The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat’s 10th World Congress is approaching, set to be held in Chicago from October 28 to November 2. The event has a special relevance because the CTBUH will celebrate its 50th anniversary and, for the occasion, the list of the 50 most iconic skyscrapers of the last 50 years was published.



The 50 most iconic skyscrapers of the last 50 years

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat is preparing to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Celebrations will take place during the 10th World Congress, set to be held from October 28 to November 2 in Chicago, the city were the organisation was established. A special occasion for the famous institution, a point of reference for professionals in the design, construction and management of tall buildings. Anticipating the important event in Chicago, entitled “50 Forward | 50 Back: The Recent History and Essential Future of Sustainable Cities”, the CTBUH recently published the list of the 50 most iconic skyscrapers in the world, which were selected among all the tall buildings built in the last 50 years. A well-defined period was taken into consideration, even if skyscrapers have a relatively recent history. The first skyscraper, the Home Insurance Building, was built in Chicago in 1885, more than 130 years ago. The choice to focus on the last 50 years was based on precise considerations. Indeed, the construction of these particular buildings entered a new phase of innovation and development only at end of the 1960s. And it is no coincidence that the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitats was founded only 50 years ago, in 1969, to offer concrete answers to the needs of professionals operating in the world of skyscrapers. During these 50 years, the CTBUH closely followed the constructive evolution of these particular buildings, through initiatives and publications aimed at supporting the dissemination of good design practices for tall buildings, as well as of the most innovative and sustainable techniques by promoting an annual programme of awards established in 2002.

The skyscrapers that make up the list of the 50 most iconic buildings in the world were selected because they represent a milestone in the development of tall buildings. The list includes landmark buildings such as the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the tallest skyscraper in the world completed in 2010 or the Linked Hybrid in Beijing, one of the most advanced contemporary constructions consisting of a network of horizontally connected tall buildings, designed by Steven Holl Architects in 2009. The list would not be complete without examples such as the AMA Plaza (also known as the IBM Plaza) built in Chicago in 1972, one of the last projects completed by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, as well as one of the most important examples of the International Style, built according to a rigorous tectonic discipline.
Browsing the long list and following the development of skyscrapers over the last 50 years, the first thing that stands out is the transformation that has taken place in this building category in recent years. If in the past the skyscraper was a building to be interpreted, simply put, as an office tower with a predominantly commercial character and consisting of a repetitive structural system of horizontal slabs and vertical supports, in the last few years we have seen a transition to a real "vertical city". A multi-function building with variations both in the cladding materials, in façade solutions, as well as in the organisation, shape and distribution of interior and exterior spaces. Up to the most recent designs, in which environmental sustainability has assumed a fundamental and key role, just as important as the cultural and economic longevity of the skyscraper itself. Not by chance, in the list of the 50 most iconic skyscrapers of the last 50 years we find the “Bosco Verticale (Vertical Forest)”,

Stefano Boeri’s iconic skyscraper designed in Milan by the Italian architect, which has become a principal example for buildings that integrate the living plant element directly into the architecture.

(Agnese Bifulco)


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