What Counts As A Skyscraper? | ARTiculations

[@385x01y]

With definitions you mentioned in the video we could count Neuschwanstein Castle as a skyscraper, as the first skyscraper. 10+ floors ✔️ use of steel gireders ✔️ older than Home Insurance Building in Chicago ✔️ ̶s̶a̶f̶e̶t̶y̶ elevator ✔️ Neuschwanstein Castle OG skyscraper confirmed

[@ARTiculations]

Interesting! I did not know about this castle. I guess the biggest reason why Home Insurance Building is generally considered the first Skyscraper is because it not only uses steel-girder, but the exterior facade is also non-loadbearing and self supporting. Plus it also has a safety elevator and is rectangular shaped. Home Insurance Building seems to embody more of the proto-elements of modern skyscrapers than Neuschwanstein Castle does.

[@roelantverhoeven371]

some gothic spires that were only completed in the 1800's too in that fashion , thinking of Cologne Cathedral and the Ulm Munster...

[@CityBeautiful]

Nice video! Skyscrapers are whatever cities want them to be so they can boast about having the most of them. :)

[@Vyker]

For me a definition of a skyscraper is it's relation to its surroundings. A skyscraper can be only 5 storeys tall if its neighbours are all bungalows, in the same vain that building can't be a skyscraper if it's surrounded by other 5+ storey buildings. Skyscraper is a building that standouts out and above the rest of the building rooftop horizon.

[@ARTiculations]

Actually - this is pretty much the official definition the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat uses. So - you're on the same page with one of the world's leading tall building organizations!

[@ragnkja]

I agree; a skyscraper is a habitation building that's significantly taller than the other buildings in the area. If most buildings are no more than three or four storeys tall, a 13-storey building *really* stands out, whereas the same building would hardly be noticed in a city full of buildings with more than ten storeys.

[@davidledeboer7870]

I like to use the 3x + 1 rule: 1 to 3 floors ---------- Low Rise 4 to 12 floors -------- Mid Rise 13 to 39 floors ------ High Rise 40 to 120 floors ---- Skyscraper 121 + --------------------- Supertall

[@RazzTheKing]

In Buenos Aires, Argentina, there's the Kavanagh Building, which, when built, was the highest building in South America. The story of its construction is great, as the myth says it was built only for revenge. You should look it up!

[@Tadpole1612]

Just read up on it. Wow. Reading about Corina's revenge was amazing, especially how one of the only streets to get a view of the Anchorenas family church is on a street named after Corina herself, is just the icing on the cake.

[@WyvernYT]

Nifty! I'm reminded of the John Jacob Astor Hotel in Astoria, Oregon, USA. It was the tallest building in Oregon outside Portland when built (1923) and while eight stories doesn't sound like much, it still stands out in downtown Astoria where few other buildings even get to three stories. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Jacob_Astor_Hotel

[@MaraK_dialmformara]

My favorite skyscraper is the Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh. I had a number of honors classes on the thirty-fifth floor as an undergrad.

[@MyFictitiousLife]

My favourite skyscraper would be UBC's Brock Commons which is an 18 storey wood frame residence. While it is by no means a supertall tower, the use of wood to support a structure this tall is very interesting both from an engineering and architectural perspectives.

[@neurotransmissions]

Great video! I've never seen it spelled "storeys" instead of "stories". Is that a Canadian thing? My favorite skyscraper is the Petronas Towers. It's so fun-looking. From my hometown, the Milwaukee City Hall is one of those old-timey skyscrapers that is close to my heart. :)

[@ARTiculations]

Apparently "Storeys" is a Canadian/British thing. I didn't even realise until now haha.

[@certifiedforkliftdriver9987]

Neuro Transmissions I'm also from Milwaukee, and that inded is quite a fantastic building. Mine has to be Kilbourne Tower, although this comes with a litttllleee bias because I live there :)

[@appleislander8536]

No, It's an EVERYONE WHO SPEAKS PROPER BLOODY ENGLISH, U AMERICANS! thing. God Save the Queen.

[@nochatter7134]

Apple Islander am Canadian and we don’t give a f** about no damn stinkin queen

[@JonGPxl]

Storeys = building floors/levels, stories = narratives

[@csours]

Tower of Babel is my favorite skyscraper.

