Context: The state-of-the-art in highrise construction
Tall buildings are dreams rendered in steel and concrete. In addition to the economic, developmental and environmental justifications of tall building-driven urban densification, there is an innate desire in mankind to go higher and higher. Historically, this became apparent in the stories of the Tower of Babel or Icarus and Daedalus as well as artifacts such as the pyramids of Egypt and Central America. However, until the late 19th century mankind was held close to the ground by the limits of technology. It is generally recognized that Chicago's Home Insurance Building of 1885 (ill. A) was the first building that had the technical innovations required to go beyond the previous limitations. Thus, it is considered to be the first skyscraper built. The key innovations were the vertical transportation system (the safety elevator) and the structural system (skeletal-frame made of structural steel, cast and wrought iron elements). It is still these two systems, the vertical transportation system and the structural system, that define the limits of tall buildings.
