Are skyscrapers stupid?

Yes - if you have good transportation infrastructure you don't need that much density

5 (6.3%)

Yes - it takes extra 1/2 hour a day to get to/from your top-floor office

4 (5%)

Yes - they're not cost-effective, just pointless egotism

6 (7.5%)

Yes - they're not safe

4 (5%)

Maybe - stupid outside super-dense megacities like Hong Kong

7 (8.8%)

Maybe - only if they're purty and phallic

3 (3.8%)

Maybe - only the kind designed by Howard Roark

6 (7.5%)

No - urban density is a good thing for its own sake

12 (15%)

No - superlative mega-projects are always cool

18 (22.5%)

No - Extreme Urban Skydiving  

15 (18.8%)

Total Members Voted: 14

[Alex Libman]

From UK Daily Mail -- Mile-high tower: Saudi prince promises £5bn desert spire TWICE as tall as nearest rival being built --

On a clear day, the view from the top will take in the Middle East, North Africa and the Indian Ocean - providing you've a head for heights.

Plans for a mile-high tower in the Saudi Arabian desert have been unveiled by the billionaire owner of London's Savoy Hotel.

At 5,250ft, the £5billion project, masterminded by two British engineering consultancies, will be twice as high as its nearest rivals, skyscrapers under construction in Dubai and Kuwait, and almost seven times as high as the Canary Wharf tower in London's Docklands.

Little brother: The Dubai Tower and Prince al-Walid bin Talal, who is behind the scheme

It is being planned for a new city near the Red Sea port of Jeddah. Behind the scheme is 51-year-old Prince al-Walid bin Talal, who bought the Savoy for £1.25billion in 2005.

The plan gives the Middle East a clear lead over Asian countries and the U.S., who have vied in the past to construct the world's tallest buildings.

None of the other skyscrapers under construction, including New York's Freedom Tower on the World Trade Centre site, will exceed 2,296ft.

The prince's company, Riyadh-based Kingdom Holdings, has set up a joint venture with the London firms Hyder Consulting and Arup.

Experts say the technical challenges are enormous. Much of the lifting will be carried out by helicopters, which will also be used as commuter transport for builders.

The tower will have to be capable of withstanding a wide range of temperatures, with its top baking in the desert sun by day but dropping to well below freezing at night.

To resist the strong winds prevalent in the area and stop it swaying, giving its occupants a form of high-rise seasickness, it will be fitted with a giant computer-operated damper.

Two "mini-towers" - both taller than Canary Wharf - will be built on either side of the main tower.

Linked to it by elevated walkways, they will anchor it and act as [stabilizers].

Until recently, the still-under-construction [Burj] Dubai Tower was expected to be the world's tallest building.

Plans have changed several times to make it higher, but the final version is expected to be 2,300ft with 160 storeys.

Looks like somebody is overcompensating for something... 

[jimmed]

I'd hit it.

[Harry Tuttle]

I love skyscrapers. Cram all the people and businesses you can into a small area so there's enough pristine real estate left for me to have a cottage on 10 acres with a private lake. 

[Bill Brasky]

I firmly believe the highest inhabitable floor of a skyscraper is where I belong.  From there, I can watch the city come to life as I finish my evening standing by a window, sipping on a Scotch poured from a decanter made of ivory and scrimshawed to show the proudest moments of my life, in bas relief.

And when I turn from that window, with dramatic purpose, and utter the words "Summon my henchmen"  ...the machinery of my empire will groan to life and decimate the opposition, yet again. 

[Andy]

Well, if that doesn't have 'target' painted all over it I don't know what does.

[Bill Brasky]

Nonsense.  Its a secret lair. 

[YixilTesiphon]

Skyscrapers kick ass.

[mikehz]

Skyscrapers are inanimate objects, and therefore cannot be either stupid or smart.

The building of high-rises might be a wise choice, depending on the real estate market in which the structure is planned. But, often they are no more than costly phallic symbols--and these days, terrorists magnets.

[Puke]

SKyscrapers are the most efficient use of land. Build up instead of out.
I want to see if one of these mega super scrapers will fall over. 

[Alex Libman]

Skyscrapers make sense in very few cases, like Hong Kong that's boxed in politically (though they still have 75% of their land unurbanized), but in most cases the "boxing in" effect comes from urban planning and government interventionism.  But building them in a nation like Saudi Arabia is just plain vanity.  Good thing the Koran doesn't mention the Tower of Babel...

[mikehz]

Good thing the Koran doesn't mention the Tower of Babel...

It doesn't have to. Muslims, not content with their own book of nonsense, also subscribe to the nonsense in the Bible.

[Puke]

Good thing the Koran doesn't mention the Tower of Babel...

Booyah! Our own Tower of Babel

For fuck's sake don't clicky if you have slow net tubes!

[Alex Libman]

That's how I'd rebuild the NY WTC, three towers (scroll right) with 133 stories each....

[Alex Libman]

NYC is fooked.  Let's build our own little Dubai in New Hampshire... 

[Alex Libman]

The Randian heroes that be might find it more prudent to move mountains than deal with taxes and government bullshit in the other states.

Luddites can start a technology-free state project elsewhere...