• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.89-98
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• 2014

Employing tilted forms in tall buildings is a relatively new architectural phenomenon, as are the cases with the Gate of Europe Towers in Madrid and the Veer Towers in Las Vegas. This paper studies structural system design options for tilted tall buildings and their performances. Tilted tall buildings are designed with various structural systems, such as braced tubes, diagrids and outrigger systems, and their structural performances are studied. Structural design of today's tall buildings built with higher strength materials is generally governed by lateral stiffness. Tilted towers are deformed laterally not only by lateral loads but also by dead and live loads due to their eccentricity. The impact of tilting tall buildings on the gravity and lateral load resisting systems is studied. Comparative evaluation of structural systems for tilted tall buildings is presented.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.271-291
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• 2016

There is much architectural and engineering literature which discusses the virtues of exterior bracing and diagrid systems in regards to sustainability - two systems which generally reduce building materials, enhance structural performance, and decrease overall construction cost. By surveying past, present as well as possible future towers, this paper examines another attribute of these structural systems - the blend of structural functionality and aesthetics. Given the external nature of these structural systems, diagrids and exterior bracings can visually communicate the inherent structural logic of a building while also serving as a medium for artistic effect. Viewed in this light, the visual appeal of these systems can be enhanced to give a tower a more distinct urban identity. This entails the creation of structural elements that are aesthetically pleasing, geometrically coherent and that demonstrate dexterity of application in regards to a building's composition, while also respecting the laws of physics and mechanics. In this fashion, an artistic approach can exhibit structural systems as not just purely rational features that enable the construction of tall buildings, but as important visual components that afford opportunities for creative expression. This paper, therefore, synthesizes the concepts of structural performance and creative artistry to facilitate a better understanding of the aesthetic developments in skyscrapers worldwide.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.305-318
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• 2016

In the design of super-tall towers, engineers often find the conventional frame systems used in countless buildings in the past decades incapable of providing the required form, performance and constructability demanded by super-tall heights. The strength of the diagrid as a structural system in high-rise towers is the total flexibility it affords the designer as an adaptable, efficient and buildable scheme. Using fundamental engineering principles combined with modern computational tools, designers can take minimum load path forms to create rationalized diagrid geometries to create optimized, highly efficient towers. The use of diagrid frames at SOM has evolved as a structural typology beginning with the large braced frames on the John Hancock Center and continued in modern applications proving to be a powerful system in meeting the demands of supertall buildings.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2018

The emergence of tall buildings in the late $19^{th}$ century was possible by using new materials and separating the role of structures and that of non-structural walls from the traditional load-bearing walls that acted as both. The role of structures is more important in tall buildings than in any other building type due to the "premium for height". Among the walls freed from their structural roles, façades are of conspicuous importance as building identifiers, significant definers of building aesthetics, and environmental mediators. This paper studies dynamic interrelationship between the evolution of tall building structural systems and façade design, beginning from the early tall buildings of skeletal structures with primitive curtainwalls to the recent supertall buildings of various tubular and outrigger structures with more advanced contemporary curtainwalls.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.307-320
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• 2023

Tall buildings are built with an abundant amount of materials, including structural materials, coming from our limited natural resources. Tall buildings that began from about 10-story tall office towers have evolved to over 150-story tall mixed-use megastructures. As a building becomes taller, structural material requirement to resist lateral wind loads becomes exponentially larger. Therefore, it is crucial to employ efficient structural systems and optimize their design, which will contribute to sustainable vertical built environments through preservation of resources. Tube type structures with large perimeter diagonals are among the most efficient structural systems for tall buildings. Developments of braced tube, braced megatube, diagrid structures, and their optimal design strategies are reviewed. Superframed conjoined towers, produced by interconnecting multiple clustered braced tubes, are presented as a new design direction to achieve not only structural but also architectural and social sustainable design goals.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.243-250
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• 2016

Today's architectural design trend based on the recognition of pluralism has led to multiple design directions for all building types including tall buildings. This contemporary design trend has produced many complex-shaped tall buildings, such as twisted, tilted, tapered and freeform towers. Among many different structural systems developed for tall buildings, the diagrid system, with its powerful structural rationale and distinguished aesthetic potential, is one of the most widely used systems for today's tall buildings. This paper studies structural performance of diagrid systems employed for complex-shaped tall buildings. Twisted, tilted, tapered and freeform tall buildings are designed with diagrid structures, and their structural performances are investigated. For the twisted diagrid study, the buildings are twisted up to 3 degrees per floor. In the tilted diagrid study, the angles of tilting range from 0 to 13 degrees. The impact of eccentricity is investigated for gravity as well as lateral loads in tilted towers. In the study of tapered diagrid structures, the angles of tapering range from 0 to 3 degrees. In the study of freeform diagrid structures, lateral stiffness of freeform diagrids is evaluated depending on the degree of fluctuation of free form. The freeform floor plans fluctuate from plus/minus 1.5 meter to plus/minus 4.5 meter boundaries of the original square floor plan. Parametric structural models are generated using appropriate computer programs and the models are exported to structural engineering software for design, analyses and comparative studies.