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skyscraper

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Street View

Street View

Skyscrapers from the ground look tall!

Glass + Steel

Glass + Steel

Cathedral of Learning

The Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh is, hands down, the greatest educational building I have ever seen.

One of the foremost Gothic architects of the time, Philadelphian Charles Klauder, was hired to design the tower. The design took two years to finish, with the final plan attempting to fuse the idea of a modern skyscraper with the tradition and ideals of Gothic architecture.

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Hearst Tower

I am reading about the Hearst Tower this morning. In addition to it’s stunning, organic-looking design, it’s environmentally friendly:

Hearst Tower is the first green building completed in New York City, with a number of environmental considerations built into the plan. The floor of the atrium is paved with heat conductive limestone. Polyethylene tubing is embedded under the floor and filled with circulating water for cooling in the summer and heating in the winter. Rain collected on the roof is stored in a tank in the basement for use in the cooling system, to irrigate plants and for the water sculpture in the main lobby.

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Tribune Tower

Tribune Tower

Love that neo-Gothic style. More information on the Tribune Tower.

Contrast

Contrast

John Hancock Center

John Hancock Center

The building slopes inwards as it rises, so when you take a picture like this, it looks even taller than it actually is.

It’s still pretty dang tall.

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Citycloud

Citycloud

Seminary and Minneapolis Horizon

Seminary and Minneapolis Horizon

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Tall Buildings or On Hyperbole

I recently developed an interest in very tall structures when I found out that the tallest supported structure in the world is not far from me: it’s in North Dakota. This structure is not freestanding, it is a guyed radio tower called the KVLY-TV mast that broadcasts to an area of 22,686 square miles (for comparison, this is more than two states of Massachusetts). For further comparison, the mast is 628.8m high: compare to the current tallest building in the world, Tapei 101, at 508m. That said, since I was overdue for a hair-brained idea, I’ve decided to drive over and see this thing up close this summer (and photograph it). We’ll put somone tall next to it for scale … even though it looks like you have to get literally about a mile away to get the entire mast in your camera viewfinder. Before I leave this topic and move on to the tangential research it inspired, I must note an interesting tidbit about the tower: the top is, apparently, accessible by “service elevator or ladder.” Is it just me, or does it seem like a really bad idea to climb a ladder that is 2,063 (4 tenths of a mile) high? Goodness.

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1st Bank

1st Bank

The First National Bank Building was the tallest in St. Paul from 1930 until 1986. (source)