Tower block
Encyclopedia
A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, office tower, apartment block, or block of flats, is a tall building
or structure used as a residential and/or office building. In some areas they may be referred to as "MDU" standing for "Multi Dwelling Unit".
High-rise buildings became possible with the invention of the elevator
(lift) and cheaper, more abundant building materials.
The materials used for the structural system
of high-rise buildings are reinforced concrete
and steel
. Most North American style skyscraper
s have a steel frame
, while residential blocks are usually constructed out of concrete. There is no clear definition of any difference between a tower block and a skyscraper though a building lower than about thirty stories is not likely to be a skyscraper and a building with fifty or more stories is certainly a skyscraper.
High-rise structures pose particular design challenges for structural
and geotechnical
engineers, particularly if situated in a seismically active region or if the underlying soils have geotechnical risk factors such as high compressibility or bay mud
. They also pose serious challenges to firefighters during emergencies in high-rise structures. New and old building design, building systems like the building standpipe system, HVAC
systems (Heating, Ventilation and Air conditioning), fire sprinkler
system and other things like stairwell and elevator
evacuations pose significant problems.
Apartment blocks have technical and economic advantages in areas with high population density. They have become a distinguished form of housing accommodation in virtually all densely populated urban area
s around the world. In contrast with low-rise and single-family houses, apartment blocks accommodate more inhabitants per unit of area of land they occupy and also decrease the cost of municipal infrastructure.
: the insulae
in ancient Rome
and several other cities in the Roman Empire
, some of which might have reached up to 10 or more storeys, one reportedly having 200 stairs. Because of the destruction caused by poorly-built high-rise insulae collapsing, several Roman emperor
s, beginning with Augustus
(r. 30 BC - 14 AD), set limits of 20–25 metres for multi-story buildings, but met with limited success, as these limits were often ignored despite the likelihood of taller insulae collapsing. The lower floors were typically occupied by either shops or wealthy families, while the upper storeys were rented out to the lower classes. Surviving Oxyrhynchus Papyri
indicate that seven-storey buildings even existed in provincial
towns, such as in 3rd century AD Hermopolis
in Roman Egypt.
In Arab Egypt, the initial capital city was Fustat. It housed many high-rise residential buildings, some seven storeys tall that could reportedly accommodate hundreds of people. Al-Muqaddasi
in the 10th century described them as resembling minaret
s, while Nasir Khusraw
in the early 11th century described some of them rising up to 14 storeys, with roof garden
s on the top storey complete with ox-drawn water wheel
s for irrigating them. By the 16th century, Cairo
also had high-rise apartment buildings where the two lower floors were for commercial and storage purposes and the multiple storeys above them were rented
out to tenants
.
The skyline of many important medieval
cities was dominated by large numbers of high-rising urban towers which fulfilled defensive, but also representative purposes. The residential Towers of Bologna
numbered between 80 to 100 at a time, the largest of which still rise to 97.2 m. In Florence
, a law of 1251 decreed that all urban buildings should be reduced to a height of less than 26 m, the regulation immediately put into effect. Even medium-sized towns such as San Gimignano
are known to have featured 72 towers up to 51 m height.
Tower blocks were built in the Yemen
i city of Shibam
in the 16th century. The houses of Shibam are all made out of mud bricks
, but about 500 of them are tower house
s, which rise 5 to 16 storeys high, with each floor having one or two apartment
s. This technique of building was implemented in order to protect residents from Bedouin attacks. While Shibam has existed for around 2,000 years, most of the city's houses come mainly from the 16th century. The city has the tallest mud buildings in the world, with some of them over 30 metre
s (100 feet
) high. Shibam has been called "one of the oldest and best examples of urban planning based on the principle of vertical construction" or "Manhattan
of the desert".
Currently, the tallest high-rise apartment building in the world is Chicago
's John Hancock Center
, constructed under the supervision of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and completed in 1969. The building has 100 stories and stands at 344 meters tall.
. The first residential tower block, "The Lawn" was constructed in Harlow
, Essex in 1951; it is now a Grade II listed building. In many cases Tower Blocks were seen as a "quick-fix" to cure problems caused by crumbling and unsanitary 19th century dwellings or to replace buildings destroyed by German aerial bombing. Initially, they were welcomed, and their excellent views made them popular living places. Later, as the buildings themselves deteriorated, they grew a reputation for being undesirable low cost housing, and many tower blocks saw rising crime levels, increasing their unpopularity. One response to this was the great increase in the number of housing estate
s built, which in turn brings its own problems. In the UK, tower blocks particularly lost popularity after the partial collapse of Ronan Point
in 1968. Glasgow
, the largest city in Scotland, is believed to contain the highest concentration of tower blocks in the UK - examples include the Hutchesontown C
blocks in the Gorbals
, the 20-storey blocks in Sighthill
, and the 31-storey Red Road (flats)
in the city's north east. However, on the whole, London has the largest number of high-rise residential buildings in the UK.
The post-war British tower block vision
Post-war Britain
was the stage for a tower block building ‘boom’; from the 1950s to the late 1970s there was a dramatic increase in tower block construction. During this time, local authorities desired to impress their voters by building futuristic and imposing tower blocks, which would signify post-war progress. Both Patrick Dunleavy
and Lynsey Hanley agree that architects and planners were influenced by Le Corbusier
’s promotion of high-rise architecture. The modern tower blocks were to include features that would foster desired forms of resident interaction, an example being the inclusion of Le Corbusier
’s streets in the sky in some estates.
As well as inspiring residents, local authority planners believed that the way tower blocks were constructed would save money. Generally, the tower blocks were built on cheap greenfield land
skirting established cities. Although the property prices for these periphery sites were markedly cheaper than their inner city counterparts, they often had little access to public amenities, such as public transport
. It was thought that the implementation of industrialised building techniques would lower costs too, as similar tower blocks would be replicated over many sites. Uniform and standardised parts, such as toilet fittings and door handles, would be fitted throughout many tower blocks – planners deemed that buying in bulk would reduce overall costs.
Another key aspect of the tower block vision was the 'Brutalist' architectural method, popular with architects and planners at the time. The Brutalist emphasis led to the construction of stark and striking tower blocks with large sections of exposed concrete. Concrete was to be an integral part of the tower block designs; it could be poured on site, offering boundless flexibility to the building designers. To the planners, concrete was a silver bullet for the construction process – it was economical, and 'was vaunted as being long-lasting, if not indestructible'.
The post war British tower block reality
Coleman's 1985 work argues that in trying to emulate Le Corbusier
's ideas, the tower block planners only succeeded in encouraging social problems.
Although architects and local authorities intended the opposite, tower blocks quickly became, as Hanley sharply stated, 'slums in the sky'. Due to demanding deadlines, complicated construction practices were rushed and many tower blocks experienced structural decay as a result – roofs leaked, concrete suffered spalling, steel corroded, and damp penetrated the buildings. Unfortunately, by replicating tower blocks across the nation, planners 'disastrously' replicated design faults. In many tower blocks, concrete quickly exhibited signs of decay; cracks soon formed and destabilised the buildings. The partial collapse of the Ronan Point
tower block is an infamous example of the hasty and substandard construction that occurred in a number of the towers. The tower blocks quickly lost their 'futuristic' look; concrete turned from the crisp white the designers had imagined to a dull grey, stained by pollution.
