How to Build a Skyscraper

I liked this book a lot. It explains what makes various skyscrapers around the world unique and technologically significant. The illustrations are clear and very well done.

Thank you.

More than any other building type, the skyscraper has the power to capture the public's imagination, contributing to a city's signature "skyline," yet, the skyscraper is also often misunderstood. The skyscraper may be regarded as a symbols of multinational corporations, iconic landmarks, vanity projects, or hardnosed financial instruments, designed to extract the maximum return on investment. The skyscraper is variously all those things, and John Hill's new book, How to Build a Skyscraper, provides and detailed and accessible guide to 46 of the most prominent skyscrapers from around the world. The selected projects, organized geographically, emphasize how individual projects are site, market and technology specific. Trends in skyscraper design and responses to leasing standards inform a skyscraper's dimensions (floor to floor heights, leasing depths, etc.), while site constraints (seismic zones and geotechnical conditions) may inform the choices of structural and lateral systems. The descriptions that accompany each project reveal the way by which each skyscraper is a unique response to a local condition and help dispel the myths of the one-size-fits-all skyscraper type. The addition of the "cut-away" views for each building helps to explain the innovations in structure and organization that allowed the various projects to achieve their remarkable forms. How to Build a Skyscraper is an excellent addition to the literature on the subject.Eric Höweler, Author of Skyscraper, Vertical Now and 1,001 Skyscrapers

Wonderful book. Great insights on a variety of classic and new skyscrapers. Helpful to both the casual architectural enthusiast as well as anyone in the biz looking for quick resource/precedent material. And fantastic illustrations!

An interesting look at some of the world's tallest buildings and how they are designed/built.

Although interesting, this book is not really 'How to Build a Skyscraper', but rather, 'Here are some exceptional skyscrapers and summary text describing one or two aspects of each skyscraper' - doesn't quite work as a title, though.Each double-page spread is dedicated to one skyscraper and shows a full page photo or artwork with the facing page having the text and supplementary drawings to describe a notable feature (construction or fascia) of the building.There is no explanation of how to 'build' a skyscraper, only how some skyscrapers have been architected.

John Hill has woven together the history and possibly the near future of skyscrapers - the whys and wheres and hows - in a highly engaging curated sampling of some of the world's best known tall structures. Who knew, for example, that the spandrel beams of New York City's beloved Flatiron Building's noble prow are curved? Makes perfect sense once the secret is revealed, and making sense of the staggeringly complex engineering that goes into designing and building our contemporary landscape of tall towers is made - simple. For that Hill has shown his mastery of the fine art and technology that is contemporary architecture.Curtis B Wayne, Architect

beautiful book, not exactly coffee table sized but perfect to enjoy page by page, randomly, and to discover some fabulous facts about those architectural marvels.

Perfect

This book has descriptions and impressive images of the major tall buildings that have been constructed in the different continents of the world. The book for each skyscraper also describes the structural system and materials used in their construction. This is a good book that provides a summary of the most important and impressive tall buildings that have been built, also listing the designers, the number of stories, and also the total gross floor areas.