The service core is the distinctive feature of a tall building: it provides the skyscraper with structural solidity, room for elevators, toilets, and other amenities, and constitutes the main network for utility services, power and data. Though many of these elements were present even in the very first examples of this building typology, the actual service core is the result of an evolutionary design process that has taken more than one hundred years and is still evolving. The present paper examines the designs from the early skyscrapers of Chicago and Manhattan, through the zoning restrictions and the technological innovations of the post- World War II period, to the present modern control procedures of the elevators. The role of the service core has always influenced many aspects of the whole design of tall buildings concerning the structural system, the access/egress strategies and sometimes even their shape. The future trends for the evolution of the service core are mentioned including the innovative design strategies adopted in some recent skyscrapers
Historical evolution of the service core of tall buildings
TRABUCCO, DARIO
2010-01-01
Abstract
The service core is the distinctive feature of a tall building: it provides the skyscraper with structural solidity, room for elevators, toilets, and other amenities, and constitutes the main network for utility services, power and data. Though many of these elements were present even in the very first examples of this building typology, the actual service core is the result of an evolutionary design process that has taken more than one hundred years and is still evolving. The present paper examines the designs from the early skyscrapers of Chicago and Manhattan, through the zoning restrictions and the technological innovations of the post- World War II period, to the present modern control procedures of the elevators. The role of the service core has always influenced many aspects of the whole design of tall buildings concerning the structural system, the access/egress strategies and sometimes even their shape. The future trends for the evolution of the service core are mentioned including the innovative design strategies adopted in some recent skyscrapersI documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.