Poor design decisions ruined the anticipated benefits of the buildings. Open spaces, which were supposed to benefit the residents, were instead unattractive, unused and inadequately supervised. Residents felt it was difficult to maintain the large open spaces around the blocks because they realistically belonged to no one. Social problems increased as the tower blocks quickly degraded through poor maintenance and an insecure communal environment. Apart from frequent break-downs, communal lifts were a source of fear for people travelling alone. It was a rarity to 'enter a clean-smelling, undefaced lift'. The tower blocks, many of which were located on the periphery of the city, made residents feel isolated and cut off from society. Outsiders and newcomers were also affected; they felt the overbearing design of the tower blocks made them fearsome and unsociable.
Power argues that as a direct consequence of their design and construction, security problems were prevalent in many of the tower blocks. Break-ins, vandalism and muggings were common, which were aided by the buildings' concealed areas, the mazes of internal corridors, and dark corners. Police were often required in the tower blocks, but their infrequent presence did little to pacify towers rife with delinquency.
In order to contain disruptive behaviour, local authorities began to place 'problem families' in the same blocks; Hanley argues that this policy only led to 'further alienation …nihilism and a creeping sense of lawlessness'. Dunleavy seconds this, suggesting that the mental health of long term tower block residents may have been detrimentally affected.
While local authorities and their architects intended to create tower blocks that encouraged harmonious and vibrant communities, often the results were far from ideal. Post-war tower blocks were compromised from the outset by a combination of faults: local authorities advocated impractical architectural methods; design and construction faults were frequently reproduced; and there appeared to be a lack of understanding about the social consequences of certain design features. Collectively, these oversights transformed many tower blocks into undesirable places to live.
Fire safety
The lives of residents in London Tower blocks are at risk because London councils have not done proper fire safety checks and the problem is probably widespread in the UK.
North Ayrshire
Council has decided to remove plastic cladding from its buildings following a fatal fire in a tower block. Poor maintenance of electrical equipment, fire doors and other features has caused widespread fire hazards and residents are asked to pay part of the cost of putting this right although residents did not cause the hazards. Tower blocks may be inherently more prone to fire because people living high up can escape fires less easily and the fire brigade can less easily reach them. In buildings with more than a hundred residents ensuring that every single resident acts responsibly to minimize fire risk is impossible, poorer residents in tower blocks may be tempted to use cheaper flammable fuels rather than electricity also are more likely to be smokers and carelessness with cigarettes is a major cause of home fires, furthermore poor residents of tower blocks are more likely to have old furniture which was not made to modern fire safety standards. Fire safety legislation introduced in London in 2006 requires new high rise buildings to be built to higher safety standards with sprinkler systems, these new buildings are mainly luxury accommodation for richer people. The legislation is not retrospective and does not protect poor people living in existing tower blocks.
Towards the present day
In recent years, some council or ex-council high-rises in the United Kingdom, including Trellick Tower
, Keeling House
, Sivill House
and The Barbican Estate
, have become popular with young professionals due to their excellent views, desirable locations and architectural pedigrees, and now command high prices. There are plans to redevelop the Little London
and Lovell Park
areas on the fringes of Leeds city centre
into luxury flats for 'Young Urban Professionals
'. The plans entail demolishing all of the council housing and refurbishing the highrise flats. This demand has led to many councils rethinking plans regarding their demolition.
After a gap of around 30 years, new high-rise flats are once again being built in Belfast
, Birmingham
(some are for wealthy people, e.g. The Mailbox
, others are student accommodation.), Cardiff
, Aberdeen
, Glasgow
, Leeds
, Liverpool
, London, Manchester
and Newcastle
; but this time sometimes for wealthy professionals, rather than the `lower classes`. Their developers market these properties by using the American term 'apartment buildings', perhaps in an effort to distance these newer buildings from the older tower blocks from the 1950s and 1960s. These are usually taller than their older counterparts and generally built in and around these provincial city centres. They are often glass and aluminum clad. Tonight with Trevor McDonald
highlighted that in Leeds
and Manchester
(perhaps the cities that had seen most development) only approximately half were occupied and with owner occupation often being as low as 10%. In Southend there are controversial plans to build new tower blocks for social housing, a supporter claims this will be cheaper than paying to house poor
people with private landlords while opponents fear the creation of Ghetto
s.
Tower blocks in Northern Ireland
were never built to the frequency as they were in other cities in Britain and Ireland. Most tower blocks and flat complexes are found in Belfast
and Derry
, although many of these have been demolished in recent years and replaced with traditional public housing units. The Divis flats complex in west Belfast was built in between 1968 and 1972 was demolished in the early 1990s as the residents demanded new houses due to mounting problems with the flats. Divis Tower
, built separately in 1966, still stands, however; and, in 2007, work began to convert the former British Army base at the top two floors into new dwellings.
In the north of the City, the iconic 7 towers complex in the New Lodge
remains, although so too the problems that residents face, such as poor piping and inadequate sanitation. Farther north, the 4 tower blocks in Rathcoole
still dominate the local skyline, while in south Belfast, the tower blocks in Seymour Hill also remain standing.
Most of the tower blocks in Northern Ireland
are in Belfast
. All of Belfast's flat complexes were built by Belfast Corporation as part of Belfast slum clearances and to solve the housing problem. The Ballymun Flats
were built between 1966 and 1969 consisting of seven 15-storey towers, nineteen 8 storey blocks and ten 4 storey blocks. These were the "seven towers" referred to in the U2 song "Running to Stand Still". Inner Dublin flat complexs include Sheriff Street (demolished), Fatima Mansions
(demolished and redeveloped), St. Joseph's Gardens (demolished; replaced by Killarney Court flat complex), St. Teresa's Gardens, Dolphin House, Liberty House, St. Michael's Estate and O'Devaney Gardens and a lot more mainly throughout the North and South Inner City of Dublin. Suburban flat complexes were built exclusively on the northside of the city in Ballymun
, Coolock
and Kilbarrack
. These flats were badly affected by a heroin epidemic that hit working-class areas of Dublin in the 1980s and early 90s.
Over the last five years the largest cities such as Dublin, Cork
, Limerick
and Galway
have witnessed new large apartment building. Some large towns such as Navan
, Drogheda
, Dundalk
and Mullingar
have also witnessed lots of modern apartments being built.
, both poor and wealthy, from Soviet time had conserved the impression of prestige about tower blocks.
In South Korea the tower blocks are called "Apartment Complex (Apartment Danji)". The first residential towers began to be built after the Korean War
. The South Korean government needed to build many apartment complexes in the cities to be able to accommodate the citizens. In the 60 years since, as the population increased considerably, tower blocks have become more common. This time however the new tower blocks integrated shopping malls, parking system and other convenient facilities.
In Singapore
and urban Hong Kong, land prices are so high that almost the entire population lives in high-rise apartments. In fact, over 60% of Hong Kong residents live in apartments, many of them condominium
s. Tower Palace in Seoul
, South Korea, is the tallest apartment complex in Asia.
