Think of the Empire State Building, the most famous skyscraper in the U.S. and the tallest building in the world from 1930 until the 1970s. Riveting archival film of the steel erection shows ironworkers casually eating lunch perched on steel beams hundreds of feet above the ground, working without a net, the steel flying up at a rate of four-and-a-half stories per week. The speed and heroics are just as vital to the mystique and admiration as the architecture of Shreve, Lamb, & Harmon. It remains the most prominent architectural icon on the Manhattan skyline and the most notable symbol of steel’s domination in New York high-rise construction for most of the 20th century.
In 2004, all sorts of innovations in methods and new materials are attracting attention in the high-rise building industry. And yet it’s the world’s oldest building material—concrete, in its modern cast-in-place reinforced incarnation—that is being touted as the material for the future. While it’s true that other kinds of innovations propelled steel ahead of concrete, including the acceptance of new forms of fireproofing, such as intumescent paints, cementitious spray-on coatings, and sprinkler systems, the concrete industry is blitzing developers, builders, and architects, arguing that concrete is the safest and most reliable material for skyscrapers. (Due to legitimate concerns regarding the safety of tall buildings after September 11, even most laypeople these days know what constitutes a “hardened core.” This is not lost on the advocates of concrete construction, even as they try not to belabor the point.)
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