Skyscrapers thread: why doesn't europe have many of those?

[Traianvs]

Maybe you forgot the fact that we don't really need these big towers...

I can't think of much business consortiums with enough money to invest in such a building, when there is no real benefit to it.

Also, Azazel, in my opinion, building skyscrapers next to a city with a lot of historical, old buildings is not ideal. It's ugly, and it causes a lot of congestion due to the fact that all those people that go to work in those skyscrapers have to get there, but they can't enter via the old city part, as there is no room there for a lot of cars etc...
In central Flanders, which is almost one huge populated area traffic is a big problem already so making a huge amount of people go to work in a small area is not easy. Plus there is actually no room for a new city zone with skyscrapers, unless you go destroying city quarters...

Maybe another thing is that our cities aren't big enough. Only Antwerp and Brussels would be a bit suitable...

Our country is just too overpopulated! it's just frikking horrible to see... Where I live there is absolutely no piece of land that has not been conquered by human species
No tranquility... cars .... planes... dirty polluted air... and even more cars...

[GePap]

Actually, i was wrong. Mexico has less Skyscrappers than Sao Paolo, but its highest building is heigher. Really tall buildings are safer in earthquakes.Check out the site.

Colon!

[Colonâ„¢]

Originally posted by GePap
Here is the site: great stuff!
http://www.library.tudelft.nl/~egram/skylines.htm

Hey Dan, do you see Washington somewhere in there?

[Az]

GePap: Yokohama is basically together with Tokyo, I don't think it would be fair to separate them.

[Colonâ„¢]

More seriously, I'm surprised Tokyo ranks up that high in the list. Never thought of it as a city of skycrapers. (guess they do have a lot of high-rise, just not of the megalomanian kind like in NYC or Shangai)

[Az]

NYC is not Megalomanian, now at least. It was this way in the beginning of the century. They invented the Skyscraper!

Petronas Towers. THAT'S megalomaniac!

Love the city hall btw.

[GePap]

I didn;t make the site. Is Yokahama part of the city of Tokyo? o their skylines meld together?

Interestingly, the voters did not laways agree with the results of the algorithm. For example:

They voted Chicago higher than New York for NA.

Tel Aviv much higher than Dubai, while they are very close in the Algorithm for the Mid East.

Panama city as having the best Skyline in Latin America, higher than Mexico, Sao Paolo, and all others.


I think the big difference is that the Algorithm looks for mass blocks of tall buildings, and penalizes buildings that stand all alone, while people don;t do so. Many of the buildings in NY make little impact because they are one out of a HUge mass, a wall of tall buildings, while in Chicago they stand much more apart, and it is easier to distinguish them.

[DAVOUT]

It seems that skyscrappers consume great amounts of energy, and Europe has acquired an energy-saving reflex after 1973 (cars consuming 4 to 5 liters per 100 km are ordinary now, electric bulbs with low consumption, isolation of homes etc).

Another factor could be that european men of power satisfy their ego by other means ...

[Az]

DAVOUT: of course they do. There are lots of people in them.

GePap: for me, there is a certain optimum. Buildings too close together are not good, but buildings standing completely apart are not good, either. THey should stand together, but not be tightly packed.

[GePap]

I like the Walls of Buildings, for me that is art of the factor. The Thing with NYC is that all the Skyscrappers are concentrated in2 boroughs, Manhattan, and downtown Brooklyn. In other boroughs there are just 1, and it looks rather silly.

Now, in Manhattan, you get 2 masses of buildings, a small one at the south end (where the WTC was) and then a much bigger one in the middle, that goes on for a mile or more. The Empire State stands almost alone, with a few buildings around it.

[DanS]

Originally posted by Colon
Hey Dan, do you see Washington somewhere in there?

[GePap]

Cool diagram of the top 10 skyscrappers:

http://www.skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?1178316

[Az]

Ahh, the Queens skycraper.

anyway, Manhattan is great. But I wish there were more intersting construction forms there. Not enough glass. Btw,Did you see that new Saudi skyscraper? Wow.

[Giancarlo]

Originally posted by GePap
Panama city as having the best Skyline in Latin America, higher than Mexico, Sao Paolo, and all others.

Not true.

I think either Sao Paolo, Santiago or even Buenos Aires have the best right now. Buenos Aires sadly has been feeling the effects of bad economic performance but still has a nice skyline.

Santiago, Chile:




(Telecommunications tower)





Buenos Aires, Argentina:

http://users.skynet.be/stael.martin/...%20Madero1.jpg (photo too large to display)

[Az]

When China Unites, it will have a hefty position in the top 10.