside was to be a void, with small holes in the building's shell allowing sunlight to pierce through, mapping out star constellations and planets and acting as a vast planetarium. Though never built, etchings of the concept were popular, with copies currently held a the Bibliotheque Nationale de France.
courtesy Tchoban Foundation
Boris Iofan's colossal design for the Palace of the Soviets has become one of the finest examples of an architectural moonshot that fell to earth. The imposing design was the winning entry of an international competition in 1931 for a new administrative and congress hall in Moscow, Russia. At a height of 1,365 feet (416m), it would have eclipsed the Empire State Building as the tallest in the world, while the 160 meter wide, 100 meter tall main hall held the capacity for 21,000 seats.
The design was heavily revised over time -- partially under the instruction of Stalin himself -- emphasizing both neoclassical motifs and the gigantic statue of Lenin atop. The foundations were laid down by 1939 but the Nazi invasion in 1941 halted construction. It never resumed, although the abandoned site would still become home to a record-breaking build -- the Moskova Pool, in 1958, the world's largest outdoor swimming pool.
Courtesy Zaha Hadid Architects
Zaha Hadid's Tokyo Olympic Stadium was many things -- ultramodern, typically curvacious and above all, very expensive. The design for the 2020 Games was also intended for the 2019 Rugby World Cup, but it was not without its detractors: leading Japanese architect Arata Isozaki labeled it a "disgrace to future generations." However construction costs spiraled as the price of steel rose, with a stadium's new price tag increasing to 250 billion yen ($2.02 billion). Eventually in July 2015 Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced the design was being scrapped for a more cost-effective alternative.
The Library of Congress
The Coney Island Globe Tower, seen at the rear of this New York Tribune cover, was the ambitious megastructure dreamed up by Samuel Friede. Proposed in May 1906, it was to include a 700 foot (213 meter) sphere with multiple floors, containing everything from restaurants to garden to a bowling alley -- not to mention the world's largest ballroom and a theme park. All in all, it would have fitted 50,000 people and operate 24 hours a day.
As with most grand schemes, the problem was money. Friede advertized the project looking for $1,500,000 of investment, saying the project was expected to pay 100% interest annually. The cornerstone was laid on May 26, and investors jumped at the chance to make such returns. All was not how it seemed, however.
Delays followed and anxiety spread throughout the city. Another ceremony was held when the first piece of steel was moved into place. Promises were broken and the threat of injunctions followed. By 1908 it was discovered that the ambitious project wasn't just a pipe dream -- it was a fraud.
Virtual Artworks/All Design
It was supposed to be the centerpiece of Liverpool, England's redevelopment as European Capital of Culture in 2008. As it stands, all that remains of the Fourth Grace (also known as The Cloud) are these beautiful renderings. The concept, which was once described as a "diamond knuckleduster" by
The Guardian, won an architectural competition in 2002 for a fourth building to sit alongside Liverpool's Three Graces - the Royal Liver Building, the Cunard Building and the Port of Liverpool building. A mixture of museum and commercial rental space, its £228 million ($322 million) budget spiraled to £324 million ($457 million) by 2004, spelling the end to a design that the locals, if not the architectural community, were set against from the off.
courtesy Woods Bagot
Another victim of the global economic slump, the Nakheel Harbour and Tower in Dubai failed to fly when, six years after being proposed, it was canceled in December 2009. The 3,280 feet (one kilometer) high tower was first mooted as the centerpiece of Palm Jumeirah, the vast man-made archipelago in the Persian Gulf, although it was later re-located closer to the Dubai Marina. The design for the mixed-use complex drew on Islamic monuments of the past according to the architects, invoking the Harbor of Alexandria, the bridges of Isafahan, the gardens of Alhambra and the promenade of Tangier -- but like the Lighthouse of Alexandria, the plan, estimated to cost $38 billion, came crumbling down.
The iconic “International Style” skyscraper – a prismatic glass surface wrapped around a central service core – was envisioned during the 1920s and 1930s, by German architects who fled to America from Germany – notably Walter Gropius and Mies van der Rohe.
It was first built in America during the 1950s – the UN Building (1952), Lever House (1954) and the Seagram Tower (1958) of New York are seminal dark glass-walled office buildings, which spawned countless imitators worldwide, until the 1980s.
Although the limitations of the International Style became obvious in the late 20th century, when governments implemented stricter energy standards, glass still predominates as we approach 2020.
Today’s office skyscrapers, particularly those seen in business districts in the Middle and Far East, use double skin facades – an outer skin of glass wrapping around the real building within – to maintain glassiness and permit daylight, while improving insulation and resistance to solar gain.
Energy-saving features, such as efficient lighting and energy-regenerating elevators are now normal.
