The future of skyscrapers: Taller or greener or both?

As urban populations continue to swell, earning the title “the world’s tallest building” is not only a badge of honour, but also a means of combating urban density issues in our growing cities. However, the earth won’t be able to sustain these steadily expanding urban centres if the structures we build continue to put stress on the environment. This conflict between real estate space and environmentally responsible design begs the question - will the future of skyscrapers encourage designers to think taller or greener?

The history of the skyscraper

Let’s start with the basics. What qualifies as a skyscraper?

The term “skyscraper” was first used in 1883 to refer, as the term suggests, to tall buildings. The word eventually evolved to describe a “tall, continuously habitable building over 40 floors or over 150 m tall.”

If we’re taking the entire history of architecture into consideration, the first skyscraper was the Pyramid of Giza in ancient Egypt. But, this structure technically wasn’t inhabited (by anyone living), so let’s jump forward to the 20th century when the Empire State Building became the first structure to reach over 100 floors. Completed in 1939, it was considered the tallest building in the world until 1970 when the World Trade Center’s North Tower opened. Today, the world’s tallest building is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Currently, there are a number of buildings in the works that aim to steal the title in the next few years.

Burj Khalifa

Skyscrapers are getting taller

Since the construction of the Empire State Building, architects have been taking skyscrapers to new heights, and the term “skyscraper” is no longer sufficient. Now, buildings that climb over 300 meters are referred to as “supertall” structures,  and buildings that reach over 600 meters tall are considered “megatall.”

It feels like we’re currently in the midst of a supertall building frenzy. Over half of the world’s supertall buildings have been constructed in the last five years. Most of these supertall skyscrapers can be found in Asia and the Middle East, and Dubai is home to at least 18. Now that 432 Park Avenue in New York City is complete, the world has exactly 100 supertall buildings, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.  

432 Park Avenue - Via ArchDaily

Looking ahead, it seems that over the next five years the construction of supertall skyscrapers will only grow. According to David Malone, associate director of Building Design + Construction, right now there are about 130 supertall structures currently under construction or topped out. This includes the Jeddah Tower (formerly Kingdom Tower), which will become the first kilometer-high building, earning it the title as the world’s next tallest.

As cities compete to win the status of “tallest building,” few are stopping to consider the environmental consequences. Though taller buildings do help prevent cities from sprawling horizontally and eating up natural landscapes, they still put a significant strain on the environment and surrounding ecosystems.

Jeddah Tower

Taller buildings require more materials to be shipped to the construction site, burning more fossil fuels and producing more carbon emissions. Taller structures also use a ton of energy pumping water to greater heights and keeping these huge structures hot and cool (depending on the climate). In short, they quickly become a huge drain on the environment.

In addition to harming the environment, taller skyscrapers may also be a hazard to our health! A recent study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal states that you have less than 1% chance of surviving a heart attack if you live on floor 16 or higher. It makes sense; the higher you live, the longer it takes paramedics to respond to any sort of emergency. How will architects and developers solve this issue?

Should we be thinking of going greener?

Farmscape Towers

Parallel to this emphasis on height, there is a second trend gaining traction in the architecture world. There are now a growing number of architects less focused on grabbing the title for “highest structure,” and more concerned with innovation in the field of environmentally sustainable design.

Environmentally sustainable design is also becoming an important component for a new wave of homebuyers. As environmental sustainability becomes a bigger issue and Net Zero homes become more affordable, will green construction outweigh our desire to build taller?

Today, there is a growing collection of proposals for structures that do not seek to conquer but integrate into the natural environment. Architects are envisioning skyscrapers that rely on the natural environment, and have put forward proposals for shadowless skyscrapers, re-imagined cities with vertical farmland, solar-powered twisting skyscrapers, and even ‘treescrapers.”

To truly “go green,” architects have to pay more attention to the urban heat island effect. Even if a skyscraper manages to reach a Net Zero standard, it’s not clear whether this will do anything to ameliorate this consequence of urban living.

The term “urban heat island” refers to cities that are significantly warmer than the surrounding rural areas due to human activities. The heat island effect has a major impact on surrounding ecosystems. By increasing airborne pollutants, urban heat islands can affect the length of growing seasons and decrease air quality.

The heat island effect also generates more rainfall downwind of the city, can decrease water quality, and put stress on the environment as warm waters flow into the surrounding streams, altering the ecosystems.

Can we have our cake and eat it too?

Moving forward, architects will have to focus on ways to restore some balance to the scales. Can we find a way to continue pushing the boundaries of height while also innovating to keep these buildings from contributing to global climate change? Can the world’s tallest towers also set the benchmark for green design?

China’s Phoenix Towers offers us some hope. If the proposal is accepted, China’s supertall skyscraper would incorporate wind, solar, and thermal technologies, as well as biomass boilers, hydrogen fuel cells, and photovoltaic panels to reduce the impact of the building on the environment. The proposal is an example of how architects can strike a balance between reaching new heights and environmentally responsible design.