Popular Mechanics/Volume 49/Issue 1/Have Skyscrapers Reached Their Limits?
Have Skyscrapers Reached Their Limits?
The Higher Up They Go the Deeper Down the Foundation and Sometimes There Is No Bottom
By UTHAI VINCENT WILCOX
Street of the City of the Future, with the Arches of a Vast Suspension Bridge, Such as Has Been Started across the Hudson to Link New York and New Jersey, in the Background
Has the skyscraper reached its limit? Is the tall building becoming impossible for human beings to inhabit?
There is some evidence to indicate that American cities are about to call a halt on these tall structures that reach into the clouds and down into the earth.
Even the physical limits are being approached. The higher the building, the deeper the foundation must go. That is understood, of course. But it is not always so easy to keep on digging to find a solid rock bottom that will sustain millions of tons of concrete, steel and marble.
The thirty-four story skyscraper of the Albany, N.Y., state capital offices has discovered this to be true. For nearly a year the construction crews have been trying to find a solid bottom to support the great building. More than 2,000 concrete piles have been sunk into Capitol Hill, and the bottom needed isn't there. The vast excavation is getting deeper and in places has not yet approached the tops of some of the concrete piles which have been driven into the hill. Meanwhile ten floors of structural steel are in storage awaiting something stable to support them.
While the troubles of the Albany contractors are many, engineers tell of similar conditions that are being encountered as the height of buildings increases. Geologists say that many cities are located on mounds of earth that are just short of liquid in their consistency as far as proper skyscraper foundations are concerned.
The troubles of contractors are illustrated by the amazing experience at Albany. It was estimated that concrete piles imbedded thirty-seven feet into the earth would each support thirty-five tons, and with enough piles the building's height would be assured. The great pile driver sent the concrete log down to within one inch of the thirty-seven foot depth. It took three blows of the five-ton hammer to drive the pile the last one inch and there was but another inch to go. The hammer came down once and hit the pile again and presto! the pile simply disappeared.
Cross Section of the Future City as Mr. Corbett Sees It, with Many Traffic Levels Underground; Top, Street for Pedestrians Only, and Airplane Landing Fields, Above
Other piles showed the same result. There was not enough resistance and the piles disappeared into the soft earth below. Then the engineers placed a twelve by twelve timber on top of one of the concrete posts and set the pile driver to work. The pile, as a consequence, went down 112 feet before it hit hardpan. Geologists who were watching said that solid rock was down still farther.
The Albany building is not a great skyscraper as such buildings are known. It is designed to be but thirty-four stories high, and such a height is dwarfed in these days. While New York is located on solid rock, some geologists claim that the weight that can be piled on this rock is limited.
Meanwhile other cities continue to plan giant buildings. Harvey Wiley Corbett, noted city planner, who champions the skyscraper, predicts that American cities will soon have buildings twice as high as those of today, which many people are claiming as too tall. Major Henry H. Curran, also of New York, opposes Mr. Corbett and points to the impossibilities of such buildings in terms of human happiness as well as construction.
Block of Buildings Rising in Terraced Masses into the Skies, and Topped by Airplane Beacon Lights to Guide Passing Flyers
Mr. Corbett as an architect shows what he believes New York will look like in 1975. There will be other cities like it—Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, perhaps. "American cities will be composed of gigantic towers," he says. "Pedestrian traffic will be separated on elevated highways from vehicular traffic moving in "canals" below.
"The big cities will be modern Venices with motors instead of water filling the canals. The big stores will have two entrances, one below for automobiles and one on the second-story level for pedestrians. Shoppers will be able to walk from store to store undisturbed by traffic. The open park plazas will be lifted to a level with the pedestrian lanes and the space below will be used for parking automobiles.
"The step-back skyscrapers of the future will have moving stairs on the outside of the buildings instead of elevators, with facilities for passengers to alight at any floor," Mr. Corbett declared. "There will be airplane landings everywhere. Artificial light, now in its infancy, will revolutionize our life, turning night completely
Elevated Sidewalks May Connect Various Levels of Blocks of More or Less Uniform Skyscrapers, While the Lofty Bridges Will Be Carried Over the Tower Tops
into day. The cities' business hours will be twenty-four instead of eight or ten; people will work in six-hour shifts. The churches will be located atop of the great commercial buildings, commanding attention, or be buried in nondescript buildings below."
Mr. Corbett bases his prophecies on a lifetime of leadership in designing great buildings, and is a world authority. He continued: "Buildings will cover entire blocks, reaching in series of lifts and towers to supreme heights.
