Mile-high skyscraper may not be far off, experts say

[Uaarkson]

I want a mile-high skyscraper to be built. It would be awesome to look at.

[ZZ-II]

Originally Posted by KillerZavatar

however i think we will see quite some more towers in the 700m to 1000m range in the next years popping up as proposals. After Kingdom Tower gets the title as the worlds tallest it will probably have that title for at least 5 years and probably not more than 15 years would be my guess, but hard to know for sure (about 8 years maybe). i think it would be quite nice to see a new world's tallest building rising before Kingdom Tower even finishes though

if build, the Azerbaijan tower will break the record again

[CrazyDave]

Originally Posted by ThatOneGuy

Who needs a mile high tower..? Bragging rights?

Your right, that's the only reason it would ever happen!

[KillerZavatar]

Originally Posted by ZZ-II

if build, the Azerbaijan tower will break the record again

yeah but i think if build azerbaijan tower would only be completed in about 2025 i think

[acerx]

a mile high tower woud be build 100 % in asia, probably china.
they are building the most supertalls at the moment with a couple of 600m+. the further increase of the population will ask for higher towers with more surface. i would say they start in 2025 with the construction

[ZZ-II]

Originally Posted by KillerZavatar

yeah but i think if build azerbaijan tower would only be completed in about 2025 i think

sure, earlier is quite unlikely indeed

[hunser]

Originally Posted by acerx

a mile high tower woud be build 100 % in asia, probably china.
they are building the most supertalls at the moment with a couple of 600m+. the further increase of the population will ask for higher towers with more surface. i would say they start in 2025 with the construction

Yes, because all those 500 and 600m+ towers are being built in dense areas right? Or is just me when I always see a lot of greenery in those renderings...

[acerx]

Originally Posted by hunser

Yes, because all those 500 and 600m+ towers are being built in dense areas right? Or is just me when I always see a lot of greenery in those renderings...

Most renders are more positive drawn than the reality especially the area around the towers. a tower with green around is attractive to sell to companies or individuals

[China Hand]

Originally Posted by Jay

Yea I really doubt this will happen...

These building booms always come to an end, and when they do, no one is building a mile high anything. I hate to say it but there is a limit.

Oh that's been said for thousands of years.

We may be in the middle of a Golden Age Boom, like 1929-1932, and may experience a long lull for most of our lifetimes, but that does not mean that at some point in the future, the urge to go higher will return.

In China I am already seeing 'copies' of Supertall and Megatall techniques as hundreds of 100+m hirises are put up in nearly every city of any size. As these workers come down from these S/Mtall projects they are going to spread out and seed their knowledge and experience throughout China.

This happened in the USA in the 50's and 60's and it will happen in China.

I expect that most cities in China will see a huge boom in 38-48 storey mid rises of 100 to 200 metres. Literally into the thousands.

[Kopacz]

Originally Posted by China Hand

Oh that's been said for thousands of years.

We may be in the middle of a Golden Age Boom, like 1929-1932, and may experience a long lull for most of our lifetimes, but that does not mean that at some point in the future, the urge to go higher will return.

In China I am already seeing 'copies' of Supertall and Megatall techniques as hundreds of 100+m hirises are put up in nearly every city of any size. As these workers come down from these S/Mtall projects they are going to spread out and seed their knowledge and experience throughout China.

This happened in the USA in the 50's and 60's and it will happen in China.

I expect that most cities in China will see a huge boom in 38-48 storey mid rises of 100 to 200 metres. Literally into the thousands.

China will most likely get a flood of smaller buildings after the boom expires, just as Dubai is getting right now - you see a lot of 3-4 floor flats, 15-story apartments and other low-raises. There is only that much skyscrapers a city can support in a construction burst.
You either build a lot of cheap buildings and see how they get dirty and lead to social problems.
The same happened with polish housing during the late communism. Small city such as mine (it was roughly 50k strong in inhabitants) was getting 10+ story buildings and literally everyone was getting a flat. Right now most of them are in need of renovation, and people are causing problems, as many tenants are not paying their rent fees.

[Kyll.Ing.]

The higher you build, the more floor space you have to sacrifice for structural elements, to keep the stuff above you stay in place; infrastructure (cables and water/sewage pipes) to serve the upper floors; as well as means to move people up and down the tower. It will also take more and more time for a tenant to travel from the ground floor to his target floor. Meanwhile, building higher and higher requires more and more money, and the forces acting on the building grow exponentially. It simply isn't worth it building much taller than a few hundred metres.
Eventually, you have to dedicate the entire tower to structural and civil systems, and get a building that can't do anything but just standing there. Whoever builds taller than ~400 metres do it for show-off, rather than out of the need for an efficient building that can be used for stuff. And at some point, hovering somewhere under the 1000 metre mark, the costs and "sacrifices" become too big to justify the show-off factor.

[KillerZavatar]

Originally Posted by Kopacz

China will most likely get a flood of smaller buildings after the boom expires

i agree, yet i think we havn't even reached the peak of the boom yet. i think we still have a couple of years of megatalls being proposed ahead of us and even when the building boom declines, we will still have a very high output of supertalls and from time to time megatalls i would not be surprised if China will propose a Worlds Tallest Candidate in the next few years that is more likely to rise than J220

Originally Posted by Kyll.Ing.

Eventually, you have to dedicate the entire tower to structural and civil systems, and get a building that can't do anything but just standing there. Whoever builds taller than ~400 metres do it for show-off, rather than out of the need for an efficient building that can be used for stuff. And at some point, hovering somewhere under the 1000 metre mark, the costs and "sacrifices" become too big to justify the show-off factor.

don't underestimate the show-off factor

[J349]

Interesting... :P
One mile up is quite high!

[Bannor]

Won't happen before they start using new materials to strengthen the concrete. Such as carbon nanotubes or other 2d materials.

[Vincen1]

Europe does not have gaint skyscrapers, it has the Large Hadron Collider

[Kyll.Ing.]

Originally Posted by Bannor

Won't happen before they start using new materials to strengthen the concrete. Such as carbon nanotubes or other 2d materials.

Not necessarily true. There are no engineering reasons why we can't build 2 km tall towers today. However, we really don't have any reasons to either. It's incredibly expensive and not really necessary for any common purpose. An office tower of that height would just be too impractical in every possible way, while guyed masts are outclassed by satellites once you have to build them over a certain height. I'd rather say: "Won't happen until somebody is convinced they can make money off it".

[TooFar]

Does anyone other than Americans, Liberians and the Myanmarese care about a 1 mile high building? To the rest of the world a 1.609 km is no grand landmark. However a 1 km high building will be a significant milestone.

[Bannor]

So very true

[Suburbanist]

I think such high buildings will only become economically feasible when some sort of super-light and super-resistant material comes along. There is also the issue of elevators, fire prevention systems, cooling/heating, air circulation, and water and waste management.

I think it is already possible, if one were up to it, to built a hollowed-out closed tower even higher than 2 miles, from the civil engineering standpoint.

[KillerZavatar]

yeah 1200m is quite significant though. double of a megatall.