, height restrictions, and lower growth rates. In middle-sized cities with a relatively low population density, such as Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, or Hamilton, there are more apartment towers but they are greatly outnumbered by single-family houses. Most of the largest residential towers in Canada are found in Toronto, Vancouver, and (to a lesser extent) Montreal: the most densely-populated cities. Toronto
contains the second largest concentration of high-rise apartment buildings in North America (after New York). In Canada, like in other New World countries, but unlike Western Europe, most high-rise towers are located in the city centre (or "downtown"), where smaller, older buildings were demolished to make way in redevelopment
schemes. Toronto, however has many high-rise apartment and condominium communities in its denser suburbs in addition to downtown. Greenfield
high-rise development in the suburbs of Canadian cities is much more rare, although it does happen, particularly in transit-oriented development
s.
Some of the first residential towers were the Castle Village
towers in New York City completed in 1939. Their cross-shaped design was copied in towers in Parkchester
and Stuyvesant Town
residential developments.
The government's experiments in the 1960s and 70s to use high-rise apartments as a means of providing the housing solution for the poor resulted in a spectacular failure. All but a few high-rise housing projects
in the nation's largest cities
, such as Cabrini–Green and Robert Taylor Homes
in Chicago, Penn South in New York and the Desire projects in New Orleans, fell victim to the "ghetto
fication" and are now being torn down, renovated, or replaced.
In contrast to their public housing
cousins, commercially developed high-rise apartment buildings continue to flourish in cities around the country largely due to high land prices and the housing boom of the 2000s. The Upper East Side
in New York City and Chicago's Gold Coast, both featuring high-rise apartments, are the wealthiest urban neighborhoods in the United States.
Currently, the tallest high-rise apartment building and tower block in the world is Chicago's John Hancock Center
, constructed by Bangladesh
i engineer Fazlur Khan
in 1969. The building has 100 stories and stands at 344 meters tall.
High-rise living in Australia was limited to small pockets of bohemian inner Sydney until the 1960s, where a short-lived fashion saw public housing tenants located in new high-rise developments, especially in Sydney and Melbourne. The buildings pictured along with four other 16 storey blocks were constructed on behalf of the Royal Australian Navy and were available to sailors and their families for accommodation. Due to social problems within these blocks the Navy left and the Department of Housing took charge and flats were let to low income and immigrant families. During the 1980's many people escaping communisum in Eastern block countries were housed in these buildings. Developers have enthusiastically adopted the term 'apartment' for these new high-rise blocks, perhaps to avoid the stigma still attached to housing commission flats.
Streets in the sky is a term used to describe a style of architecture
that emerged in Britain in the 1960s
and 1970s
. Generally built to replace run-down terraced housing
, the new designs included not only modern improvements such as inside toilet
s, but also shops and other community facilities within high-rise blocks.
Examples of the buildings and developments are Trellick Tower
, Balfron Tower
, Robin Hood Gardens
and Keeling House
in London, Hunslet Grange in Leeds
and Park Hill, Sheffield. These were an attempt to develop a new architecture, differentiated from earlier large housing estates, such as Quarry Hill flats
in Leeds.
Alison and Peter Smithson
were the architects of Robin Hood Gardens
. Another large example, the Aylesbury Estate
in South London, built in 1970, is about to be demolished.
, particularly his Unite D'Habitation
in Marseilles.
s or solar panels on their roofs and/or incorporate other environmentally friendly
design features.
Building
In architecture, construction, engineering, real estate development and technology the word building may refer to one of the following:...
or structure used as a residential and/or office building. In some areas they may be referred to as "MDU" standing for "Multi Dwelling Unit".
High-rise buildings became possible with the invention of the elevator
Elevator
An elevator is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building, vessel or other structures...
(lift) and cheaper, more abundant building materials.
The materials used for the structural system
Structural system
The term structural system or structural frame in structural engineering refers to load-resisting sub-system of a structure. The structural system transfers loads through interconnected structural components or members.-High-rise buildings:...
of high-rise buildings are reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete is concrete in which reinforcement bars , reinforcement grids, plates or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen the concrete in tension. It was invented by French gardener Joseph Monier in 1849 and patented in 1867. The term Ferro Concrete refers only to concrete that is...
and steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
. Most North American style skyscraper
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
s have a steel frame
Steel frame
Steel frame usually refers to a building technique with a "skeleton frame" of vertical steel columns and horizontal -beams, constructed in a rectangular grid to support the floors, roof and walls of a building which are all attached to the frame...
, while residential blocks are usually constructed out of concrete. There is no clear definition of any difference between a tower block and a skyscraper though a building lower than about thirty stories is not likely to be a skyscraper and a building with fifty or more stories is certainly a skyscraper.
High-rise structures pose particular design challenges for structural
Structural engineering
Structural engineering is a field of engineering dealing with the analysis and design of structures that support or resist loads. Structural engineering is usually considered a specialty within civil engineering, but it can also be studied in its own right....
and geotechnical
Geotechnical engineering
Geotechnical engineering is the branch of civil engineering concerned with the engineering behavior of earth materials. Geotechnical engineering is important in civil engineering, but is also used by military, mining, petroleum, or any other engineering concerned with construction on or in the ground...
engineers, particularly if situated in a seismically active region or if the underlying soils have geotechnical risk factors such as high compressibility or bay mud
Bay mud
Bay mud consists of thick deposits of soft, unconsolidated silty clay, which is saturated with water; these soil layers are situated at the bottom of certain estuaries, which are normally in temperate regions that have experienced cyclical glacial cycles...
. They also pose serious challenges to firefighters during emergencies in high-rise structures. New and old building design, building systems like the building standpipe system, HVAC
HVAC
HVAC refers to technology of indoor or automotive environmental comfort. HVAC system design is a major subdiscipline of mechanical engineering, based on the principles of thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer...
systems (Heating, Ventilation and Air conditioning), fire sprinkler
Fire sprinkler
A fire sprinkler system is an active fire protection measure, consisting of a water supply system, providing adequate pressure and flowrate to a water distribution piping system, onto which fire sprinklers are connected...
system and other things like stairwell and elevator
Elevator
An elevator is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building, vessel or other structures...
evacuations pose significant problems.
Apartment blocks have technical and economic advantages in areas with high population density. They have become a distinguished form of housing accommodation in virtually all densely populated urban area
Urban area
An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...
s around the world. In contrast with low-rise and single-family houses, apartment blocks accommodate more inhabitants per unit of area of land they occupy and also decrease the cost of municipal infrastructure.
History
High-rise apartment buildings had already appeared in antiquityClassical antiquity
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
: the insulae
Insulae
In Roman architecture, an insula was a kind of apartment building that housed most of the urban citizen population of ancient Rome, including ordinary people of lower- or middle-class status and all but the wealthiest from the upper-middle class...
in ancient Rome
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
and several other cities in the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, some of which might have reached up to 10 or more storeys, one reportedly having 200 stairs. Because of the destruction caused by poorly-built high-rise insulae collapsing, several Roman emperor
Roman Emperor
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...
s, beginning with Augustus
Augustus
Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
(r. 30 BC - 14 AD), set limits of 20–25 metres for multi-story buildings, but met with limited success, as these limits were often ignored despite the likelihood of taller insulae collapsing. The lower floors were typically occupied by either shops or wealthy families, while the upper storeys were rented out to the lower classes. Surviving Oxyrhynchus Papyri
Oxyrhynchus Papyri
The Oxyrhynchus Papyri are a very numerous group of manuscripts discovered by archaeologists including Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt at an ancient rubbish dump near Oxyrhynchus in Egypt . The manuscripts date from the 1st to the 6th century AD. They include thousands of Greek and...
indicate that seven-storey buildings even existed in provincial
Roman province
In Ancient Rome, a province was the basic, and, until the Tetrarchy , largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside of Italy...
towns, such as in 3rd century AD Hermopolis
Hermopolis
Hermopolis Magna or simply Hermopolis or Hermopolis Megale or Hermupolis is the site of ancient Khmun, and is located near the modern Egyptian town of El Ashmunein in Al Minya governorate.-Etymology:Khmun, the Ancient Egyptian name of the city, means "eight-town", after the Ogdoad, a group of...
in Roman Egypt.
