While American skyscraper construction is in the doldrums, architects in Asia are coming up with breathtaking proposals for towers far taller than anything in Chicago or New York.
It has been clear for several years that Asia is hooked on height and yearns to build something taller than Chicago`s Sears Tower, the global record holder at 1,454 feet.
Already, the world`s fifth-tallest (1,204 feet) building is the Bank of China in Hong Kong. Singapore continues to construct 920-footers, the tallest permitted by law. And bigger things lie ahead.
The New Central Plaza in Hong Kong will measure 1,207 feet. Planned for Bangkok is a 1,378-foot cloudbuster that will outdo that city`s 1,063-foot Metropolis building.
Japanese firms and their designers are promoting the tallest skyscrapers of all.
Kajima Corp. has proposed a 2,625-foot building erected in cylindrical layers. Takenaka Corp. envisions a conical, 3,281-foot ”Sky City” that would house 35,000 residents and provide offices for 100,000. Ohbayashi Corp. wants to build a 6,565-foot skyscraper.
Then there`s Taisei Corp., which dreams of a 13,124-foot, 800-story tower that would take 30 years to build and cost $1.15 trillion.
High-speed elevators and sophisticated protection against fires and earthquakes have been discussed for such giants. Still, most of the buildings may never pass the dreamdust stage.
Absurdly high land costs in such cities as Tokyo argue for tall buildings with as much leasable space as possible. But in buildings above 100 stories or so, construction costs can be forbidding, even when compared with the extra profit potential.
Despite protection systems, threats of fire and other calamities are also troubling. In February, for example, a fire in a modern Philadelphia office building of only 38 stories burned out of control for 18 hours, killed three firefighters and injured 17 others. Fortunately, the blaze broke out on a Saturday night when the building was unoccupied.
Financial and other risks help explain why no one has built anything taller than Sears Tower, completed 17 years ago. Publicity-seeking real estate promoters in New York and Chicago have talked of structures as tall as 150 stories, but nothing beyond ego balm has resulted.
In America, another obstacle to excessive height is growing and sometimes well-organized citizen opposition to unchecked giantism. People are beginning to realize that super-tall buildings not only put strains on a city`s infrastructure, but distort its scale and erode its beauty as well. In a few cities, notably San Francisco, strict controls limit skyscraper growth.
It is still quite possible that no one will ever build a skyscraper in America taller than Sears Tower. But in Japan? That`s another story.