[@beskamir5977]

I prefer the pyramids of Giza

[@appleislander8536]

And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed idolatry, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her harlotry. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he comes, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goes into perdition. And the ten horns which thou saw are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. And he said unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth

[@KhAnubis]

Actually, this is also something I've wondered in the past, as the 150+ meter height requirement would mean that Portland would only have 4 skyscrapers, and Vancouver the same amount (which doesn't feel right if you've ever been there), so I've always been a bit skeptical about the whole matter. You also mentioned things about safety, and it reminded me of how the Burj Khalifa has special refuge areas, since evacuations are a bit difficult in an 800-meter tall building. I think that alone would be interesting as a video topic.

[@ARTiculations]

Hehe yes actually Areas of Refuge as been on my topic list for a while now. Stay tuned! =D

[@AliasHSW]

One of my favorite skyscraper is the Zellerbach Building (1 Bush St) in San Francisco. When the sun hits the mosaic tiles on the south facade just right, it gorgeously shimmers the light.

[@JarrodBaniqued]

My personal favorites: The Seagram’s building, the Nordstrom Tower, 30 Rock, the Pan Am Building, and the Ping An Financial Centre. If I were to pick a favorite architectural style, it would resemble the “missing link” between Art Deco and International Style. Kind of like my favorite art style-a blend of Art Deco and ‘70s minimalism.

[@KannikCat]

Another element of the IBC is that once you get over 4 stories, your choice of construction materials begin to narrow dramatically as fire resistance requirements go up and up and up (pun semi-intended ;). Architecture is not only all about life safety, but it's important! :D For my favourite skyscraper, though it's technically not a skyscraper, I've always had a soft spot for the CN Tower. It hurt a bit when the Burj Khalifa broke its longstanding freestanding record.

[@LukeVilent]

My favorite skyscraper was the main building of the Lomonosov University in Moscow. Which basically does not fall into the definition "40 story" because it has the number way below this limit, while the stories themselves are some 5 meters high.

[@roelantverhoeven371]

belgium may not have the tallest buildings nowadays, but the first sky scraper in Europe stands in Antwerp, the Boerentoren (literally farmer's tower, after the first insurance company that used it) 98 (330-ish feet) meters and 25 stories was unseen in Europe in 1929. the first building in europe with a steel structure is the early 1900's "Witte huis" in nearby Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

[@STOCathain]

I've always loved the architecture of the Ogilvie Transportation Center, or Northwestern Station as I've always known it, in Chicago. It's a neat and very visually appealing building that is 42 storeys tall.

[@piraterubberduck6056]

My favourite skyscrapers atm, I can't just pick one, are the Burj Khalifa, for the lack of a mass dampener and the way it deals with wind, and the Gherkin in London, for the fantastic continuation of earlier work between Norman Foster and Buckminster Fuller, also the details of the structure are just beautiful to look at.

[@MythologywithMike]

Tbh the word skyscraper is pretty cool and sounds like it could be a word for some kind of super jet

[@ARTiculations]

Honestly I always picture someone scraping ceiling drywall (like a demolition contractor) but they are scraping at the sky/clouds instead. Lol yes I have problems.

[@AdolphusOfBlood]

Personally I would say a sky scraper needs two things. An Proportion of 5 to 1 or greater for how tall it is to how wide, and it has to be taller then the average building in the area. I would say in the top 20% for height in the city.

[@Tadpole1612]

My favorite skyscrapers are in my hometown of Perth, Australia. We have the former Bankwest Tower, and the Central Park Tower. Its probably because they are both strangely shaped.

[@zhubajie6940]

The earliest term skyscraper was on large sailing ships. It was the highest staysail (a triangular sail pointing fore and aft, from the front to the rear) next to the Moonraker (square sail pointing roughly port to starboard, left to right) the highest of six sails on a mast. Many terms come from sailing ships such as steering wheel and fenders in cars. As the earliest mention as a building was in 1888 in Chicago, the building probably referring to the Home Insurance Building opened in 1885 at 42 meters so I would say any office, shops or residential building 42 meters or higher. Likewise, towers are like the Shanghai's Pearl Oriental Tower, Toronto's CN Tower, or Seattle Space Needle not skyscrapers is not really built as offices, shops or residences but are primarily for viewing the area from a height.

[@HammaneggsAirborne]

While I don't have the exact numbers for my definition, I think of skyscrapers buildings that must have a certain proportion of width and/or length in comparison to height, and must be a certain percentage taller than its surroundings based upon its completion.