In Arab Egypt, the initial capital city was Fustat. It housed many high-rise residential buildings, some seven storeys tall that could reportedly accommodate hundreds of people. Al-Muqaddasi
Al-Muqaddasi
Muhammad ibn Ahmad Shams al-Din Al-Muqaddasi , also transliterated as Al-Maqdisi and el-Mukaddasi, was a medieval Arab geographer, author of Ahsan at-Taqasim fi Ma`rifat il-Aqalim .-Biography:Al-Muqaddasi, "the Hierosolomite" was born in Jerusalem in 946 AD...
in the 10th century described them as resembling minaret
Minaret
A minaret مناره , sometimes مئذنه) is a distinctive architectural feature of Islamic mosques, generally a tall spire with an onion-shaped or conical crown, usually either free standing or taller than any associated support structure. The basic form of a minaret includes a base, shaft, and gallery....
s, while Nasir Khusraw
Nasir Khusraw
Abu Mo’in Hamid ad-Din Nasir ibn Khusraw al-Qubadiani or Nāsir Khusraw Qubādiyānī [also spelled as Nasir Khusrow and Naser Khosrow] Abu Mo’in Hamid ad-Din Nasir ibn Khusraw al-Qubadiani or Nāsir Khusraw Qubādiyānī [also spelled as Nasir Khusrow and Naser Khosrow] Abu Mo’in Hamid ad-Din Nasir ibn...
in the early 11th century described some of them rising up to 14 storeys, with roof garden
Roof garden
A roof garden is any garden on the roof of a building. Besides the decorative benefit, roof plantings may provide food, temperature control, hydrological benefits, architectural enhancement, habitats or corridors for wildlife, and recreational opportunities....
s on the top storey complete with ox-drawn water wheel
Water wheel
A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of free-flowing or falling water into useful forms of power. A water wheel consists of a large wooden or metal wheel, with a number of blades or buckets arranged on the outside rim forming the driving surface...
s for irrigating them. By the 16th century, Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
also had high-rise apartment buildings where the two lower floors were for commercial and storage purposes and the multiple storeys above them were rented
Renting
Renting is an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property owned by another. A gross lease is when the tenant pays a flat rental amount and the landlord pays for all property charges regularly incurred by the ownership from landowners...
out to tenants
Leasehold estate
A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to land or property in which a lessee or a tenant holds rights of real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord....
.
The skyline of many important medieval
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
cities was dominated by large numbers of high-rising urban towers which fulfilled defensive, but also representative purposes. The residential Towers of Bologna
Towers of Bologna
The Towers of Bologna are a group of medieval structures in Bologna, Italy. The two most prominent ones, also called the Two Towers, are the landmark of the city.-History:...
numbered between 80 to 100 at a time, the largest of which still rise to 97.2 m. In Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, a law of 1251 decreed that all urban buildings should be reduced to a height of less than 26 m, the regulation immediately put into effect. Even medium-sized towns such as San Gimignano
San Gimignano
San Gimignano is a small walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, north-central Italy. It is mainly famous for its medieval architecture, especially its towers, which may be seen from several kilometres outside the town....
are known to have featured 72 towers up to 51 m height.
Tower blocks were built in the Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
i city of Shibam
Shibam
Shibam is a town in Yemen with about 7,000 inhabitants. The first known inscription about the city dates from the 3rd century AD...
in the 16th century. The houses of Shibam are all made out of mud bricks
Mudbrick
A mudbrick is a firefree brick, made of a mixture of clay, mud, sand, and water mixed with a binding material such as rice husks or straw. They use a stiff mixture and let them dry in the sun for 25 days....
, but about 500 of them are tower house
Tower house
A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation.-History:Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountain or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strategic points with reduced forces...
s, which rise 5 to 16 storeys high, with each floor having one or two apartment
Apartment
An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...
s. This technique of building was implemented in order to protect residents from Bedouin attacks. While Shibam has existed for around 2,000 years, most of the city's houses come mainly from the 16th century. The city has the tallest mud buildings in the world, with some of them over 30 metre
Metre
The metre , symbol m, is the base unit of length in the International System of Units . Originally intended to be one ten-millionth of the distance from the Earth's equator to the North Pole , its definition has been periodically refined to reflect growing knowledge of metrology...
s (100 feet
Foot
The foot is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg made up of one or more segments or bones, generally including claws...
) high. Shibam has been called "one of the oldest and best examples of urban planning based on the principle of vertical construction" or "Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
of the desert".
Currently, the tallest high-rise apartment building in the world is Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
's John Hancock Center
John Hancock Center
John Hancock Center at 875 North Michigan Avenue in the Streeterville area of Chicago, Illinois, is a 100-story, 1,127-foot tall skyscraper, constructed under the supervision of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, with chief designer Bruce Graham and structural engineer Fazlur Khan...
, constructed under the supervision of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and completed in 1969. The building has 100 stories and stands at 344 meters tall.
United Kingdom
Tower blocks were built in the UK after the Second World WarWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The first residential tower block, "The Lawn" was constructed in Harlow
Harlow
Harlow is a new town and local government district in Essex, England. It is located in the west of the county and on the border with Hertfordshire, on the Stort Valley, The town is near the M11 motorway and forms part of the London commuter belt.The district has a current population of 78,889...
, Essex in 1951; it is now a Grade II listed building. In many cases Tower Blocks were seen as a "quick-fix" to cure problems caused by crumbling and unsanitary 19th century dwellings or to replace buildings destroyed by German aerial bombing. Initially, they were welcomed, and their excellent views made them popular living places. Later, as the buildings themselves deteriorated, they grew a reputation for being undesirable low cost housing, and many tower blocks saw rising crime levels, increasing their unpopularity. One response to this was the great increase in the number of housing estate
Housing estate
A housing estate is a group of buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Accordingly, a housing estate is usually built by a single contractor, with only a few styles of house or building design, so they tend to be uniform in appearance...
s built, which in turn brings its own problems. In the UK, tower blocks particularly lost popularity after the partial collapse of Ronan Point
Ronan Point
Ronan Point was a 22-story tower block in Newham, east London, which suffered a partial collapse when a gas explosion demolished a load-bearing wall, causing the collapse of one entire corner of the building...
in 1968. Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, the largest city in Scotland, is believed to contain the highest concentration of tower blocks in the UK - examples include the Hutchesontown C
Hutchesontown C
Hutchesontown C was the name given to a so-called Comprehensive Development Area of an area of Hutchesontown, a district in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. Its centrepiece were two 20-storey slab blocks at 16-32 Queen Elizabeth Square, designed by Sir Basil Spence and containing 400 homes...
blocks in the Gorbals
Gorbals
The Gorbals is an area on the south bank of the River Clyde in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. By the late 19th century, it had become over-populated and adversely affected by local industrialisation. Many people lived here because their jobs provided this home and they could not afford their own...
