A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall
high-rise buildings. Historically, the term first referred to buildings with between 10 and 20
stories
Story or stories may refer to:
Common uses
* Story, a narrative (an account of imaginary or real people and events)
** Short story, a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting
* Story (American English), or storey (British ...
when these types of buildings began to be constructed in the 1880s.
Skyscrapers may host offices, hotels, residential spaces, and retail spaces.
One common feature of skyscrapers is having a
steel frame that supports
curtain walls. These curtain walls either bear on the framework below or are suspended from the framework above, rather than resting on
load-bearing walls of conventional construction. Some early skyscrapers have a steel frame that enables the construction of load-bearing walls taller than of those made of
reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hig ...
.
Modern skyscrapers' walls are not load-bearing, and most skyscrapers are characterised by large surface areas of windows made possible by steel frames and curtain walls. However, skyscrapers can have curtain walls that mimic conventional walls with a small surface area of windows. Modern skyscrapers often have a
tubular structure, and are designed to act like a hollow
cylinder to resist wind, seismic, and other lateral loads. To appear more slender, allow less wind exposure and transmit more daylight to the ground, many skyscrapers have a design with
setbacks, which in some cases is also structurally required.
, fourteen cities in the world have more than 100 skyscrapers that are or taller:
Hong Kong with 518 skyscrapers;
Shenzhen,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
with 343 skyscrapers;
New York City,
US with 300 skyscrapers;
Dubai,
UAE with 237 skyscrapers;
Mumbai,
India with 208 skyscrapers;
Shanghai, China with 180 skyscrapers;
Tokyo,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
with 165 skyscrapers;
Guangzhou, China with 152 skyscrapers;
Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia with 148 skyscrapers;
Chongqing
Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...
, China, and
Chicago, US, both with 135 skyscrapers;
Wuhan, China with 109 skyscrapers; and
Bangkok,
Thailand, and
Jakarta
Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...
,
Indonesia, both with 108 skyscrapers.
Definition
The term "skyscraper" was first applied to buildings of steel-framed construction of at least 10
storey
A storey (British English) or story (American English) is any level part of a building with a floor that could be used by people (for living, work, storage, recreation, etc.). Plurals for the word are ''storeys'' (UK) and ''stories'' (US).
T ...
s in the late 19th century, a result of public amazement at the tall buildings being built in major American cities like
Chicago,
New York City,
Philadelphia,
Detroit, and
St. Louis.
The first steel-frame skyscraper was the
Home Insurance Building, originally 10 stories with a height of , in Chicago in 1885; two additional stories were added. Some point to Philadelphia's 10-storey
Jayne Building (1849–50) as a proto-skyscraper, or to New York's seven-floor
Equitable Life Building, built in 1870. Steel skeleton construction has allowed for today's supertall skyscrapers now being built worldwide. The nomination of one structure versus another being the first skyscraper, and why, depends on what factors are stressed.
The structural definition of the word ''skyscraper'' was refined later by architectural historians, based on engineering developments of the 1880s that had enabled construction of tall multi-storey buildings. This definition was based on the steel skeleton—as opposed to constructions of load-bearing
masonry, which passed their practical limit in 1891 with Chicago's
Monadnock Building.
:::—
Louis Sullivan's ''The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered'' (1896)
Some
structural engineer
Structural engineers analyze, design, plan, and research structural components and structural systems to achieve design goals and ensure the safety and comfort of users or occupants. Their work takes account mainly of safety, technical, economic ...
s define a highrise as any vertical construction for which wind is a more significant
load factor than
earthquake or weight. Note that this criterion fits not only high-rises but some other tall structures, such as
towers.
Different organizations from the United States and Europe define skyscrapers as buildings at least 150 metres in height or taller,
["Which World City Has The Most Skyscrapers?"](_blank)
''The Urban Developer''. 11 March 2016. Retrieved 26 March 2018. "The majority of international organisations, such as the CTBUH and Emporis, define a skyscraper as a building that reaches or exceeds the height of 150 metres."[Data Standards: skyscraper (ESN 24419)](_blank)
Emporis Standards, accessed on line July 2020. "A skyscraper is defined on Emporis as a multi-story building whose architectural height is at least 100 meters. This definition falls midway between many common definitions worldwide, and is intended as a metric compromise which can be applied across the board worldwide" with "
supertall" skyscrapers for buildings higher than and "megatall" skyscrapers for those taller than .
The tallest structure in ancient times was the
Great Pyramid of Giza in
ancient Egypt, built in the 26th century BC. It was not surpassed in height for thousands of years, the
Lincoln Cathedral
Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln Minster, or the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln and sometimes St Mary's Cathedral, in Lincoln, England, is a Grade I listed cathedral and is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Lincoln. Constructio ...
having exceeded it in 1311–1549, before its central spire collapsed. The latter in turn was not surpassed until the
Washington Monument in 1884. However, being uninhabited, none of these structures actually comply with the modern definition of a skyscraper.
High-rise apartments flourished in
classical antiquity.
Ancient Roman
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...
insulae in
imperial
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imperial, Nebraska
* Imperial, Pennsylvania
* Imperial, Texa ...
cities reached 10 and more storeys.
Beginning with
Augustus (r. 30 BC-14 AD), several
emperors attempted to establish limits of 20–25 m for multi-storey buildings, but were met with only limited success. Lower floors were typically occupied by shops or wealthy families, with the upper rented to the lower classes.
Surviving
Oxyrhynchus Papyri indicate that seven-storey buildings existed in
provincial
Provincial may refer to:
Government & Administration
* Provincial capitals, an administrative sub-national capital of a country
* Provincial city (disambiguation)
* Provincial minister (disambiguation)
* Provincial Secretary, a position in Can ...
towns such as in 3rd century AD
Hermopolis in
Roman Egypt
, conventional_long_name = Roman Egypt
, common_name = Egypt
, subdivision = Province
, nation = the Roman Empire
, era = Late antiquity
, capital = Alexandria
, title_leader = Praefectus Augustalis
, image_map = Roman E ...
.
The skylines of many important
medieval cities had large numbers of high-rise urban towers, built by the wealthy for defense and status. The residential
Towers of 12th century
Bologna numbered between 80 and 100 at a time, the tallest of which is the high Asinelli Tower. A
Florentine law of 1251 decreed that all urban buildings be immediately reduced to less than 26 m.
[Werner Müller: "dtv-Atlas Baukunst I. Allgemeiner Teil: Baugeschichte von Mesopotamien bis Byzanz", 14th ed., 2005, , p.345] Even medium-sized towns of the era are known to have proliferations of towers, such as the 72 up to 51 m height in
San Gimignano
San Gimignano () is a small walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, north-central Italy. Known as the Town of Fine Towers, San Gimignano is famous for its medieval architecture, unique in the preservation of about a dozen of ...
.
The
medieval Egyptian city of
Fustat housed many high-rise residential buildings, which
Al-Muqaddasi
Shams al-Dīn Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Abī Bakr al-Maqdisī ( ar, شَمْس ٱلدِّيْن أَبُو عَبْد ٱلله مُحَمَّد ابْن أَحْمَد ابْن أَبِي بَكْر ٱلْمَقْدِسِي), ...
in the 10th century described as resembling
minaret
A minaret (; ar, منارة, translit=manāra, or ar, مِئْذَنة, translit=miʾḏana, links=no; tr, min