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What exactly is a skyscraper? Many buildings are tall \u2026 but when can you call them \u2018skyscrapers\u2019? The generally-accepted rule<\/strong> is a minimum of forty storeys<\/strong> and a height<\/strong> of one hundred and fity metres. The expression \u2018skyscraper\u2019 was first used in the 1880s, in the USA, to talk about buildings of more than ten storeys. The Home Insurance<\/strong> Building, in Chicago, completed in 1885, and forty-two metres high, is considered the world\u2019s first skyscraper. <\/p>\n\n\n\nCOMPETITIVE SPIRIT<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Chicago and New York then spent<\/strong> decades in a battle to construct the highest building. The high price of land<\/strong> obliged constructors to build vertically and not horizontally. New York had the world\u2019s tallest building from 1908 to 1974: the Empire State Building. From the 1930s, however, the concept of skyscrapers started to spread<\/strong> around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\nCONDITIONS FOR SKYSCRAPERS<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Skyscrapers were made possible thanks to industrialisation and the incredible growth<\/strong> of cities. The world now had cheap energy, raw materials<\/strong> such as steel<\/strong> and concrete<\/strong>, and cheap, abundant labour<\/strong>. These tall buildings, however, created specific problems. They have to support incredible weights<\/strong>, resist strong winds and even earthquakes<\/strong>, protect people from fire and transport them to enormous heights. The invention of the modern elevator in 1852 was a pre-condition for skyscrapers.<\/p>\n\n\n\nHOW DO YOU SAY…<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Apuntar alto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To reach for the sky.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nTop 5: Reshaping the Skyline<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The following skyscrapers are certainly not the tallest, but they are definitely among the most iconic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Lakhta Center<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Completed in 2019 in Saint Petersburg, more than three thousand people worked to make the building the tallest in Europe at 462 metres. There is a free observation deck<\/strong> at 357 metres. There are 62 normal lifts<\/strong> and also special firefighter<\/strong> lifts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n2. Empire State Building<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The most famous skyscraper in the world, it was built in 1930-31 at a floor a day<\/strong>! Fourteen years later, it was hit in bad fog<\/strong> by a plane. The building has an annual race<\/strong> from the ground to the 86th floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n3. One World Trade Center<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
At 541 metres, this is the tallest building not just in New York but in the entire Western Hemisphere! It was built as a commemoration after the 9\/11 attacks. People can still visit the last remaining piece<\/strong> of the Twin Towers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n4. Chrysler Building<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
This iconic New York art-deco masterpiece was described as \u201chot jazz in stone and steel<\/strong>\u201d by the architect Le Corbusier. Walter Chrysler built it and paid for it so that his sons would have \u201csomething to be responsible for<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n5. Shard<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The \u201cShard<\/strong> of Glass\u201d, now an emblematic part of London, is the tallest building in the United Kingdom at 309.7 metres. It has eleven thousand panes of glass<\/strong>. People have abseiled<\/strong> from the building for charity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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