World's skinniest skyscraper

[reader]

From CNN

The 91-story skyscraper, also known as 111 West 57th Street, contains 46 full-floor and duplex residences. Photos released this month by the designers show opulent lobbies decked out in limestone, marble, blackened steel and velvet, floors paved in smoke-gray solid oak and original artworks by Picasso and Matisse.

According to Studio Sofield, Steinway Tower's interiors were designed to evoke the grandeur of New York's Gilded Age, a period in the late 19th century when the city's boulevards were lined with the stately mansions of robber barons like Andrew Carnegie and Cornelius Vanderbilt. It sits on a Midtown street, filled with gleaming towers, that has become known as "Billionaire's Row."

At 1,428 feet, it is also one of the tallest buildings in the Western hemisphere, standing just short of two others in New York City: The 1,776-foot-tall One World Trade Center and the 1,550-foot-tall Central Park Tower.

Super-slender skyscrapers, also known as pencil towers, became standout features of the Hong Kong skyline in the 1970s. Since then, major cities such as New York have followed suit.

Residences in the Manhattan skyscraper, which was developed by the JDS Development Group and Property Markets Group, range in price from $7.75 million to $66 million.

[PeterRS]

As Steinway Tower is mentioned, I assume this is on the site of the old Steinway building just across from NY's main concert venue, Carnegie Hall. It does have a very small plot area.

I wonder what effect high winds will have on those living near the top. When I lived in Hong Kong, two of my flats were on the 25th and 34th stories on far from slender towers. In fact they look far more sold. Yet during a typhoon each would sway, sometimes dramatically.

It reminds me of another iconic NY building known originally as the Citicrop Center with 59 floors and its 45-degree sloping roof. Opened in 1977 it seemed a marvel of design. Then an engineering student who had studied the detailed plans for the building asked the architect at an open forum about the building's structural integrity. He suggested there were design flaws that could lead the building to collapse with wind speeds of 70 mph or greater. The structural engineer realised he had made a major error and initially considering comitting suicide. But a series of structural additions were quietly made starting in 1978. These took place overnight so that they remained confidential. It was only in 1995 that the public was made aware of the building's original structural faults. But given the fact that the original structural problem and subsequent repairs were concealed from the public, there was much criticism that other buildings made during those 20 or so years were unable to benefit from knowledge of them. 

[reader]

Several video studies have been made on the Citicorp building. This is among them:

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From the NY Times

Dampening systems are not as alluring a draw as a slick lobby. One type, called a tuned mass damper, is made of steel or concrete, weighs anywhere from 300 to 800 tons and is housed with other mechanical equipment at the top of the building. A typical system can take up approximately 1,000 square feet of space and utilizes a double-height ceiling. Connected to the structure’s walls by a system of pistons and spring mounts, the damper acts like a massive shock absorber, pulling the building back toward its original position whenever high winds blow.

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/09/realestate/keeping-skyscrapers-from-blowing-in-the-wind.html

[PeterRS]

I believe the mass damper system is in use in Taipei 101, the world's tallest building until not many years ago. But as with my apartments in Hong Kong, that has a large plot area and does not taper off towards the top. Mind you, it must work as Taipei is on an active earthquake zone and the city experiences several earthquakes, some major.