0:00

If you were to pick a single

0:02

visible icon to represent the 20th century,

0:05

it would probably be the skyscraper. Skyscrapers

0:08

didn't really even exist before the 20th century,

0:10

but by the end of the century, they

0:12

had become ubiquitous in major cities around the

0:15

world. The skyscraper

0:17

didn't just appear out of nowhere. They

0:19

wouldn't have been possible if it wasn't

0:21

for multiple technical innovations. Continued

0:23

innovations have allowed skyscrapers to get

0:26

taller and taller. Learn

0:28

more about skyscrapers, how they were developed,

0:30

and how they kept growing on this

0:32

episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. This

0:47

episode is sponsored by ButcherBox. Several

0:50

times I've mentioned the grass-fed and grass-finished ground

0:52

beef and steaks that you can get from

0:54

ButcherBox. This time, I'd

0:56

like to tell you about their exceptional salmon

0:58

and seafood. Most of the

1:01

salmon that you might buy at a store

1:03

is actually farm-raised. These salmon

1:05

are fed a diet that isn't natural for

1:07

salmon, and as a result, their flesh tends

1:09

to be gray, not pink. To

1:12

compensate for this, they're then fed a

1:14

synthetic chemical to replicate the color of

1:16

natural salmon. ButcherBox

1:18

sources all of its seafood directly

1:20

from independent fishing operations in places

1:22

like Alaska, Maine, and Massachusetts. Everything

1:26

is wild-caught and sustainably harvested

1:28

with no added chemicals, dyes,

1:31

hormones, or preservatives. The

1:33

result is some of the finest salmon, scallops,

1:36

cod, and shrimp delivered directly to your door.

1:39

Sign up for ButcherBox today by going

1:41

to butcherbox.com slash daily and

1:43

use code daily at checkout and enjoy

1:46

your choice of bone-in chicken thighs, top

1:49

sirloins, or salmon in every box for

1:51

an entire year. Plus, get $20 off.

1:55

Again, that's butcherbox.com/daily and

1:57

use code daily. Another

2:01

day is here, and you're ready for it.

2:04

What to wear? Check. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner?

2:06

Check. Planning for what's next and how to

2:08

save for it? That's where Bank of America

2:10

can help. For your financial to-dos,

2:12

Bank of America has experts ready to help

2:14

get you closer to your goals. Get started

2:16

at one of our local financial centers

2:18

or 24-7 in our mobile banking app.

2:20

Find a location near you at bankofamerica.com/talktosus.

2:23

What would you like the power to

2:25

do? Mobile banking requires downloading the app and is

2:27

only available for select devices. Message and data rates may

2:29

apply. Bank of America and a member FDIC. Prior

2:35

to the development of skyscrapers, all buildings

2:37

were mostly made out of wood, stone,

2:39

or brick. These materials

2:41

were fine for the most part, and

2:44

you could indeed create incredible structures with

2:46

just those three materials. The

2:48

Colosseum in Rome, the Great Wall of China, the

2:50

Taj Mahal in the Pyramids, as

2:53

well as all the castles and cathedrals

2:55

were made of stone, wood, and brick.

2:58

In the 19th century, however, cities grew

3:00

larger, which put pressure on finding space

3:02

for everyone. There were only two

3:05

directions a city could grow. Out

3:07

or up. Most

3:09

cities did expand their borders outward depending on

3:11

where they were. A city

3:13

like New York, and New York City was

3:16

the island of Manhattan for most of the

3:18

19th century before the burrow merger, had

3:20

nowhere to go. Even if

3:23

a city could sprawl outward, there was still demand

3:25

for space in the city center. And

3:27

this required the construction of taller

3:30

buildings. However, there

3:32

was a problem. There was a

3:34

limit to how tall you could reasonably build

3:36

a brick building. In

3:38

ancient Rome, apartment buildings known as

3:40

insula were recorded as being as

3:43

tall as nine stories. But

3:45

eventually, limits were placed on how tall they

3:47

could go because they were simply too dangerous.

