Ive never really come across a tall tower being demolished, how the hell do they do it?! Surely they'd have to be brought down vertically, so as to not take out the rest of the block, but that's one hell of a demolition job! Any examples of it being done before?

Cheers

Bin Laden is an expert in it , LOL

Great, any real answers?

Tall buildings can be demolished by implosion, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demolition. But i think that demolishion by implosion is limited by the height of a building.

When the Singer Bldg was being demolished in the 60's, it was started from the top of the building with the pieces being taking down the elevator.

Yeah, tall skyscrapers are demolished piece by piece - it's a slow process (excluding the poor old WTC of course... :( )

Anyway, here's a diagram of the largest buildings demolished in history, including the twin towers and neighbouring 7WTC: http://www.skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?12881408

I think it's tragic that the Singer Building had to go - it was the tallest building in the world from 1908-1909.

Shame about Old St Paul's as well - it's enormous spire reached 150m and was the tallest building in the world until 1561, when a lightning strike destroyed it!

What remained of the building was completely destroyed by the Great Fire in 1666.


http://tinypic.com/e0mwhz.jpg

'Reverse construction' method.

I've seen one. Not really a skyscraper, but something like an observational restaurant.
A tower crane bringing pieces down.

Skyscraper demolition... I've seen excavators fitted with the crushing jaw, sitting at the top.

Stay tuned for this one, the Deutsche Bank Building heavily damaged and contaminated after 9/11 will be demolished floor by floor...

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/photopost/data/3180/24042004_0611Image0038.JPG

Updates:

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=221894