The Illinois

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In 1956, Frank Lloyd Wright proposed a mile-high (1600 meter) structure known as either Mile High Illinois, Illinois Sky-City, or simply The Illinois. The design, intended to be built in Chicago, was to have included 528 stories, with a gross area of 18.46 million square feet (1.71 million square meters; 171 ha). It was never built, although if it had been, it would have been by far the tallest building in the world.

This is arguably the most famous of the semi-serious visionary buildings meant to be an alternative to the increasing urban sprawl occurring in most cities. None of these have, before now, been viewed as financially feasible. The Burj Dubai in Dubai, however, is expected to rise to half the height of the Illinois or more. Fittingly, the design of Burj Dubai is reminiscent of Wright's vision.

Technical feasibility

Wright believed that it would have been technically possible to construct such a building even at the time it was proposed. Back then, the tallest skyscraper in the world was New York's Empire State Building, at less than a quarter the height suggested for the Illinois. It probably would have been possible to erect a self-supporting steel structure of the required height, but there were, and are, a number of problems which occur when a building is that tall:

• The material used for towers at the time, steel, is quite flexible. This causes the tower to sway substantially in the wind, causing discomfort for occupants of the higher floors. It is possible this could have been solved by placing a counterweight somewhere within the tower such as in the Taipei 101. Also, the recent decade (late 1990s, early 2000s) has seen substantial increases in the load-bearing strength of concrete, making it a possibility to build entirely in this less flexible material.

• The space needed to service the elevators (needed to reach the higher levels) would occupy all of the space available on the lower floors, thus defeating the purpose of building tall. This was complicated by Wright's slender design. This problem has also been addressed in smaller buildings, such as in the Taipei 101, by using double-decker elevators. In the World Trade Center, the upper part of the building was divided into sectors, each with its own sky-lobby, where occupants changed between large express elevators and smaller local elevators. However, even with both of these measures implemented, the problem would still exist. In keeping with the spirit of the 1950s, Wright suggested that "nuclear elevators" be used to solve the problem.

• Fire safety. The need for emergency stairwells would bind much of the available space in the lower floors in a similar fashion. This could be overcome by designing elevators to remain operational during a fire.

• Albeit at a smaller scale, the same problem as with the elevators is encountered with water and sewage. A possible solution would be to recycle the water used in the upper floors, although this is easier today than it was back in the 1950s.

See also

• World's tallest structures
• Fordham Spire
• Sky City 1000
• X-Seed 4000

External links

• [A summary of Wright's plan] (pdf)
• [Burj Dubai & The Illinois Comparison]
• [Wright information page]
• [Italian page on the Illinois]
• [Qualcomm Stadium renovation in San Diego may include Illinois-like supertall]
• [Details several tall building designs, including The Illinois]
• [Drawing of The Illinois at Skyscraperpage.com]

 

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