New Configurations for Super-Tall Buildings Based on Structural Concepts and Energy Efficiency Principles

The term sustainability refers to both structural form and energy efficiency, especially for high-rise buildings. In this paper at first, structural systems appropriate for super-tall buildings are described. Structure-architecture interactions that are necessary to achieve a conceptual design are discussed. Shape strategies and global forms appropriate for high-rise buildings subjected to wind load are illustrated. The paper aims to show how efficient structural forms and energy conservation and generation principles could be blended together with considering architectural expression of high-rise structures. Innovative configurations for super-tall buildings based on the principles of wind and structural engineering to achieve sustainability in global form are defined. In fact the new configurations have the characteristics of a sound structural system and meantime they reduce wind load on global body of structure, are efficiently able to produce energy in creative ways by their innovative configuration. The configurations consist of single and clustered forms each one with three subdivides. Considering sustainability in super-tall buildings in terms of both structure and energy efficiency could absolutely open a new vision in aesthetics of high-rise buildings.