Trigeneration (heating-cooling-power plants) hum efficiently in the basements, while solar shading and openable windows are sometimes used to reduce air conditioning loads. Green planting is appearing in lobbies and sky gardens, fed by captured rainwater.
The way that cities and workplaces are developing demands even greater change.
In an age of rising urbanisation, the American idyll of a compact high-rise business district, surrounded by a vast residential suburban sprawl served by freeways and shopping malls is simply not compatible with the land resources, population, energy and transport requirements of 21st-century cities.
To cope with the pressures of dynamic mass-transit systems and rising land values, urban citizens must grow accustomed to living – as well as working – in high-rise developments, clustered around key transport nodes.
Different cities are responding to these challenges in different ways.
London has a policy of clustering tall buildings in groups around key rail stations, maintaining clear view lines in between. These clusters become magnets for additional office and residential towers.
Paris excludes skyscrapers from its centre altogether, limiting them to districts such as La Defense, at the outskirts of the city.
Meanwhile, China has built eerie “ghost cities”: entire districts of high-rise buildings, constructed prior to the population moving in.
Bjarke Ingels Group
'The Eleventh' towers in New York will stand 300 and 400 feet tall on completion in 2019. The towers will join a growing field of twisted architecture that is making waves around the world.
The Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) recently released a comprehensive list of the world's twisting tall buildings that are either completed or under construction. From Shanghai to Dubai, CNN takes a look at these spectacular spiraled skyscrapers, as well as some of the other tallest buildings in the world.
Bjarke Ingels group
"The architecture draws inspiration from New York City's classic Modernist structures and cultural institutions," according to BIG. "The punched window openings are...a reference to the historic industrial buildings of the neighborhood and nearby Meatpacking District."
Bjarke Ingels group
The twisted design serves a practical purpose by allowing more expansive views of the adjacent Hudson River and lower Manhattan.
Bjarke Ingels group
The towers will join a growing field of twisted architecture that is making waves around the world.
JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
Topping CTBUH's list in terms of height is Shanghai Tower, which twirls 632 meters (2,073 feet) into the sky.
Connie Zhou/courtesy gensler
Shanghai Tower is also the tallest building in China, and the second tallest skyscraper in the world after the famous Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
Connie Zhou/courtesy gensler
Located in Shanghai's burgeoning Lujiazui financial district and designed by architects Marshall Strabala and Jun Xia from the firm Gensler, its twisted form accommodates strong typhoon winds. The tower was completed at the end of 2015.
via lakhta center press center
Although not yet completed, the second tallest twisted building on CTBUH's list is the Lakhta Center, a tower in St Petersburgh, Russia.
via lakhta center press center
Designed by British architect Tony Kettle in conjunction with Gorproject, the tower has a projected height of 462 meters (1,516 feet) and is due to be completed by the end of 2018.
KARIM SAHIB/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
Completed in 2013 and designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Cayan Tower soars 306 meters (1,005 feet) into the sky. It's the third tallest twisted tower in the world that's complete, according to CTBUH.
courtesy GORPROJECT
Inspired by the city's St Basil Cathedral and Russia's never completed Talin's Tower, the chief architect for design was Philip Nikandrov, from Gorproject.
JOHAN NILSSON/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
The world's first ever twisted tall building was the 190 meter (623 feet) Turning Torso, which was designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and completed in 2005.
Iwan Baan/courtesy MAD Architects
Dubbed the 'Marilyn Monroe' towers by local residents due to its fluid, natural lines, Absolute World Towers was designed by MAD architects.
Tom Arban Photography Inc
Absolute World's two twisted towers stand at 176 meters (577 feet) and 158 meters (518 feet) tall.
istockphoto
Claiming the crown for the world's tallest building upon its completion in 2010, the Burj Khalifa stands a massive 198 meters (650 feet) above its nearest completed competitor.
image courtes of emaar / via aurecon group
However, the Burj Khalifa's 828 meter (2,717 feet) mark on Dubai's skyline may soon be eclipsed by a new mega-tall skyscraper.
image courtes of emaar / via aurecon group
Although not yet officially named, 'The Tower' at Dubai Creek Harbour will be 100m taller than the Burj Khalifa.
image courtes of emaar / via aurecon group
The Santiago Calatrava designed tower is expected to be completed in 2020 and will hold ten observation decks in its oval-shaped peak.
Jeddah Economic Company/Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture
Also competing for the title of the world's tallest building is Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia. Designed by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, the tower aims to break the 1 km (3,280 feet) threshold upon its expected completion in 2019. Such innovation doesn't come cheap - the building is expected to cost
$1.23 billion.