, the 20-storey blocks in Sighthill
Sighthill, Glasgow
Sighthill is a Housing estate in the Scottish city of Glasgow. It is situated north of the River Clyde.Sighthill is part of the wider Springburn district in the North of the city...
, and the 31-storey Red Road (flats)
Red Road (flats)
The Red Road Flats are a high-rise housing complex which lies between the districts of Balornock and Barmulloch in the north east of the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It consists of eight multi-storey blocks. Two are "slabs", much wider in cross-section than they are deep. Six are "points" — more of a...
in the city's north east. However, on the whole, London has the largest number of high-rise residential buildings in the UK.
The post-war British tower block vision
Post-war Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
was the stage for a tower block building ‘boom’; from the 1950s to the late 1970s there was a dramatic increase in tower block construction. During this time, local authorities desired to impress their voters by building futuristic and imposing tower blocks, which would signify post-war progress. Both Patrick Dunleavy
Patrick Dunleavy
Patrick Dunleavy is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy within the Government Department of the London School of Economics and the director of the Master of Public Administration Programme Patrick Dunleavy (b. 1952) is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy within the...
and Lynsey Hanley agree that architects and planners were influenced by Le Corbusier
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier , was a Swiss-born French architect, designer, urbanist, writer and painter, famous for being one of the pioneers of what now is called modern architecture. He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930...
’s promotion of high-rise architecture. The modern tower blocks were to include features that would foster desired forms of resident interaction, an example being the inclusion of Le Corbusier
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier , was a Swiss-born French architect, designer, urbanist, writer and painter, famous for being one of the pioneers of what now is called modern architecture. He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930...
’s streets in the sky in some estates.
As well as inspiring residents, local authority planners believed that the way tower blocks were constructed would save money. Generally, the tower blocks were built on cheap greenfield land
Greenfield land
Greenfield land is a term used to describe undeveloped land in a city or rural area either used for agriculture, landscape design, or left to naturally evolve...
skirting established cities. Although the property prices for these periphery sites were markedly cheaper than their inner city counterparts, they often had little access to public amenities, such as public transport
Public transport
Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
. It was thought that the implementation of industrialised building techniques would lower costs too, as similar tower blocks would be replicated over many sites. Uniform and standardised parts, such as toilet fittings and door handles, would be fitted throughout many tower blocks – planners deemed that buying in bulk would reduce overall costs.
Another key aspect of the tower block vision was the 'Brutalist' architectural method, popular with architects and planners at the time. The Brutalist emphasis led to the construction of stark and striking tower blocks with large sections of exposed concrete. Concrete was to be an integral part of the tower block designs; it could be poured on site, offering boundless flexibility to the building designers. To the planners, concrete was a silver bullet for the construction process – it was economical, and 'was vaunted as being long-lasting, if not indestructible'.
The post war British tower block reality
Coleman's 1985 work argues that in trying to emulate Le Corbusier
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier , was a Swiss-born French architect, designer, urbanist, writer and painter, famous for being one of the pioneers of what now is called modern architecture. He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930...
's ideas, the tower block planners only succeeded in encouraging social problems.
Although architects and local authorities intended the opposite, tower blocks quickly became, as Hanley sharply stated, 'slums in the sky'. Due to demanding deadlines, complicated construction practices were rushed and many tower blocks experienced structural decay as a result – roofs leaked, concrete suffered spalling, steel corroded, and damp penetrated the buildings. Unfortunately, by replicating tower blocks across the nation, planners 'disastrously' replicated design faults. In many tower blocks, concrete quickly exhibited signs of decay; cracks soon formed and destabilised the buildings. The partial collapse of the Ronan Point
Ronan Point
Ronan Point was a 22-story tower block in Newham, east London, which suffered a partial collapse when a gas explosion demolished a load-bearing wall, causing the collapse of one entire corner of the building...
tower block is an infamous example of the hasty and substandard construction that occurred in a number of the towers. The tower blocks quickly lost their 'futuristic' look; concrete turned from the crisp white the designers had imagined to a dull grey, stained by pollution.
Poor design decisions ruined the anticipated benefits of the buildings. Open spaces, which were supposed to benefit the residents, were instead unattractive, unused and inadequately supervised. Residents felt it was difficult to maintain the large open spaces around the blocks because they realistically belonged to no one. Social problems increased as the tower blocks quickly degraded through poor maintenance and an insecure communal environment. Apart from frequent break-downs, communal lifts were a source of fear for people travelling alone. It was a rarity to 'enter a clean-smelling, undefaced lift'. The tower blocks, many of which were located on the periphery of the city, made residents feel isolated and cut off from society. Outsiders and newcomers were also affected; they felt the overbearing design of the tower blocks made them fearsome and unsociable.
Power argues that as a direct consequence of their design and construction, security problems were prevalent in many of the tower blocks. Break-ins, vandalism and muggings were common, which were aided by the buildings' concealed areas, the mazes of internal corridors, and dark corners. Police were often required in the tower blocks, but their infrequent presence did little to pacify towers rife with delinquency.
In order to contain disruptive behaviour, local authorities began to place 'problem families' in the same blocks; Hanley argues that this policy only led to 'further alienation …nihilism and a creeping sense of lawlessness'. Dunleavy seconds this, suggesting that the mental health of long term tower block residents may have been detrimentally affected.
While local authorities and their architects intended to create tower blocks that encouraged harmonious and vibrant communities, often the results were far from ideal. Post-war tower blocks were compromised from the outset by a combination of faults: local authorities advocated impractical architectural methods; design and construction faults were frequently reproduced; and there appeared to be a lack of understanding about the social consequences of certain design features. Collectively, these oversights transformed many tower blocks into undesirable places to live.
Fire safety
The lives of residents in London Tower blocks are at risk because London councils have not done proper fire safety checks and the problem is probably widespread in the UK.
North Ayrshire
Ayrshire
Ayrshire is a registration county, and former administrative county in south-west Scotland, United Kingdom, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine. The town of Troon on the coast has hosted the British Open Golf Championship twice in the...
Council has decided to remove plastic cladding from its buildings following a fatal fire in a tower block. Poor maintenance of electrical equipment, fire doors and other features has caused widespread fire hazards and residents are asked to pay part of the cost of putting this right although residents did not cause the hazards. Tower blocks may be inherently more prone to fire because people living high up can escape fires less easily and the fire brigade can less easily reach them. In buildings with more than a hundred residents ensuring that every single resident acts responsibly to minimize fire risk is impossible, poorer residents in tower blocks may be tempted to use cheaper flammable fuels rather than electricity also are more likely to be smokers and carelessness with cigarettes is a major cause of home fires, furthermore poor residents of tower blocks are more likely to have old furniture which was not made to modern fire safety standards. Fire safety legislation introduced in London in 2006 requires new high rise buildings to be built to higher safety standards with sprinkler systems, these new buildings are mainly luxury accommodation for richer people. The legislation is not retrospective and does not protect poor people living in existing tower blocks.
Towards the present day
In recent years, some council or ex-council high-rises in the United Kingdom, including Trellick Tower
Trellick Tower
Trellick Tower is a 31-storey block of flats in North Kensington, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England. It was designed in the Brutalist style by architect Ernő Goldfinger, after a commission from the Greater London Council in 1966, and completed in 1972...
