Big, Bigger, Biggest Trivia Quiz

Answer: Gravity

The whole purpose of building up in a confined area of land is to maximise the space available. Unfortunately, the higher up you go the larger your support structure needs to be at the base. As an example, stand a brick on its end and it is quite stable. Now the more bricks you place on top of the first, the less stable your structure becomes. To rectify this you need to add support bricks at the base and the higher you go the wider the base will need to be. During the early 1800s bricks and mortar were the basis for construction, which limited the number of storeys that could be added. Eventually they would reach a point where the space gained by going upwards would be matched or, worse, less than the space lost in the base being used for support.

Answer: The mass production of iron and steel

Long beams of solid iron become the architect's friend in the late nineteenth century. It was light, it was narrow and it took up a lot less space than solid bricks. In addition, they were able to support a great deal more weight. Then steel came along, much lighter and stronger than iron and the architects must have thought that they were in heaven. Well, maybe it wasn't heaven but at least now they could say they could get a little closer to the sky.

Answer: Frank Lloyd Wright

This amazing building would have contained a staggering 18 million square feet of floor space and housed 100,000 people. Sadly two years after putting forward this proposal Wright passed away and so did all talk about the project. Wright, however, did acknowledge at the time that the materials that were available to build his vision were not adequate to do so.

As an example, the strongest concrete that was at his disposal could only deal with a compression factor of 21 megapascals (MPa). What does this mean? If he were to construct an all concrete building he would have needed to have stopped at twenty storeys - he wanted to go as high as 500 storeys. How times have changed. Consider Shanghai's "Jim Mao Tower" on which work commenced in 1994.

The building is 88 storeys high and used concrete with compression strength greater than 130 MPa.

Answer: The Tube System

Bengali born Fazlur Khan has been described as the "Einstein of structural engineering" and the "Father of tubular design". He is highly regarded for his work on the John Hancock Centre and the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower), once the tallest building in the world. However, it was his tube system, which was based on the notion that a building can be put together as a hollow cantilever sitting perpendicular to the ground that has made him a legend within his field.
The best way to describe his creation is - a series of columns, closely spaced, tied together by deep spandrel beams. These are used to make up the exterior perimeter of a building and will improve a building's ability to withstand lateral forces such as wind and seismic activity. In addition this allows for less interior walls thus maximising space and the profitability of the building. The interior walls that are to be constructed are generally through the core of the building. Beams and trusses are then placed between the core walls and the exterior with no columns in between.
Khan introduced the system in 1963 on the DeWitt-Chestnut Apartment Building in Chicago using a framed tube layout, which is the tube's simplest form. Other variations include the trussed tube, sometimes called the braced tube, and the bundled tube, which employs several tubes tied together.

Answer: Diaphragms

Walls and frames generally imply some form of vertical construction whilst diaphragms are attached to the roof, floors and foundation i.e. your horizontal elements. Diaphragms are either flexible or rigid and they act as force transmitters. That means they will gather the horizontal forces that come at their level and the levels above and then transmit them to the walls in the storey immediately below it.
Diaphragms are one component that architects and builders will use to make buildings earthquake resistant so as to prevent their collapse and save lives - remember, it's not the earthquake that kills people, it's the collapsing building. Before construction begins engineers will take steps to assess the seismic activity in the area of the proposed building and determine the earthquake risk. In high risk areas architects will tend to shy away from asymmetrical buildings, in other words, they will avoid "L" or "T" shapes. The reason being is that these designs are more susceptible to torsion and twisting along their longitudinal axis.

Answer: Benjamin Franklin

It is myth that Benjamin Franklin was struck by lightning during his kite and key experiment. Sparks were created but only because the key and kite found themselves inside an electrical field. Franklin, however, proved what had been suspected for some time that lightning was a form of electricity. Large buildings may get struck by lightning several times during a year. Should lightning strike an object that is a poor conductor of electricity there's a good chance that object will suffer severe heat damage. Lightning also has the ability to jump and it does so to find a path to the ground that offers the least resistance. Enter the lightning rod.