[@Bcabatista559]

For me, a high rise building is a skyscraper if the structure has at least: 8 stories and: 2/3 of the structure is area where people can live, work and generally stay. The height minimum is a different topic. Until the the 1950's, 35 meter tall structures were considered skyscrapers! That's because European papers called them that way in that time and because of other nation's references to those structures, wolkenkratzer for instance. Between the 1950's and 70's, 35-70 m had become so generic, that the new height minimum lay somewhere between 70 and 150 meters. Also, buildings between 35 - 70 m were referred to as flats! After the 70's, the height minimum became 150. Everywhere in the world structures of 150 meters + were constructed. Technological advancements made more and more possible. CAD, for example. So that's what defines a skyscraper for me! Cool video btw.

[@SamuelJSAdamsI]

I like the Ljubljana skyscraper it's 13 stories, was built in 1933 it was the tallest building in Yugoslavia and they are so proud of it

[@patrickcarpenter6258]

I love your content so much, its so fresh and inspiring!

[@ARTiculations]

Thank you so much. It means a lot! =)

[@alexanderwikstrom1829]

I like to think that the term skyscraper varies depending on country and the location. A 6 story building in a small town can easily tower high above all other structures in the same town. And can even lead to the local fire department not reaching the higher floors with ease. Even though a city or two over might have buildings of 20-30 floors as a common occurrence.

[@WyvernYT]

I made that observation about the John Jacob Astor Hotel in Astoria, Oregon, USA. It's objectively not that tall, eight stories, but it's in a downtown full of buildings having one, two, and three stories. It's the city's one skyscraper.

[@EdwinWalkerProfile]

The tallest building in Bristol is the St. Mary Redcliffe church at 89m. The current mayor however is recommending that high-rise buildings will help Bristol appear a more international city. The residents of Bristol (including myself) are not as convinced by the idea, especially since most of the attempts historically have been quite monstrous.

[@95GuitarMan13]

Great video! Keep the architecture content coming please :)

[@ThePowerLover]

The Gran Torre Santiago is my favourite skyscraper.

[@mikew1332]

Don't have to look any farther than Chicago. Lake Point Tower is my favorite. Bauhaus but graceful.

[@timmmahhhh]

Mike W I never thought of it as Bauhaus because of the curves. It evokes Brazilian archutecture to me. How about Bossa Nova Bauhaus?

[@AmorSciendi]

I'm always interested in the things different cultures use to compete with each other, like how tall one can make a building? My favorite is the Gherkin from your thumb nail because it tried to compete in a different game. Height didn't matter there, but sustainability did.

[@ARTiculations]

Hehe I thought you'd like the thumbnail. Your video on the Gherkin is fantastic and totally made me love it more than I already did!

[@tsnovak20]

I currently live in Europe, and I have to say, that high-rise/skyscraper buildings, usually define the importance and the size of the city. It's todays age monuments. When I was living in the United States, it almost seems that the skyscrapers define the city itself.

[@leopoldopetrieska6564]

my favourite skyscrapers are the chrysler in manhattan and the burj khalifa (not so much by its height, but rather the way it sheds width while it climbs to the sky so elegantly)

[@curranneely9097]

Bosco Verticale in Milan. It's a vertical forest!

[@StuderSSL]

NYC is the only city I've lived in for a considerable length of time with tall buildings (grew up in Wash. D.C.) so I'll stick with buildings there. Easy quick answer is Chrysler and Woolworth, both of which have interiors that deserve to be seen too, and I'll add the Bayard-Condict, which was Louis Sullivan's only New York building. I've also always liked the justifiably reviled Pan Am/ Met Life building, which does stick out like a sore thumb and ruins the views down Park Avenue. But I always admired it's form, the fact that Walter Gropius was involved in it's design, and it's mid-century style inside and out, which was diminished once dead airline Pan Am's name and logo were removed. Trivia note: Ridley Scott's inspiration for the scene in Blade Runner where the spinner lands on top of police headquarters was inspired by his trip from JFK to the helipad atop the building.

[@Hirosjimma]

skyscraper: a continuously habitable high-rise building prominent in the skyline of a city when viewed from most directions. that would in my opinion be a good 'future proof' definition because it's not dependent on the number of stories. Yes that means what qualifies as a skyscraper in the Netherlands probably won't qualify as a skyscraper in NYC, which in my opinion makes sense.