3:50

Constructing very tall buildings out of

3:52

brick, which had become the dominant

3:55

building material in the 19th century,

3:57

presented two major problems. in

6:00

buildings. There were lifting systems

6:02

previously, but they had a spotty safety record

6:04

and people were afraid to ride in them,

6:07

for good reason. With

6:09

an elevator, people could now easily reach

6:11

the upper floors of buildings. The

6:14

first commercial building with an Otis elevator was

6:16

the Equitable Life Building in Manhattan, which opened

6:18

in 1870. However,

6:21

elevators didn't solve the structural

6:23

problem of bricks. The

6:25

answer to the brick was the problem. Lay

6:27

in iron and steel. It

6:30

was realized that you could create a metal

6:32

skeleton for a building that would carry the

6:34

building's load. It didn't have to be

6:37

carried by the walls of the building as it did with

6:39

brick, and it would be much lighter. The

6:42

first building of this type ever built

6:44

was the Oriel Chambers Building in Liverpool,

6:46

England. Built in 1864, it had a cast iron

6:50

frame. Because the frame

6:52

of the building carried the load, the walls

6:54

had very large windows. Large windows

6:56

on a building weren't previously possible because you

6:58

couldn't take up that much wall space with

7:01

windows because the walls had to bear the

7:03

load of the building. These

7:05

non-load bearing walls are known as

7:08

curtain walls. The

7:10

Oriel Chambers Building was not a skyscraper,

7:12

as it was only five stories tall,

7:14

but it did have many of the

7:16

elements that would make skyscrapers possible. The

7:19

first building to be considered a true

7:22

skyscraper was the Home Insurance Building in

7:24

Chicago, Illinois. Built in

7:26

1885, it stood 10 stories tall, and

7:28

two more stories were added in 1891.

7:32

Designed by the architect William LeBaron-Geny, it

7:35

had an iron frame. The

7:37

Home Insurance Building was also the first building

7:40

in what would become the Chicago School of

7:42

Architecture. The Chicago School adopted

7:44

modern building techniques to make taller buildings.

7:47

A host of skyscrapers were built in the

7:49

following years. Chicago's 13-story Tacoma

7:52

building was built in 1889. That

7:55

same year, the 10-story Rand McNally Building,

7:57

the first building with a full steel

7:59

frame, was also built in Chicago.

8:02

And here I should note the

8:04

innovation that made the Rand McNally

8:07

building and all future skyscrapers using

8:09

steel possible, the Besmer

8:11

process. Steel is

8:13

much stronger than cast iron. Although steel had

8:15

been known for centuries, it was difficult to

8:17

create in mass. The

8:20

Besmer process, patented in 1856,

8:23

allowed for the mass production of steel,

8:25

which allowed for the creation of steel

8:27

beams to make skyscrapers. In

8:30

1892, the Masonic Temple building was constructed,

8:32

which had 21 stories and

8:34

was the tallest building in Chicago. The

8:38

transition to steel structures wasn't abrupt.

8:40

Brick buildings were still being built.

8:43

Most notable was the Menadnock building

8:45

in Chicago. It was

8:48

a 16-story, all-brick building, the

8:50

tallest load-bearing brick building ever

8:53

built. The

8:55

Menadnock building is still standing today. One

8:57

look at it and you can see why

8:59

brick buildings couldn't get much taller. The

9:02

base of the walls are very thick and it

9:04

tapers as the building goes up. The

9:07

Menadnock building also showed another problem with

9:09

brick as opposed to steel. Wind.

9:13

As buildings get taller, the forces of wind

9:15

become a greater problem. The

9:18

issue of wind is so important

9:20

that some structural engineers define a

9:22

skyscraper as any building where wind

9:25

is a more significant structural load

9:27

factor than weight. In

9:30

a brick building, the forces are almost

9:32

all pointing down into the bricks. In

9:35

a steel structure, however, lateral forces from

9:37

wind can be directed into the frame

9:39

of the building. While

9:41

Chicago was the home of many of the

9:43

first skyscrapers, the city eventually camped

9:46

the maximum height of buildings, which allowed

9:48

New York City to take the skyscraper

9:50

title. New York's

9:52

22-story flat iron building, completed in 1902,

9:55

has a unique triangular design, which

9:57

was made possible by its steel

9:59

frame. Hytros quickly,

10:01

the Woolworth Building constructed in just 1913

10:03

had 55 stories and stood 792 feet

10:09

or 241 meters, making it the

10:11

tallest building in the world at

10:13

the time. It had 34

10:16

electrical elevators and more than a century

10:18

after its construction it remained one of

10:20

the 100 tallest buildings in the United

10:22

States. The

10:24

1920s and 30s saw a competition

10:26

amongst New York skyscrapers culminating in

10:28

the Empire State Building. The

10:31

102 story building had a peak height of 1,454 feet

10:33

or 443 meters. It

10:38

was the tallest building in the world for almost 40

10:40

years. Until

10:43

the 1930s, skyscrapers were mostly

10:45

an American phenomenon. However, in

10:47

the 30s and 40s there was an

10:49

explosion in skyscraper buildings around the world.