, Keeling House
Keeling House
Keeling House is a 16-storey block of flats located on Claredale Street in Bethnal Green, London, England. It was designed by Denys Lasdun and completed in 1957 as a cluster of 4 blocks of maisonettes arranged around a central service tower...
, Sivill House
Sivill House
Sivill House is a 76-flat council housing block on Columbia Road in Bethnal Green, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The building has 20-storeys, at a total height of 59 metres....
and The Barbican Estate
Barbican Estate
The Barbican Estate is a residential estate built during the 1960s and the 1970s in the City of London, in an area once devastated by World War II bombings and today densely populated by financial institutions...
, have become popular with young professionals due to their excellent views, desirable locations and architectural pedigrees, and now command high prices. There are plans to redevelop the Little London
Little London, Leeds
Little London, along with its adjacent areas Lovell Park and Blenheim, is an area of 1960s high-rise and maisonette council housing in inner-city north Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, situated between the city centre and Sheepscar....
and Lovell Park
Lovell Park
Lovell Park is an inner-city area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.Lovell Park along with its adjacent areas Little London and Blenheim, is an area of 1960s high-rise and maisonette council housing situated between the city centre and Sheepscar....
areas on the fringes of Leeds city centre
Leeds City Centre
Leeds city centre is the central business district of Leeds, England. It is within the Leeds Central parliamentary constituency, represented by Hilary Benn as MP since a by-election in 1999...
into luxury flats for 'Young Urban Professionals
Yuppie
Yuppie is a term that refers to a member of the upper middle class or upper class in their 20s or 30s. It first came into use in the early-1980s and largely faded from American popular culture in the late-1980s, due to the 1987 stock market crash and the early 1990s recession...
'. The plans entail demolishing all of the council housing and refurbishing the highrise flats. This demand has led to many councils rethinking plans regarding their demolition.
After a gap of around 30 years, new high-rise flats are once again being built in Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
, Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
(some are for wealthy people, e.g. The Mailbox
The Mailbox
The Mailbox is an upmarket development of offices, designer shops, restaurants, bars and luxury city-centre apartments in the City Centre and on the boundary of the City Centre Core in Birmingham, West Midlands, England. It includes a mini supermarket and three art galleries: the Artlounge, Castle...
, others are student accommodation.), Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
, Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, London, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
and Newcastle
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
; but this time sometimes for wealthy professionals, rather than the `lower classes`. Their developers market these properties by using the American term 'apartment buildings', perhaps in an effort to distance these newer buildings from the older tower blocks from the 1950s and 1960s. These are usually taller than their older counterparts and generally built in and around these provincial city centres. They are often glass and aluminum clad. Tonight with Trevor McDonald
Tonight (TV series)
Tonight is a British television newsmagazine, produced by ITV Studios and ITN for the ITV network. Since 1999, Tonight replaced the long-running investigative series World in Action...
highlighted that in Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
and Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
(perhaps the cities that had seen most development) only approximately half were occupied and with owner occupation often being as low as 10%. In Southend there are controversial plans to build new tower blocks for social housing, a supporter claims this will be cheaper than paying to house poor
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
people with private landlords while opponents fear the creation of Ghetto
Ghetto
A ghetto is a section of a city predominantly occupied by a group who live there, especially because of social, economic, or legal issues.The term was originally used in Venice to describe the area where Jews were compelled to live. The term now refers to an overcrowded urban area often associated...
s.
Tower blocks in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
were never built to the frequency as they were in other cities in Britain and Ireland. Most tower blocks and flat complexes are found in Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
and Derry
Derry
Derry or Londonderry is the second-biggest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-biggest city on the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Irish name Doire or Doire Cholmcille meaning "oak-wood of Colmcille"...
, although many of these have been demolished in recent years and replaced with traditional public housing units. The Divis flats complex in west Belfast was built in between 1968 and 1972 was demolished in the early 1990s as the residents demanded new houses due to mounting problems with the flats. Divis Tower
Divis Tower
Divis Tower is a 61m tall tower in Belfast, Northern Ireland. 20 floors tall, it was built in 1966 as part of the now-demolished Divis Flats complex. It is named after the nearby Divis Mountain. The complex of 850 flats, housing 2400 residents was designed by architect Frank Robertson for the...
, built separately in 1966, still stands, however; and, in 2007, work began to convert the former British Army base at the top two floors into new dwellings.
In the north of the City, the iconic 7 towers complex in the New Lodge
New Lodge, Belfast
The New Lodge is an urban, working-class Catholic community in Belfast, Northern Ireland, immediately to the north of city centre. The landscape is dominated by several large tower blocks. The area has a number of murals, mostly sited along the New Lodge Road...
remains, although so too the problems that residents face, such as poor piping and inadequate sanitation. Farther north, the 4 tower blocks in Rathcoole
Rathcoole (Belfast)
Rathcoole is a housing estate in Newtownabbey, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It was built in the 1950s to house many of those displaced by the demolition of inner city housing in Belfast city...
still dominate the local skyline, while in south Belfast, the tower blocks in Seymour Hill also remain standing.
Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
are in Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
. All of Belfast's flat complexes were built by Belfast Corporation as part of Belfast slum clearances and to solve the housing problem. The Ballymun Flats
Ballymun Flats
The Ballymun Flats refers to a number of flats - and often the tower block complex - in Ballymun, Dublin which is currently undergoing demolition.-History:...
were built between 1966 and 1969 consisting of seven 15-storey towers, nineteen 8 storey blocks and ten 4 storey blocks. These were the "seven towers" referred to in the U2 song "Running to Stand Still". Inner Dublin flat complexs include Sheriff Street (demolished), Fatima Mansions
Fatima Mansions (housing)
Fatima Mansions is an extensive public housing complex located in Rialto, Dublin. In recent years it has undergone a substantial urban renewal programme with the assistance of public and private funding.All existing apartment blocks were demolished to make way for 600 accommodation units,...
(demolished and redeveloped), St. Joseph's Gardens (demolished; replaced by Killarney Court flat complex), St. Teresa's Gardens, Dolphin House, Liberty House, St. Michael's Estate and O'Devaney Gardens and a lot more mainly throughout the North and South Inner City of Dublin. Suburban flat complexes were built exclusively on the northside of the city in Ballymun
Ballymun
Ballymun is an area on Dublin's Northside close to Dublin Airport, Ireland. It is infamous for the Ballymun flats, which became a symbol of poverty, drugs, alienation from the state and social problems in Ireland from the 1970s...
, Coolock
Coolock
Coolock is a large suburban area, centred on a village, on Dublin city's Northside in Ireland. Coolock is crossed by the Santry River, a prominent feature in the middle of the district, with a linear park and ponds...
and Kilbarrack
Kilbarrack
Kilbarrack is a residential suburb of Dublin, Ireland, running inwards from the coast, about from the city's centre. Modern-day Kilbarrack is within the jurisdiction of Dublin City Council, with part of its old lands now in Donaghmede, and part in Bayside under Fingal County Council...
. These flats were badly affected by a heroin epidemic that hit working-class areas of Dublin in the 1980s and early 90s.
Over the last five years the largest cities such as Dublin, Cork
Cork (city)
Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban...