Taking the race to even further extremes, a proposal for a tower double the height of the Burj Khalifa was unveiled In Feburary by Kohn Pefersen Fox Associates (KPF) and Leslie E Robertson Associates (LERA).
Kohn Pedersen Fox
The 1,600 meter -- one entire mile -- tower is part of a future city concept named "Next Tokyo 2045," which envisions a floating mega-city in Tokyo Bay.
DBOX
In December 2015, plans were unveiled for 1 Undershaft -- a 300 meter (984 feet) tall building that could become the City of London's tallest skyscraper.
DBOX
1 Undershaft will sit across the river from London's existing tallest building, The Shard, which sits 309 meters (1,013 feet) above London at its highest point.
Courtesy CIM Group
432 Park Avenue, the tallest all-residential tower in the western hemisphere, opened its doors in December 2015 and recently became the hundredth supertall building in the world. The 425.5 meter (1,396 feet) building was designed by Rafael Vinoly of SLCE Architects.
STAN HONDA/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
Known as the "Freedom Tower," One World Trade Center stands on part of the site previously occupied by the Twin Towers. At 541 meters (1,776 feet) it's the highest building in the western hemisphere, and cost $3.9 billion according to
Forbes. The building was designed by
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
Taiwan Tourism
The first skyscraper to break the half-kilometer mark, Taipei 101 stands at 508 meters (1,667 feet) tall. Designed by C.Y. Lee & Partners to withstand the elements -- including typhoons, earthquakes and 216 km/h winds -- Taipei 101 utilizes a 660-tonne mass damper ball suspended from the 92nd floor, which sways to offset the movement of the building.
ChinaFotoPress/Getty Image
Construction of Shanghai's third supertall building took 11 years, but the skyscraper dubbed "The Bottle Opener" was met with critical praise and high-end residents when it was completed in 2008. At 492 meters (1,614 feet) tall, the Kohn Pederson Fox building's residents include the Park Hyatt Shanghai and offices for Ernst & Young, Morgan Stanley, and BNP Paribas.
ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
Hong Kong's tallest building has 108 floors -- but walking around it, you'd get a different story. The city's tetraphobia -- the fear of the number four -- means floors with the number have been skipped and the 484 meter (1,588 feet) tall International Commerce Center is marketed as a 118-story skyscraper. The building was designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox.
Goh Seng Chong/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The joint eighth highest completed skyscraper is still the tallest twin towers in the world at 451.9 meters (1,483 feet). Finished in 1996 and inaugurated in 1999, it's been the site of numerous hair-raising stunts. Felix Baumgartner set a then-BASE jump world record in 1999 by jumping off a window cleaning crane, and in 2009 Frenchman Alain Robert, known as "Spiderman," freeclimbed to the top of Tower Two without safety equipment -- and did so in under two hours. It was designed by Cesar Pelli.
Teddy Cross
Completed in March 2016, the Lotte World Tower is Seoul's first supertall skyscraper, and currently the sixth tallest building in the world. At 556 meters (1,824 feet) tall, the building was designed by
Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates.
The way that people use skyscrapers is also changing.
For one thing, the internet has reduced the demand for conventional offices.
The current trend is for large trading floors, or landscaped office interiors with multi-screen workstations, hot-desking – and meetings held in daylit break-out spaces.
There is less need for huge walls of glass. For daylight, there is a return to large glazed windows set in an insulating wall.
Stefano Boeri Architetti
Milan's "Vertical Forest" is an award-winning skyscraper which houses numerous trees and shrubs.
Paolo Rosselli/Stefano Boeri Architetti
Designed by Stefano Boeri architects, the 116-meter and 76-meter towers were completed in 2014.
Stefano Boeri Architetti
More than 800 trees have been planted on steel-reinforced balconies with the aim of combating urban pollution as well as containing urban sprawl.
Stefano Boeri Architetti
A similar-looking highrise -- as seen in this artist's impression -- will start construction in Lausanne, Switzerland in 2017.
Stefano Boeri Architetti
The Tower of Cedars will be around 120 meters in height and incorporate more than 100 cedar trees.
Stefano Boeri Architetti
The building was also conceived by Stefano Boeri architects.
Oli Scarff/Getty Images Europe/Getty Images
London's Kensington Roof Gardens opened in the 1930s and covers 1.5 acres. In recent years, London has become a leader in planting green roofs with an estimated 1.3 million square feet covered across the UK capital.
Mary Turner/Getty Images Europe/Getty Images
A more modern take on green roofs can be found atop the Numura building in the City of London. The Japanese investment bank's private rooftop gardens include a terrace with panoramic views across the River Thames.
Stefano Boeri Architetti
In Guizhou, China, Stefano Boeri architects have started drawing up plans to create a 250-room Mountain Forest hotel.
