TALL BUILDINGS IN THE CITY OF PORTSMOUTH

Tall Buildings in the City of Portsmouth

Table of Contents

Introduction3

Literature Review5

Structural Systems For tall Buildings erm5

Braced Frame and Shear-Walled Frame Systems7

Braced Frame Systems8

Shear-Walled Frame Systems9

Outrigger Systems10

Framed-Tube Systems11

Braced-Tube Systems13

Bundled-Tube Systems15

Modernism is Highly Complex Cultural Aspects17

The Modern Office Building32

Prudential / Guaranty Building33

Trends in Portsmouth for Building Designs36

Cubism in Portsmouth45

Conclusion54

References59

Tall Buildings in the City of Portsmouth

Introduction

The resistance of tall buildings to wind as well as to earthquakes is the main determinant in the formulation of new structural systems that evolve by the continuous efforts of structural engineers to increase building height while keeping the deflection within acceptable limits and minimizing the amount of materials. Thanks to the sophisticated computer technology, modern materials and innovative structural concepts, structural systems have gone beyond the traditional frame construction of the home insurance building and have allowed skyscrapers to grow to heights of Taipei 101 never dreamed of in Jenney's day.

Basically, there are three main types of buildings: steel buildings, reinforced concrete buildings, and composite buildings.

Most of the tallest buildings in the world have steel structural system, due to its high strength-to-weight ratio, ease of assembly and field installation, economy in transport to the site, availability of various strength levels, and wider selection of sections. Innovative framing systems and modern design methods, improved fire protection, corrosion resistance, fabrication, and erection techniques combined with the advanced analytical techniques made possible by computers, have also permitted the use of steel in just any rational structural system for tall buildings.

Although concrete as a structural material has been known since early times, the practical use of reinforced concrete was only introduced in 1867 . The invention of reinforced concrete increased the significance and use of concrete in the construction industry to a great extent. Particularly, because of its moldability characteristics, and natural fireproof property, architects and engineers utilize the reinforced concrete to shape the building, and its elements in different and elegant forms. Besides this, when compared to steel, reinforced concrete tall buildings have better damping ratios contributing to minimize motion perception and heavier concrete structures offer improved stability against wind loads. New innovations in construction technology, methods of design and means of construction, have all contributed to the ease of working with concrete in the construction of tall buildings. Moreover, high-strength concrete as in the case of the Petronas Towers (Malaysia, 1998) and the Jin Mao Building (China, 1999), and lightweight structural concrete as in the case of the One Shell Plaza (Texas, 1971) allow using smaller member sizes and less steel reinforcement . Similar to steel or composite construction, reinforced concrete offers a broad range of structural systems for tall buildings.

Concrete and steel systems evolved independently of each other until 1969, the year in which the composite construction, basically described as a steel frame stabilized by reinforced concrete, of a 20-storey building was done by Dr. Fazlur Khan .

All tall buildings can be considered as composite buildings since it is impossible to construct a functional building by using only steel or ...