, Limerick
Limerick
Limerick is the third largest city in the Republic of Ireland, and the principal city of County Limerick and Ireland's Mid-West Region. It is the fifth most populous city in all of Ireland. When taking the extra-municipal suburbs into account, Limerick is the third largest conurbation in the...
and Galway
Galway
Galway or City of Galway is a city in County Galway, Republic of Ireland. It is the sixth largest and the fastest-growing city in Ireland. It is also the third largest city within the Republic and the only city in the Province of Connacht. Located on the west coast of Ireland, it sits on the...
have witnessed new large apartment building. Some large towns such as Navan
Navan
-People:Navan was the childhood home of Pierce Brosnan, who appeared in the television series Remington Steele and was the fifth film actor to play James Bond. TV personality Hector Ó hEochagáin, and comedians Dylan Moran and Tommy Tiernan also hail from Navan....
, Drogheda
Drogheda
Drogheda is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, 56 km north of Dublin. It is the last bridging point on the River Boyne before it enters the Irish Sea....
, Dundalk
Dundalk
Dundalk is the county town of County Louth in Ireland. It is situated where the Castletown River flows into Dundalk Bay. The town is close to the border with Northern Ireland and equi-distant from Dublin and Belfast. The town's name, which was historically written as Dundalgan, has associations...
and Mullingar
Mullingar
Mullingar is the county town of County Westmeath in Ireland. The Counties of Meath and Westmeath Act of 1542, proclaimed Westmeath a county, separating it from Meath. Mullingar became the administrative centre for County Westmeath...
have also witnessed lots of modern apartments being built.
Eastern Europe
Russia is currently undergoing a dramatic buildout, growing a commercially-shaped skyline. RussiansRussians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
, both poor and wealthy, from Soviet time had conserved the impression of prestige about tower blocks.
East Asia
The unpopularity of tower blocks in Europe is in marked contrast to many Asian countries.In South Korea the tower blocks are called "Apartment Complex (Apartment Danji)". The first residential towers began to be built after the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
. The South Korean government needed to build many apartment complexes in the cities to be able to accommodate the citizens. In the 60 years since, as the population increased considerably, tower blocks have become more common. This time however the new tower blocks integrated shopping malls, parking system and other convenient facilities.
In Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
and urban Hong Kong, land prices are so high that almost the entire population lives in high-rise apartments. In fact, over 60% of Hong Kong residents live in apartments, many of them condominium
Condominium
A condominium, or condo, is the form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights...
s. Tower Palace in Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
, South Korea, is the tallest apartment complex in Asia.
Canada
In Canada large multi-family buildings are usually known as apartment buildings or apartment blocks if they are rented from one common landowner, or condominiums or condo towers if each dwelling unit is individually owned; they may be called low-rise (or walk-up), mid-rise, high-rise, or skyscraper depending on their height. Tall residential towers are a staple building type in all large cities. Their relative prominence in Canadian cities varies substantially, however. In general, more populated cities have more high-rises than smaller cities, due to a relative the scarcity of land and a greater demand for housing. However, some cities such as Quebec City, Ottawa, and Halifax have fewer high-rise buildings due to several factors: a focus on historic preservationHistoric preservation
Historic preservation is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance...
, height restrictions, and lower growth rates. In middle-sized cities with a relatively low population density, such as Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, or Hamilton, there are more apartment towers but they are greatly outnumbered by single-family houses. Most of the largest residential towers in Canada are found in Toronto, Vancouver, and (to a lesser extent) Montreal: the most densely-populated cities. Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
contains the second largest concentration of high-rise apartment buildings in North America (after New York). In Canada, like in other New World countries, but unlike Western Europe, most high-rise towers are located in the city centre (or "downtown"), where smaller, older buildings were demolished to make way in redevelopment
Redevelopment
Redevelopment is any new construction on a site that has pre-existing uses.-Description:Variations on redevelopment include:* Urban infill on vacant parcels that have no existing activity but were previously developed, especially on Brownfield land, such as the redevelopment of an industrial site...
schemes. Toronto, however has many high-rise apartment and condominium communities in its denser suburbs in addition to downtown. Greenfield
Greenfield land
Greenfield land is a term used to describe undeveloped land in a city or rural area either used for agriculture, landscape design, or left to naturally evolve...
high-rise development in the suburbs of Canadian cities is much more rare, although it does happen, particularly in transit-oriented development
Transit-oriented development
A transit-oriented development is a mixed-use residential or commercial area designed to maximize access to public transport, and often incorporates features to encourage transit ridership...
s.
United States
In the United States tower blocks are commonly referred to as "midrise" or "highrise apartment buildings", depending on their height, while buildings that house fewer flats (apartments), or are not as tall as the tower blocks, are called "lowrise apartment buildings".Some of the first residential towers were the Castle Village
Castle Village
Castle Village is a cooperative apartment complex located in the Hudson Heights neighborhood of the Washington Heights area of New York City. The buildings are among the many resident-owned apartment buildings in Hudson Heights...
towers in New York City completed in 1939. Their cross-shaped design was copied in towers in Parkchester
Parkchester, Bronx
Parkchester is a residential neighborhood geographically located in the south central Bronx, New York City. The neighborhood is part of Bronx Community Board 9...
and Stuyvesant Town
Stuyvesant Town
Stuyvesant Town—Peter Cooper Village is a large private residential development on the East Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City, and one of the most iconic and successful post-World War II private housing communities...
residential developments.
The government's experiments in the 1960s and 70s to use high-rise apartments as a means of providing the housing solution for the poor resulted in a spectacular failure. All but a few high-rise housing projects
Public housing
Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is owned by a government authority, which may be central or local. Social housing is an umbrella term referring to rental housing which may be owned and managed by the state, by non-profit organizations, or by a combination of the...
in the nation's largest cities
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...
, such as Cabrini–Green and Robert Taylor Homes
Robert Taylor Homes
Robert Taylor Homes was a housing project in the Bronzeville neighborhood of the South Side of Chicago, on State Street between Pershing Road and 54th Street alongside the Dan Ryan Expressway.-History:...
in Chicago, Penn South in New York and the Desire projects in New Orleans, fell victim to the "ghetto
Ghetto
A ghetto is a section of a city predominantly occupied by a group who live there, especially because of social, economic, or legal issues.The term was originally used in Venice to describe the area where Jews were compelled to live. The term now refers to an overcrowded urban area often associated...
fication" and are now being torn down, renovated, or replaced.
In contrast to their public housing
Public housing
Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is owned by a government authority, which may be central or local. Social housing is an umbrella term referring to rental housing which may be owned and managed by the state, by non-profit organizations, or by a combination of the...
cousins, commercially developed high-rise apartment buildings continue to flourish in cities around the country largely due to high land prices and the housing boom of the 2000s. The Upper East Side
Upper East Side
The Upper East Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, between Central Park and the East River. The Upper East Side lies within an area bounded by 59th Street to 96th Street, and the East River to Fifth Avenue-Central Park...
in New York City and Chicago's Gold Coast, both featuring high-rise apartments, are the wealthiest urban neighborhoods in the United States.
Currently, the tallest high-rise apartment building and tower block in the world is Chicago's John Hancock Center
John Hancock Center
John Hancock Center at 875 North Michigan Avenue in the Streeterville area of Chicago, Illinois, is a 100-story, 1,127-foot tall skyscraper, constructed under the supervision of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, with chief designer Bruce Graham and structural engineer Fazlur Khan...
