Quote:
Originally Posted by brsmith
I wonder if anyone out there can answer me this: why is it that for many years all new 'tallest' skyscrapers are just over 100 stories? The Empire State Building was built about 80 years ago and IT is 100 stories.....surely by now they could have been building well over that, except of course for the Dubai tower.
Are there reasons for this?
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The short answer is that we like big round numbers. Buildings with bigger round numbers, like 150 or 200, are not really economically viable right now, unfortunately. Burj Dubai, with its 200+ stories, is largely empty and having money problems. The technology is there to build way higher, but the economic justification for it is not.
The Empire State Building has 86 "real" stories. The tip of what was designed as a mooring mast for dirigibles brings the height to 102 stories. That is now just used as a secondary observation deck, which I recommend to anyone who hasn't been up there yet.