10:52

The largest collection of skyscrapers was in

10:55

the Soviet Union. Known

10:57

as the Seven Sisters, the Stalinist era

10:59

buildings were the largest in Europe at

11:01

the time. The tallest of

11:03

the buildings was the main building of the

11:05

Moscow State University. It stood 239

11:07

meters or 784 feet tall and was Europe's tallest

11:12

building until 1990. All

11:15

of these skyscrapers didn't really look like the

11:17

skyscrapers that we know today. The modern

11:20

looking glass skyscraper was developed by the

11:22

architect Ludwig Mises de van der Rohe

11:24

in the 1950s. Van

11:28

der Rohe noticed that all the skyscrapers

11:30

tried to look like they weren't skyscrapers.

11:32

Almost all of them had some sort of

11:34

stone facade, like the Empire State Building which

11:36

is clad in limestone. Van

11:39

der Rohe began designing buildings that

11:41

were entirely covered in glass. One

11:44

of the first glass facade buildings was the Seagram Building

11:46

in New York City completed in 1958. Van

11:50

der Rohe wasn't the first architect to

11:52

create such buildings. The United Nations building

11:55

was completed in 1952 for example. However,

11:57

he popularized such buildings which known

12:00

as the International Style. Skyscrapers

12:03

with an entirely glass facade wasn't

12:05

just a design choice. Glass

12:07

was lighter than limestone, which removed stress from

12:09

the building. It also brought in

12:12

more light, and made the interior spaces feel

12:14

more roomy. In

12:16

the early 1960s, the Bangladeshi

12:18

American structural engineer, Fazlur Rahman

12:20

Khan, developed a new system

12:22

called tubular design. Rather

12:25

than a building with a metal skeleton holding everything

12:27

together, he realized you could achieve

12:30

the same thing by having a rigid

12:32

metal tube outside the building. By

12:35

tube, it doesn't have to be circular. The metal

12:37

on the outside of the building would simply create

12:39

a hollow tube which would support the building. The

12:42

first such building was the Plaza on DeWitt, which

12:44

was finished in 1966 in Chicago. The

12:49

design style quickly caught on as it allowed

12:51

buildings to be taller than before. This

12:53

technique was used in the John Hancock Center and

12:55

the Sears Tower in Chicago, the World

12:58

Trade Center Towers in New York, and

13:00

the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

13:04

Eventually as skyscrapers reached well over

13:06

100 stories, steel too

13:08

ran into problems, just like brick

13:10

did nearly a century earlier. When

13:14

the Emirate of Dubai commissioned the Burj

13:16

Khalifa, a tower that would dwarf any

13:18

human structure in history in terms of

13:20

height, the architectural firm assigned

13:22

to the project of Skidmore, Owings, and

13:24

Merrill decided to take an entirely different

13:26

approach. Instead

13:28

of a steel frame or

13:30

steel tube, they used reinforced

13:33

concrete. Concrete

13:35

has incredible compressive strength so that it can

13:37

withstand the forces pushing down from the tower's

13:39

weight. The Burj

13:41

Khalifa wasn't the first concrete structure or even

13:43

the first concrete structure with a tube design.

13:46

It had been tested before in other buildings. But

13:49

it was the first to use a new

13:52

design invented by the architects known as the

13:54

Butrist Core. The layout

13:56

of the Burj Khalifa looks like the

13:58

letter Y, with three different tubes connecting

14:00

to provide lateral support for the entire

14:03

building when it encounters high winds. Instead

14:06

of hauling up steel girders, they had to

14:08

overcome the engineering challenge of pumping up cement

14:10

to such a high height. Reinforced

14:13

concrete with a buttressed core

14:15

like the Kberg Khalifa is

14:18

being looked at for many

14:20

other next-generation super skyscrapers. The

14:23

Jeddah Tower, which is currently under construction in

14:25

Saudi Arabia, will be the first building in

14:27

history to reach a height of 1km, and

14:29

it will be

14:31

using reinforced concrete and a

14:33

Y-shaped buttressed core. The

14:36

desire for ever taller skyscrapers will constantly

14:39

push the need for new construction techniques

14:41

and materials to make those dreams possible.

14:44

But in the short span of

14:46

a little more than a century,

14:49

we've gone from bricks to steel

14:51

beams to reinforced concrete, which has

14:53

resulted in skyscrapers of heights that

14:55

previous generations could never have

14:57

imagined. The

15:02

executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is

15:04

Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Benji

15:06

Long and Cameron Kiever. I

15:08

want to give a big shout out to everyone

15:10

who supports the show over on Patreon, including the

15:12

show's producers. Your support helps me

15:14

put out a show every single day. And

15:17

also, Patreon is currently the only place

15:19

where Everything Everywhere Daily merchandise is available

15:21

to the top tier of supporters. If

15:24

you'd like to talk to other listeners of

15:26

the show and members of the Completionist Club,

15:28

you can join the Everything Everywhere Daily Facebook

15:30

group or Discord server. Links to

15:32

everything are in the show notes.