Stefano Boeri Architetti
The design is inspired by the natural scenery of the Wanfenglin (Forest of Ten Thousand Peaks) valley, according to Milan-based architects.
Stefano Boeri Architetti
Boeri is also plotting a new sustainable city in Shijiazhuang, China.
Stefano Boeri Architetti
The "Forest City" is an idea to create a sustainable city of 100,000 inhabitants which would build on the success of Boeri's "Vertical Forest."
Among small businesses, there’s a demand for “incubator” offices, often in converted warehouses.
Employees can work from home using video conferencing and virtual networks.
Indeed, many redundant office buildings of the 20th century are already converted to residential uses, such as Metro Central and the Southbank Tower in London.
Another major trend is the mixed-use skyscraper, where parking, dining, transport, hotel, offices, social sky-parks, residences, colleges, health and leisure centres are stacked vertically into one single footprint, with food, beverage and retail outlets at ground level.
This is becoming the norm in the newest tall buildings, especially in Japan and China.
Wolfgang Traeger
This floating wooden pavilion is the Pavillion of Reflections in Zurich. It was revealed as part of Manifesta, an annual contemporary art biennial.
Wolfgang Traeger/courtesy manifesta
The wooden structure is a collaborative project between 30 architecture students from ETH in Zurich and design firm Studio Tom Emerson.
Wolfgang Traeger/courtesy manifesta
Described as an "urban island," the floating structure is intended for leisurely use, and features an open-air cinema.
courtesy White Arkitekter
The "Sida Vid Sida" ("side by side") building is a proposed project by Swedish architects White Arkitekter.
courtesy White Arkitekter
The proposed design won an architecture competition in the city of Skelleftea. There were 55 entries from 10 countries.
courtesy White Arkitekter
The design was selected for its use of wood as a building material, as it pays tribute to Skelletea's rich local timber industry.
courtesy White Arkitekter
The building is expected to be completed in 2019.
courtesy plp architecture
Oakwood Tower is a proposed structure by PLP Architecture and Cambridge University's Department of Architecture.
courtesy plp architecture
At 80 stories high, it would be London's first wooden skyscraper, and another addition to the growing trend for structures made entirely of timber.
Lendlease
The Forte in Melbourne was completed in 2012, and is a 10-story structure built entirely of wood.
Lendlease
For two years, the 104-foot tall structure was the tallest wooden building in the world.
Snølys
That title was soon taken by the Treet in Norway.
Morten Pedersen
Treet was completed in 2014, and is 14 stories tall.
Courtesy of MGA
The Wood Innovation and Design Center (WIDC) is located in the province of British Columbia in Canada.
Courtesy of MGA
The building is a hub for wooden design education and research.
dean irvine/cnn
In Bali, the 18-home
Green Village is constructed almost entirely of bamboo.
dean irvine/cnn
"This is the future. It's pure architecture ... to breathe fresh air and touch nature, that's everything," says architect Defit Wijaya.
CRG Architects
CRG Architects proposed a skyscraper made entirely of bamboo at the World Architecture Festival in 2015.
crg architects
Bamboo was recently
recognized by the United Nations as a green building material that can help combat climate change.
Mixed-use towers make the best use of land and are more resilient to economic shocks because the rental income comes from lots of different sources – and the flows of people are balanced, instead of peaking twice daily.
The idea started in Chicago in 1969, developed in China, and now appears in most global mega-cities.
Examples include the London Shard, the Shanghai Tower, PS100 (Singapore), Hysan Place (Hong Kong) and the proposed development at 470 11th Ave (New York).
New techniques of construction such as ultra-stiff service cores, continuous concrete casting, outriggers, lattice frames and seismic damping systems have made it possible to build very tall.
Dubai’s Burj Khalifa exceeds 800 metres, and Jeddah’s Kingdom Tower will reach to 1,000 metres when it’s finished.
Yet as we look forwards, the most significant trend will not be extravagant height – but energy efficiency. The skyscrapers of the future are those that architects call “fifth generation”, which aim for a carbon-neutral footprint, such as Melbourne’s CH2, 1 Bligh Street, Sydney and One Angel Square, Manchester.
These exceptional new towers include a variety of eco-friendly innovations, such as renewable energy generation, solar shading and double-skin facades with natural ventilation.
They will also feature greater thermal mass, landscaped atriums, underground heat storage, water catchment, recycling, linear induction elevators, as well as vertical urban farms, green planting, and facades and roofs that generate electricity.
The future cannot be found in a small number of freakishly tall designs. Rather, it is in the vast number of efficient, versatile skyscrapers, which will be essential to cope with growing urban populations and keep cities running.