[@goober7535]

genuinely surprised you don't have more subscribers... but then again i also spend my time looking up the tallest skyscrapers *shrug*

[@ARTiculations]

Thanks! ^_^ be sure to spread the word to other potential tall building enthusiasts! I'm sure there are more of us out there haha.

[@blackpanda7298]

im from toronto too. i love your videos they make me very happy

[@TehVulpez]

one that scrapes the sky duh

[@timmmahhhh]

Love 30 St Mary Axe a.k.a. The Gherkin. Chrysler Building, Transamerica Pyramid, Salesforce Tower, Chicago's Prudential and it's clone in Philly. 333 Wacker at the bend of the Chicago River. Wainwright in STL. Monadnock defies the steel requirement.

[@jjc5475]

funny, the dutch wikipedia states what you said, that there is no clear definition of a "wolkenkrabber" (skyscraper) (wolk stands for "cloud" and krabber for "scratcher", so "cloud scratcher"...close enough XD) nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolkenkrabber (use googles web-page translate to read the article in english)

[@scarletpumpernickel3353]

Subtitled : Scry-scapers I don't believe the "Universe" would ever have me dial a wrong number. ., and yet here I am... torn between my genuine reaction.. and my empathy for any woman willing to put flowers in her hair. In other words, I've always wondered what was meant by the term "lofty thoughts".., and apparently THIS is it. Can THESE be (god help us) the inspired topics to which our modern intelligentsia are turning their attention.?? The spirit of Babal LIVES! .., while simply supporting my personal theory that architecture is D. E. A. D. dead. D. O. A... ever since What??? Corbusier? The Bauhaus? The slow demise of Tartaria? -- when architecture became more about cost-effective engineering than beauty? So OK. You want to be on KZbin. You've got to channel all that energy SOMEWHERE. But.., from your lofty perch, can you not look around.. and see the horrible mess the world is in? The impending "reset" of civilization, rehearsing it's death rattle? Every man, woman, and child being readied to plug into the matrix of the NWO beehive. Ingesting heavy-metal particulate with every breath. The sky just a grey unyielding mist. Our minds in a perpetual state of drone-like fog, being never out of the sight of cell towers that stand like armed guards. Are you sure that.. whimsical little discourses about the most irrelevant topics you can think of.. is the legacy you want to leave us.?? Or is this just a mournful example of what happened to the Sythians when they started offering higher education to women? scarletpumpernickel at h*t m**l

[@ArchOfWinter]

Would a space elevator counts as a skyscraper?

[@agustinvenegas5238]

It.... I mean.... Ehhh... It should (?) but it feels like it shouldn't(??)

[@Atulack]

It wouldn't, as stated in the video it has to be continuously habitable: it's about occupied floors, not just height. That's why we differentiate buildings from structures, otherwise the tallest building in the world would for decades be a random radio tower in Poland.

[@AnimeSunglasses]

That's not scraping the sky, that's punching a hole clean through it.

[@toastydoggo2313]

Woolworth building is my favorite skyscraper

[@leocelente]

There could be set a percentile bar. Like the tallest 10% of the world.

[@michaelpoindexter8886]

I have always heard that a skyscraper must have a 1:7 ratio of floor area to height.

[@collapsible1639]

Very thought provoking and interesting video Betty, I'll now look at high buildings and think ''Is that a skyscraper?''

[@duckrutt]

Huh, I didn't think anyone outside Chicago cared what the Sears Tower was called. Anyway that's a really tough question, there are so many good ones to choose from. Politically I should say the Prudential but deep in my heart of hearts I think it has to be the Chrysler building. Just...you know...keep that between us OK?

[@ARTiculations]

Chicago is my totally favourite city! ...other than Toronto haha. I would totally live in Chicago if I lived in the US.The Prudential building is pretty cool, but I'd say my fav in Chicago is the Smurfit-Stone Building - I really like that tapered top.

[@duckrutt]

Well Toronto stands in for Chicago in movies a lot so that's understandable. I'll conveniently ignore that it stands in for most US cities. Yeah, the Smurfit is on my short list. Hancock. Aon. It's still a tough question, in a couple weeks it'll probably be somewhere else.

[@Auhia88]

Art deko are my favorites, the empire state and the chrysler

[@ziggygaming4443]

San Francisco’s Transamerica Pyramid is my favorite

[@AnimeSunglasses]

Hmmm.... Well, my favorite early skyscraper is Smith Tower in Seattle. What can I say, i'm provincial. My favorite new skyscraper is probably Taipei 101.