, constructed by Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
i engineer Fazlur Khan
Fazlur Khan
Fazlur Rahman Khan was a Bangladeshi born architect and structural engineer. He is a central figure behind the "Second Chicago School" of architecture, and is regarded as the "Father of tubular design for high-rises"...
in 1969. The building has 100 stories and stands at 344 meters tall.
Australia
Definition
Although there is no precise definition that is universally accepted, various bodies have tried to define what 'high-rise' means:- Emporis Standards defines a high-rise as "A multi-story structure between 35-100 meters tall, or a building of unknown height from 12-39 floors."
- According to the building code of Hyderabad, India, a high-rise building is one with four floors or more, or one 15 meters or more in height.
- The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary defines a high-rise as "a building having many stories".
- The International Conference on Fire Safety in High-Rise Buildings defined a high-rise as "any structure where the height can have a serious impact on evacuation"
- MassachusettsMassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, United States General Laws define a high-rise as being higher than 70 feet (21 m). - Most building engineers, inspectors, architects and similar professions define a high-rise as a building that is at least 75 feet (23 m) tall.
Streets in the sky
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
that emerged in Britain in the 1960s
1960s
The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...
and 1970s
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
. Generally built to replace run-down terraced housing
Terraced house
In architecture and city planning, a terrace house, terrace, row house, linked house or townhouse is a style of medium-density housing that originated in Great Britain in the late 17th century, where a row of identical or mirror-image houses share side walls...
, the new designs included not only modern improvements such as inside toilet
Toilet
A toilet is a sanitation fixture used primarily for the disposal of human excrement, often found in a small room referred to as a toilet/bathroom/lavatory...
s, but also shops and other community facilities within high-rise blocks.
Examples of the buildings and developments are Trellick Tower
Trellick Tower
Trellick Tower is a 31-storey block of flats in North Kensington, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England. It was designed in the Brutalist style by architect Ernő Goldfinger, after a commission from the Greater London Council in 1966, and completed in 1972...
, Balfron Tower
Balfron Tower
Balfron Tower is a 27-storey housing block in Poplar, a district of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in the East End of London, UK. It forms part of the Brownfield Estate, an area of social housing between Chrisp Street Market and the A12 northern approach to the Blackwall Tunnel...
, Robin Hood Gardens
Robin Hood Gardens
Robin Hood Gardens is a council housing complex in Poplar, London designed in the late 1960s by architects Alison and Peter Smithson and completed in 1972...
and Keeling House
Keeling House
Keeling House is a 16-storey block of flats located on Claredale Street in Bethnal Green, London, England. It was designed by Denys Lasdun and completed in 1957 as a cluster of 4 blocks of maisonettes arranged around a central service tower...
in London, Hunslet Grange in Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
and Park Hill, Sheffield. These were an attempt to develop a new architecture, differentiated from earlier large housing estates, such as Quarry Hill flats
Quarry Hill, Leeds
Quarry Hill is an area of central Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is surrounded by the Leeds Inner Ring Road to the east and north. The Leeds - York / Hull railway runs just south of the district into the city centre...
in Leeds.
Alison and Peter Smithson
Alison and Peter Smithson
English architects Alison Smithson and Peter Smithson together formed an architectural partnership, and are often associated with the New Brutalism .Peter was born in Stockton-on-Tees in north-east England, and Alison was born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire...
were the architects of Robin Hood Gardens
Robin Hood Gardens
Robin Hood Gardens is a council housing complex in Poplar, London designed in the late 1960s by architects Alison and Peter Smithson and completed in 1972...
. Another large example, the Aylesbury Estate
Aylesbury Estate
The Aylesbury Estate is a large housing estate located in Walworth, South East London.Along with the Ferrier Estate, Aylesbury is considered the most notorious estate in the United Kingdom. It was for this reason that Tony Blair chose to make his first speech as Prime Minister here, in an effort to...
in South London, built in 1970, is about to be demolished.
Deck access
Deck access is a term used to describe flats that are accessed from a walkway that is open to the elements, as opposed to flats that are accessed from fully enclosed internal corridors. Deck access blocks of flats are usually fairly low-rise structures. The decks can vary from simple walkways, which may be covered or uncovered, to decks wide enough for small vehicles. The best known example of deck-access flats in the UK is Park Hill, Sheffield, where the decks are wide enough to allow electric vehicles; however, the design is inspired by French Modernist architect Le CorbusierLe Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier , was a Swiss-born French architect, designer, urbanist, writer and painter, famous for being one of the pioneers of what now is called modern architecture. He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930...
, particularly his Unite D'Habitation
Unité d'Habitation
The Unité d'Habitation is the name of a modernist residential housing design principle developed by Le Corbusier, with the collaboration of painter-architect Nadir Afonso...
in Marseilles.
Green tower blocks
Green tower blocks have some scheme of living plants or Green roofGreen roof
A green roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane. It may also include additional layers such as a root barrier and drainage and irrigation systems...
s or solar panels on their roofs and/or incorporate other environmentally friendly
Environmentally friendly
Environmentally friendly are terms used to refer to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies claimed to inflict minimal or no harm on the environment....
design features.
See also
- Apartment RatingsApartment RatingsApartmentRatings.com is an online user generated database of information about apartment buildings in the United States.-History:ApartmentRatings was founded in 2000 by Jeremy and Katie Bencken in Austin...
- Earthquake engineeringEarthquake engineeringEarthquake engineering is the scientific field concerned with protecting society, the natural and the man-made environment from earthquakes by limiting the seismic risk to socio-economically acceptable levels...
- Low-riseLow-riseA low-rise is a building that is only a few stories tall.There is no universally accepted height requirement for a building to be considered a low-rise...
- PrefabricationPrefabricationPrefabrication is the practice of assembling components of a structure in a factory or other manufacturing site, and transporting complete assemblies or sub-assemblies to the construction site where the structure is to be located...
- PanelákPanelákis a colloquial term in Czech and Slovak for a panel building constructed of pre-fabricated, pre-stressed concrete, such as those extant in Czech Republic and elsewhere in the former Soviet bloc...
- the equivalent in Czech Republic - PlattenbauPlattenbauPlattenbau is the German word for a building whose structure is constructed of large, prefabricated concrete slabs. The word is a compound of Platte and Bau...
- the equivalent in East Germany - Cutie de chibrituri - meaning Matchboxes in RomanianRomanian languageRomanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
is the equivalent in RomaniaRomaniaRomania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea... - SkyscraperSkyscraperA skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
- Wind engineeringWind engineeringWind engineering analyzes effects of wind in the natural and the built environment and studies the possible damage, inconvenience or benefits which may result from wind. In the field of structural engineering it includes strong winds, which may cause discomfort, as well as extreme winds, such as in...
- Out My WindowOut My WindowOut My Window is a 2010 web documentary by Katerina Cizek exploring the lives of families living in high-rise buildings in 13 cities around the world. The website is produced by National Film Board of Canada as part its collaborative documentary project Highrise...
, a web documentaryWeb documentaryA web documentary, interactive documentary or multimedia documentary is a documentary production that differs from the more traditional forms—video, audio, photographic—by applying a full complement of multimedia tools...
about life in high-rise apartments around the world