"Some of the skyscrapers will be a half mile high and will house small-sized cities. Stores will occupy lower floors. Then will come banks of floors devoted to offices. Atop of this section will be the residential part, floors where those who are employed in the business division of the structure might live. Schoolrooms, churches, theaters and social features will take over the next section of floors. The roof will be used for airplane landings or station stops for air transit to various sections of the country, or for that matter, the world.
"Imagine these new cities with no smoke, where the heat, the power and the light are all supplied by burning coal at the mine that is transformed into electric power and sent to the cities, where the upper portions of the buildings are more attractive than the lower, where we can take advantage of our terraces and use them for our gardens, if we wish."
Even with the Street-Level Drives, Pedestrians May Be Cared for by Elevated Sidewalks in Colonnades
But there are problems other than that of foundations to offset such a great dream, says Major Curran, who is counsel for the New York city club and member of the New York board of aldermen and himself an authority on city activities.
Major Curran sees in the skyscraper the cause of much discomfort. "There are everyday workers who count their ribs on release from its elevators and the subways that take them to their offices. They must pop out of kiosks like prairie dogs and move in the center of crawling motors that spit fumes from curb to curb."
Major Curran continued: "Now a New York architect announces a building of 110 stories! This inverted spyglass is to rise 1,200 feet in the air, thus outstripping not only Detroit's effort but also the Eiffel Tower in Paris, which is still the highest piece of construction in the world."
The physical difficulty of digging into the earth may deter the super-super-super-skyscraper. Perhaps a great accident will have its effect, for as the new building's foundations must be dug, the old ones must be watched carefully, and frequently a new foundation must be placed beneath the adjoining structure. Such complicated underpinning and transferring of loads running into thousands of tons are accomplished in the face of the ever-present menace of flood, fire and explosion.
MODELS HELP TEACH POLICE STREET LOCATIONS
German Policemen Studying Model Section of Berlin, to Learn Location of Streets, Alarm Boxes and Other Details; the Plan Is Especially Helpful to New Recruits
Accurately constructed models of sections of Berlin and suburbs are used in teaching the police recruits the location of streets, buildings and patrol boxes. They are also of service in explaining traffic regulations and give the candidates a clear idea of the beats they are to travel.
BALL IN TUBE TESTS BRAKES FOR AUTO SAFETY
For a quick and accurate test of the efficiency of the automobile brakes a simple little gauge, introduced in England, has given satisfactory results. It consists chiefly of a glass tube mounted on the instrument board in a fore-and-aft direction and at an angle to the horizontal.. The tube contains a steel ball which normally rests at the bottom of the tube but, when the car is slowed down by the brakes, tends to roll upward. The extent of the movement shows the efficiency of the brakes. One advantage of the gauge is that the measurements do not have to be taken on a level road as moderate gradients do not affect the performance of the indicator in any appreciable degree.
ROTARY TOOTHBRUSH GIVES AID TO DENTAL HYGIENE
Pull a little lever in the handle of a toothbrush and the bristles revolve, saving the hand movements and more thoroughly cleaning between the teeth. the manufacturers assert. New bristle fillings may be quickly inserted when the old ones wear out, the handle being intended to last indefinitely.
Spring-Driven Rotary Toothbrush with Replaceable Bristle Wheels, to Clean Teeth Thoroughly
MAGIC OF INVISIBLE LIGHTS ADDS TO GARDEN FETE
Courtesy General Electric Co.
Where Lighting Engineers Produced Unusual Effects; Part of the Garden Scene at Outdoor Party When Ultraviolet Rays Were Used
For the first time in history, invisible lighting was employed for the outdoor decorations and displays at a garden party in Colorado Springs. Special ultraviolet searchlights swept the lawn and shrubbery which had been treated with chemicals, so that each leaf and twig glowed under the rays of the unseen light, and the water in a fountain contained chemicals which made the stream sparkle in multicolored brilliance. Souvenirs, also treated with luminescent materials, were distributed among the guests who enjoyed the novelty of the changing effects as they passed in and out of the invisible beams. Dress goods, particularly those containing aniline dyes. glowed under the ultraviolet stimulation, and the crowd was amused to see teeth and eyeballs curiously affected by the rays. In addition to these novelties, use was made of rubber balloons and animal-shaped shades for the ordinary lights so that the garden, in places, was transformed to a miniature zoo with glowing animals and shining balloons that enhanced the weird aspects of the luminous decorations.
