Archinect - News

How the Speed of Elevators Impacts our Urban Environment

2017-09-07T14:46:00-04:00

The first commercial passenger elevator was installed by Otis Elevator Company in 1857 and climbed at a glacial pace of 40 feet a minute, though it felt staggering at the time. Since then, we have come a long way both in terms of elevator speeds and in terms of the heights these elevators are needed to traverse in order to meet the needs of super-tall structures around the world. Today, an Otis elevator in Dubai soars at a speed of 22 mph, which is still less than half the speed of those topping new rankings for the fastest elevators in the world.

Looking into the ways these improvements in elevator speeds have effected our urban environment, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat has released new research in a study titled Vertical Transport: Ascent & Acceleration. The study defines the fastest and longest elevator runs and shows a strong correlation between the increase in elevator speeds and the increase in skyscraper heights. As elevator technology advances and allows b...

2014 was the tallest year by far for skyscrapers, CTBUH finds

2015-01-12T17:04:00-05:00

2014 was the year of the tall building. The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) published its 2014 Tall Building Data Research Report, a statistic-laden round-up that could make your head spin and wonder how much taller a skyscraper can possibly get. Last year, a total of 97 buildings with a height of 200 meters or greater were completed, making it the highest number that the CTBUH has ever recorded.

Not surprisingly, the report states that 74 of the 97 tall buildings are located in Asia, with China completing the most buildings for the seventh year in a row with 58. The Philippines took second place with five completions, followed by the United Arab Emirates and Qatar with four completions each. Indonesia, Canada, the United States, and Japan shared fourth place for three completions each.

To slap on some more statistical highlights, 2014 also saw the completion of 11 Supertall buildings (300 meters height or more), which now accounts for 54% of the world's currently...

Architecture in Charts

2011-10-28T15:17:43-04:00

A concise representation of Architecture in pie chart form

Architecture as pie charts