5 ms·

The Rise of the Mile-High Building

36 points by Hooke 12y ago

rayiner 12y ago
Apple should have built this in Cupertino instead of that horrible spaceship monstrosity: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_Tower http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_Tower. It would have been a lot cheaper, too.
- davmre 12y ago
  Most things are cheaper when you're not paying first-world labor costs.
  - namlem 12y ago
    Especially when the labor consists of indentured servants.
    - benten10 12y ago
      ~~indentured servants~~ Or slaves (sigh. I really don't want that world cup to happen in Qatar. Related to the post because Gulf countries can afford tall buildings because they can morally afford slavery.)
      - zootar 12y ago
        "By welcoming migrant workers, the UAE and its neighbor Qatar do more than any other rich country to reduce global inequality." http://www.newrepublic.com/article/120179/how-reduce-global-income-inequality-open-immigration-policies http://www.newrepublic.com/article/120179/how-reduce-global-...
- m4rkuskk 12y ago
  A carpenter from Local 22 (Bay area) will cost a company $70+/hr. http://local22.org/2014_carpenter1.jpg http://local22.org/2014_carpenter1.jpg
  - santaclaus 12y ago
    Damn I should have gone into carpentry.
    - GFK_of_xmaspast 12y ago
      If you check the numbers in the link (or alternatively use common sense), you'd realize that the carpenter doesn't actually see a good chunk of that money. The wages are listed as $40/hour, which turns out to $80k/year before taxes, which in the peninsula is not exactly a ton of cash.
- Sanddancer 12y ago
  Unfortunately, the Valley is still obsessed with sprawling, inefficient campuses. I'd love to see Google build a good height building -- 50+ stories -- on the land they're buying up in north Sunnyvale, but the chances of that happening are unfortunately slim to none.
  - mjcohen 12y ago
    Harder to make it earthquake-resistant.
    - Sanddancer 12y ago
      Tokyo has just as many, if not more, earthquakes, and that doesn't stop them from making skyscrapers.
      - Gurkenmaster 12y ago
        Hard means expensive and it wouldn't be much better than inefficient campuses
MarkPNeyer 12y ago
could you use a gyroscope at the top of a building to keep it stable?
- NeutronBoy 12y ago
  Modern skyscrapers basically do this, with giant tanks of water at the top that gets pumped around to act as a dampener.
stox 12y ago
I wonder how the higher floors would be in a building like that? I'm on the 97th of the Sears Tower, and there are days when it is rather uncomfortable as the building sways. Are the newer buildings, with mass dampers, immune to this?
- nsxwolf 12y ago
  I've been to the observation deck several times, but I've never experienced the sway. What's it like? How are you not terrified? All I would be thinking about is the building toppling over, especially after 9/11.
  - stox 12y ago
    It is only noticeable on very windy days. Not terrifying at all, but a little uncomfortable at times. On a really bad day, you can end up feeling a bit sea sick.
joe_the_user 12y ago
I've been wondering why you couldn't have elevators built on the principles of being vertical trams. They would be run on tracks rather than cables and several could run in a single shaft in the same direction. Any experts know why this isn't done (I'm sure someone's thought of it already). I suppose synchronizing the movements might be a challenge. The problems of ordinary elevators are serious for large buildings - without express elevators, an ordinary elevators can take up a large percentage of the floor space of a large building. Even with express elevators, the space used is significant (I recall 25% for the old World Trade Center towers).
- airza 12y ago
  Having cables for the elevators means that they can have counterweights, which I assume greatly decreases the amount of energy needed to raise and safely lower them.
- eCa 12y ago
  There's this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-deck_elevator http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-deck_elevator
- jholman 12y ago
  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-12-05/cablefree-elevators-will-soar-to-new-heights-and-move-sideways http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-12-05/cablefree-...

36 points by Hooke 12y ago

Apple should have built this in Cupertino instead of that horrible spaceship monstrosity: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_Tower http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_Tower. It would have been a lot cheaper, too.

davmre 12y ago
Most things are cheaper when you're not paying first-world labor costs.
- namlem 12y ago
  Especially when the labor consists of indentured servants.
  - benten10 12y ago
    ~~indentured servants~~ Or slaves (sigh. I really don't want that world cup to happen in Qatar. Related to the post because Gulf countries can afford tall buildings because they can morally afford slavery.)
    - zootar 12y ago
      "By welcoming migrant workers, the UAE and its neighbor Qatar do more than any other rich country to reduce global inequality." http://www.newrepublic.com/article/120179/how-reduce-global-income-inequality-open-immigration-policies http://www.newrepublic.com/article/120179/how-reduce-global-...
m4rkuskk 12y ago
A carpenter from Local 22 (Bay area) will cost a company $70+/hr. http://local22.org/2014_carpenter1.jpg http://local22.org/2014_carpenter1.jpg
- santaclaus 12y ago
  Damn I should have gone into carpentry.
  - GFK_of_xmaspast 12y ago
    If you check the numbers in the link (or alternatively use common sense), you'd realize that the carpenter doesn't actually see a good chunk of that money. The wages are listed as $40/hour, which turns out to $80k/year before taxes, which in the peninsula is not exactly a ton of cash.
Sanddancer 12y ago
Unfortunately, the Valley is still obsessed with sprawling, inefficient campuses. I'd love to see Google build a good height building -- 50+ stories -- on the land they're buying up in north Sunnyvale, but the chances of that happening are unfortunately slim to none.
- mjcohen 12y ago
  Harder to make it earthquake-resistant.
  - Sanddancer 12y ago
    Tokyo has just as many, if not more, earthquakes, and that doesn't stop them from making skyscrapers.
    - Gurkenmaster 12y ago
      Hard means expensive and it wouldn't be much better than inefficient campuses

MarkPNeyer 12y ago

could you use a gyroscope at the top of a building to keep it stable?

NeutronBoy 12y ago
Modern skyscrapers basically do this, with giant tanks of water at the top that gets pumped around to act as a dampener.

stox 12y ago

I wonder how the higher floors would be in a building like that? I'm on the 97th of the Sears Tower, and there are days when it is rather uncomfortable as the building sways. Are the newer buildings, with mass dampers, immune to this?

nsxwolf 12y ago
I've been to the observation deck several times, but I've never experienced the sway. What's it like? How are you not terrified? All I would be thinking about is the building toppling over, especially after 9/11.
- stox 12y ago
  It is only noticeable on very windy days. Not terrifying at all, but a little uncomfortable at times. On a really bad day, you can end up feeling a bit sea sick.

joe_the_user 12y ago

I've been wondering why you couldn't have elevators built on the principles of being vertical trams. They would be run on tracks rather than cables and several could run in a single shaft in the same direction. Any experts know why this isn't done (I'm sure someone's thought of it already). I suppose synchronizing the movements might be a challenge. The problems of ordinary elevators are serious for large buildings - without express elevators, an ordinary elevators can take up a large percentage of the floor space of a large building. Even with express elevators, the space used is significant (I recall 25% for the old World Trade Center towers).

airza 12y ago
Having cables for the elevators means that they can have counterweights, which I assume greatly decreases the amount of energy needed to raise and safely lower them.
eCa 12y ago
There's this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-deck_elevator http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-deck_elevator
jholman 12y ago
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-12-05/cablefree-elevators-will-soar-to-new-heights-and-move-sideways http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-12-05/cablefree-...