OVERHEAD STRAPS WARN AUTOISTS OF CROSSINGS
To Rouse the Indifferent Motorist to the Danger of the Railroad Crossing Ahead; the Straps Are Always on Duty
For the further protection of motorists, safety experts have gone to the railroads for an additional device to warn drivers of hazardous grade crossings. This unit is the overhead strap line, similar to that used on the railroads for many years at approaches to tunnels and low viaducts, warning brakemen, or others on top of the cars, to duck their heads. The strings
over the automobile road hang low enough brush the top of the car close to the river's face and so warn him, by day or night, to look out for the crossing which not far ahead.
THE OLDEST LIVING THINGS
So far as is known, the oldest living thing in the world today is a tree. It may be one of the giant sequoias of the Pacific coast, an East African baobab or one of the cypresses of Mexico. A tree of this kind, near Oaxaca, is said to have lived 6,000 years. It is forty-one feet through the trunk and, though its exact age cannot be determined without cutting the trunk and counting the rings, an approximate reckoning is made by comparing it with others of the same kind. By counting the rings, it has been found that some of the sequoias have lived at least 5,000 years. Among the animals, the longest-lived generally are supposed to be the big tortoises of the Galapagos islands, which are estimated to be 200 years old. Carp, kept in ponds, have lived to he 150, and parrots have lived eighty years in captivity. The longest-lived insect is the locust, but it spends all but a month of its seventeen-year existence in larva form.
PICTURES CHISELED IN BRASS LATEST ART FAD
Interesting stencil pictures can be made in brass with comparatively little work, and the results are unusual, since there is an opportunity for decorative backgrounds and development of detail. In the accompanying illustration of the national-capitol stencil, a black base for the brass emphasizes the proportions of the building and shows how the entire structure has been accurately suggested by using only the strongest and simplest features. The work of cutting the stencil consumed about three days, and it is framed under glass.
Stencil Picture of the National Capitol, Cut in Brass and with Black Background, to Emphasize Detail
ROYAL ELEPHANT WEARS ROBES STUDDED WITH GEMS
State Elephant of the Prince of Mysore, Decorated in Gold, Velvet and Jewels for the Royal Procession
When the Maharajah of Mysore recently celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of his coronation, Europeans invited to the ceremony witnessed one of the most gorgeous processions for which India is noted. Even the royal elephants, which participated in the parade, were clothed in plush, gold and precious gems. The beast which bore the gold howdah of the maharajah had golden rings on his tusks, and his head, with the exception of peepholes for the eyes, was completely covered by a jewel-studded and gold-ornamented headdress, with a floral design painted on it in brilliant colors.
FASHION DESIGNS BY RADIO SPEED STYLE CHANGES
Receiving Paris Fashion Designs by Radio
Courtesy Marshall Field & Co.
Dress designers in Paris made their sketches and, three hours later, visitors in Marshall Field's store in Chicago were looking at the drawings, for they were sent by radio and registered on a screen by the latest wireless-picture methods. The innovation was staged in connection with the celebration of the store's seventy-fifth anniversary and was made the more impressive by the models in old-fashioned costumes who paraded near the wireless machine while the latest Paris patterns were being received.
BEAUTIES OF MAPLE FLOORING SHOWN BY SPECIAL STAIN
Hard-maple floors, in a wide variety of colors to accompany special schemes of decoration, are now possible by using a transparent stain and wear-resisting varnish. The finish is especially adapted to hard maple, since this wood has fibers so closely woven together that the stain does not change color when applied. Floors may be prepared one day and used the next because of the rapidity with which the materials dry, it is said.
WASPS RAISED TO FIGHT MOTHS THAT DEVOUR FRUIT
By cultivating a wasplike parasite that destroys the codling moth, a California man hopes to reduce damage done to the walnut crop and to apples in many parts of the country. It has been known for some time that this parasite preys on the moths, but its efforts could be enlisted only where weather conditions were favorable, for the insects could not survive the winters. A plan has now been worked out whereby the "wasps" can be raised by the million and shipped to any section of the United States. Moth eggs are collected and put on coated cards in a "parasite cage" for three days. At the end of that time, the parasite has imbedded its own egg in each moth egg, which provides food for the developing insect and, at the same time, destroys the egg. These cards are easily shipped by mail so that an orchardist, bothered with the moth pests, can receive the services of an invading "army" through the post office. The parasites are said to be harmless to everything else but the codling-moth eggs.
Ravages of the Moth Larva in Walnut, and Disks on Which Eggs of Helpful Parasites Are Shipped