It is a brilliant conductor and provides the lightning with its best option, reducing the damage to the building. Once the lightning reaches the ground it dissipates.

Answer: Oil filled with iron particles

Of all the items mentioned above magnets and iron are the most likely to generate a reaction.. MR fluid is a "smart" liquid that, when it is exposed or subjected to a magnetic field, will change into a state that almost resembles something solid. (The correct term for this is viscoelastic solid). Take away that magnetic force and it will change back to its liquid form. The MR fluid and the magnetic supply, usually an electromagnet, are installed into the dampers of a building. (Dampers are generally huge blocks of concrete that will move in the opposite direction of a resonance frequency).

A programme is designed to activate the magnetic field the moment the building detects seismic activity, thereby creating its own frequency suppression device.

The iron particles within the fluid are extremely tiny, they're measured in microns, and the hardening process will take approximately twenty thousandths of a second to take place.

Answer: The Core

Fazlur Khan's tube system reduced the need for internal walls to a set within the core of the building. Consequently it makes good sense to utilise this area to house the elevators. Also, by being central it provides easier access to the people who use the building.

Elevators are a necessary utility in a skyscraper in much the same way as water and electricity. The conundrum comes with the height of the building; the taller the building, the greater the size and number of the elevators that will be required to service the additional floors and the subsequent increase in people traffic. However, if the elevator becomes too big they will reduce the available floorspace and the profitability of the building.

The next issue is how to design the system so that it can transport large volumes of people to their destinations efficiently and safely. Issues to consider in conjunction with this are (a) Human health factors will place limits on the ability of the elevator to both accelerate and stop and (b) If an elevator were to carry volumes of people from the ground to the roof and people boarded and disembarked at every level it would be a tedious journey for those going all the way to the top floor. The solution to this is to build the elevators in sections. Those going to the higher levels catch an express lift to a "sky" or "transaction" lobby then catch another elevator to their destination.
The length of cabling is also limited for safety reasons. Cables, however, can be eliminated and motors attached to each car.

Answer: Fire

Fire offers a physical threat from the flames as well as the dangers presented by the smoke it generates and any toxic fumes that may be released when materials are combusted. One only needs to recall the September 11 attack on the World Trade Centre to understand the effects of fire. Whilst the impact of the planes caused considerable damage the inferno that followed reached temperatures of 1000 degrees Centigrade causing steel support beams to melt and collapse.

Steps that need to be considered to reduce the risk include the fireproofing of all steel structural components, installing sprinkler systems that respond to heat sources, vents to extract smoke and some form of method to deliver fresh air. The design of exit stairs is crucial to ensure they can accommodate the number of occupants within the building. The roads around the building should also be able to provide freedom of movement for emergency vehicles.

In Asia there are stringent fire codes in place that insist that tall buildings have specific refuge floors that are resistant to flame, smoke, chemicals and gas so that residents can wait within its confines while firefighters attack the blaze. Other options include pressurised staircases that keep the smoke out allowing safer access to lower floors, helipads on rooftops for evacuation purposes and emergency elevators with dedicated power supplies and high temperature resistant cabling.

Answer: Zero Net Energy

In a study conducted at the turn of the century in California it was identified that buildings (in California) were the largest consumers of electricity within the community. Zero Net Energy (ZNE) buildings are designed to obtain 100% of their own energy requirements from onsite renewable energy sources on a net annual basis.

Building designers and architects will make use of daylight in effort to reduce the load on lighting. This process can employ simple things such as the judicious placement of windows, using vision glass and transom lighting, limiting the use of accent lighting and using low energy fixtures. Solar shading and glazing become very important as does the upgrading of heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. Thinking broadly, designers can employ the use of single gender bathrooms on alternate floors, have occupancy sensors for lighting, while employers can have the cleaners work during unoccupied daylight hours (late afternoon or early morning) to make maximum use of daylight, reduce printer usage by 50% and introduce daily energy consumption monitors.

Trombe walls were mentioned in the question and for those who have not heard of them, they are walls that face the sun and are separated from the outdoors by a glass screen and a pocket of air. They are designed to absorb the sun's energy during the day, which they will then release to selected areas within the building during the evening.