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World's Tallest Skyscraper Proposed for Houston?


Triton

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A note about the NW mall mentioned earlier. Much of the parking lot will be eliminated because of the US 290 and Hempstead toll road construction.

Look at the schematics at www.my290.com.

The mall is also the top site for the proposed 290 commuter rail station to transfer to the LRT to Uptown.

In this video it shows NW mall untouched by 290 redevelopment.

Back on topic IMO I still think this would be a great addition to Houston anywhere it would be built.

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The History Channel had a special on the Empire State building tonight. It mentioned that NYC is a good place to build skyscrapers b/c the type of soil there is prime for supporting such massive things. I think it is called bedrock?

With Houston's soil, is it even possible to build such supertalls? I know we have JP Morgan, but how much higher could our soil really take?

Are there any engineers in the house?

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The History Channel had a special on the Empire State building tonight. It mentioned that NYC is a good place to build skyscrapers b/c the type of soil there is prime for supporting such massive things. I think it is called bedrock?

With Houston's soil, is it even possible to build such supertalls? I know we have JP Morgan, but how much higher could our soil really take?

Are there any engineers in the house?

Supertalls can be built here, but yes, it is somewhat less hospitable than NYC.

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One advantage of Houston's soil composition is the presence of clay. It is this clay that prevents earthquakes in our area, despite the presence of over 85 surface faults. But I'm not sure what implications this has for potential supertall construction outside of the earthquake question.

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That's excellent information, but it didn't really mention Houston so much and there was no "Regional Hazard Assessment" for Southeast Texas and thus, Houston. My post was only about earthquakes in the Houston region, not the state of Texas.

http://www.texasbest.com/houston/geograph.html

This one --> http://tle.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/25/3/332 speaks of hazards to structures (houses, freeways and industrial buildings) in the Houston area, but from fault creep instead of earthquakes.

Besides, have you ever felt an earthquake in Houston? I haven't.

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Besides, have you ever felt an earthquake in Houston? I haven't.

I believe there was one in the Gulf of Mexico a few months ago which sent a small vibration towards Houston, but beyond that, no. :closedeyes:

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One advantage of Houston's soil composition is the presence of clay. It is this clay that prevents earthquakes in our area, despite the presence of over 85 surface faults. But I'm not sure what implications this has for potential supertall construction outside of the earthquake question.

Ours are weak, albeit yes, perceptible. But earthquakes can be engineered away in Japan, so they can be engineered away here.

I've browsed through a book before called Texas Earthquakes, in which they looked not only at natural occurences, but also at those triggered by oil & gas drilling accidents, as well as just industrial explosions that registered on the richter scale. Southeast Texas had plenty of those.

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The History Channel had a special on the Empire State building tonight. It mentioned that NYC is a good place to build skyscrapers b/c the type of soil there is prime for supporting such massive things. I think it is called bedrock?

With Houston's soil, is it even possible to build such supertalls? I know we have JP Morgan, but how much higher could our soil really take?

Are there any engineers in the house?

The bedrock under NYC does make it easier to build tall buildings there... but we could still do it here... you may just need a stronger and deeper foundation. A little interesting note about NYC... one reason the area between Midtown and Lower Manhattan (Greenwich Village, SoHo, Chelsea, East Village, etc.) doesn't have as tall of buildings as Midtown and Lower Manhattan is b/c the ground there is not as strong as it is underneath Midtown and Lower Manhattan. Not that they couldn't build tall buildings there, they could, it's just easier to build them in Midtown and Lower Manhattan.

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Okay, the other day, Houston Chron. and others reported an increase in office space in Houston at 14% by 2011. If this project were to occur and if this realitor wants this to be the tallest as long as he lives *I'm guessing 4,000 ft or something... except for that tower in Jeddah* and he, in fact, picks Houston, how much of an increase in office space would this be if the tower were only dedicated for office use?

I'm guessing at least a 50% increase, right?

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Okay, the other day, Houston Chron. and others reported an increase in office space in Houston at 14% by 2011. If this project were to occur and if this realitor wants this to be the tallest as long as he lives *I'm guessing 4,000 ft or something... except for that tower in Jeddah* and he, in fact, picks Houston, how much of an increase in office space would this be if the tower were only dedicated for office use?

I'm guessing at least a 50% increase, right?

Not even close. I'm dubious of the 14% figure, actually, and would appreciate it if you provided a link to the article.

Let's say that a 4,000-foot-tall building was the equivalent of six JPMorgan Chase Towers. Well that's only about 12 million square feet of office space. The Houston office market's gross inventory is approximately 160 million square feet, per Grubb & Ellis, so that'd be a 7.5% increase.

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Not even close. I'm dubious of the 14% figure, actually, and would appreciate it if you provided a link to the article.

Let's say that a 4,000-foot-tall building was the equivalent of six JPMorgan Chase Towers. Well that's only about 12 million square feet of office space. The Houston office market's gross inventory is approximately 160 million square feet, per Grubb & Ellis, so that'd be a 7.5% increase.

Here's the article.

Wow, only 7.5%? That's totally not what I expected.

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