By Lynette Kalsnes www.wbez.org
A building designed by a Chicago-based firm just made the list of Best Tall Buildings.
When the Burj Khalifa opened in Dubai, it officially became the world’s tallest building. Now the Chicago-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat is calling it one of the best tall buildings for 2010.
George Efstathiou was the partner in charge of the project for Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
EFSTATHIOU: It is an important project not only for Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, but for the city of Chicago, it’s important that people understand that some of the world’s best modern architects these days are coming from our home city.
Efstathiou says, for a tall building, the Burj Khalifa is quite slender. He says architects and engineers stood side by side and basically designed the shape of the building in a wind tunnel to minimize the force of the wind.
The Council on Tall Buildings says the height required the firm to rethink design techniques and construction practices.