[@StormtrooperTalk]

Terminal Tower- Cleveland

[@SchioAlves]

Burj Khalifa, that thing is amazing just for using aerodynamics instead of gigantic compensation ball, plus it's beautiful.

[@mattggl6709]

Can you do something about the Tokyo Skytree? By height it is the second tallest building in the world, however if you google the tallest buildings, it doesnt show up? Is it because it's a tower?

[@ARTiculations]

Yes actually Tokyo Skytree is generally considered the second tallest "structure" in the world. But this actually opens another can of worms haha. Towers and other freestanding structures are usually not considered "buildings" because they are not "continuously habitable" - but that definition is not entirely clear and a bit controversial. This could be the topic for another video haha.

[@mattggl6709]

Thanks for responding! I know that you can go up the Tokyo Skytree, like an observation deck and such

[@TheAdamChampagne]

we should define skyscrapers relative to the buildings around them

[@MarinusMakesStuff]

Hi, what's up with the Willis reference? I am not familiar with it :)

[@ARTiculations]

It used to be called the Sears Tower but in 2009 it was renamed "Willis Tower" when Willis Group Holdings took over much of its lease. However - no one in Chicago (or even most people outside Chicago) calls it that. Most people still call it "Sears Tower."

[@MarinusMakesStuff]

Thanks a lot for that piece of info. I did see it was the Sears tower but wasn't familiar with the take over by Willis and how Chicago residents are still calling it the Sears tower (which will indeed probably be called like that forever haha).

[@AGS363]

Question: Would a Spacelift be a skyscraper? Think about it.

[@aston-s]

I've never had to rank high rise buildings before. Hmm One Canada Square, because UK efforts at tall buildings have been terrible since Lincoln Cathedral

[@mickanvonfootscraymarket5520]

I'll always view a legitimate skyscraper as a building that is 150m +. Anything smaller is just a high-rise ;)

[@christiandevey3898]

I can't choose between the shard in London or the one world trade centre

[@mvg2x34]

Favorite Skyscraper- Industrial National Bank Building Providence, RI (AKA the Superman Building) beautiful inside and out unfortunately, unoccupied with a bleak future.

[@crazyc4793]

I'd say this is a pretty good definition: www.ctbuh.org/TallBuildings/HeightStatistics/Criteria/tabid/446/language/en-US/Default.aspx but with that being said, I still think 150m should be the threshold height. And I predict that in a few years, that number might increase to 200m.

[@benjaminvazquez1243]

Guardian Building in Detroit, with the Woolworth Building in New York coming a close second.

[@ojleslie]

+1 on the Guardian Building.

[@mrandrossguy9871]

I always thought it was The Tallest structure in its respectable City ! Then I've been hearing that word A Lot for not so Tall buildings.. interesting

[@adricortesia]

I personally think this term has to be modified as the time goes on. I live in a 3 story house which was probably considered a high rise building by people from ancient civilizations. The world is going to be much more crowded in the next centuries so humans have to find a way to stack all those fellow humans. So at some point, even a building like the Burj Khalifa might just be an ordinary building. Just like the Empire State Building is just (meh!) another tall building.

[@TheWizardofLimes]

The Burj Khalifa because of how aerodynamics played a role in its design. Doing so is likely why it can be the world's tallest building.

[@mrandrossguy9871]

But do they Actually SCRAPE the SKY ?

[@Digimer]

"OK, thanks for watching" - walks off. ^_^

[@DaviRenania]

For me, if it's higher than five floors it's a sky scrapper.

[@benlawrence309]

Skyscrapers need to have at least 50% of their total space to be for human habitation or other uses. Other wise it's a structure not a building and therefor not a skyscraper at all.

[@Azivegu]

Sears ftw!!!

[@marcusmangelsdorf9211]

The Mighty Black Stump!

[@ARTiculations]

Aha! Hello there fellow Tim! =D

[@cutwir3317]

I wish I lived in a megastructure 😕

[@SciPunk215]

Chrysler

[@Dev1nci]

An American talking about kilometers 🤩

[@ARTiculations]

Canadian ;) we use kilometers here. Also I grew up in China and never heard of miles until I moved here lol.

[@Dev1nci]

HAHA! Awesome :) I'm South African, I know nothing but I do like the inter-relativity of the metric system. Great vids by the way!

[@eugeneonline]

You are a pretty lady but we really don't need to see your person in these videos. Great material.