Supertall

How the World's Tallest Buildings Are Reshaping Our Cities and Our Lives

By: Stefan Al

Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain

The global boom in skyscrapers—why it's happening now, how they're made, and what they do to cities and people.

We are living in a new urban age and its most tangible expression is the "supertall": megastructures that are dramatically bigger, higher, and more ambitious than any in history. In Supertall, TED Resident Stefan Al—himself an experienced architect who has worked on some of the largest buildings in the world—reveals the advancements in engineering, design, and data science that have led to this worldwide boom.

Using examples from the past (the Empire State Building, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Eiffel Tower) and present (Dubai's Burj Khalifa, London's Shard, Shanghai Tower), he describes how the most remarkable skyscrapers have been designed and built. He explores the ingenious technological innovations—in cement, wind resistance, elevator design, and air-conditioning—that make the latest megastructures a reality. And he examines the risks of wealth inequality, carbon emissions, and contagion they yield while arguing for a more sustainable, resilient, and equitable built environment for everyone.

©2022 Stefan Al (P)2022 Tantor

Surprisingly fun addictive read

This book was suggested to me by a friend who couldn’t praise it enough. The title and synopsis makes it sound like a textbook. However, the author follows the technology that has lead to the construction of these huge buildings, their positives and negatives, in such an engaging way that the book is truly engaging. ( And I finished feeling just a bit smarter.)

Dynamic new construction techniques

Super Talls take new materials and new delivery systems to convey those materials to gravity-defying heights. Special challenges when working in a hot desert environment where tallest buildings are now being erected. Pencil tall structures are changing city skylines. At what material and environmental cost?

Wanders from subject

Was a good book at the start when it talked about the super tall buildings, but more than half of the book was not relevant. Much of it spent on equity and social justice.