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NEW YORK CITY 541m

ICONIC SKYSCRAPERS

400m

300m

200m

100m

CHRYSLER BUILDING 318m BANK OF AMERICA TOWER 365m EMPIRE STATE BUILDING 381m 30 HUDSON YARDS 387m 432 PARK AVENUE 426m ONE WORLD TRADE CENTER 541m

“There is nothing more poetic and terrible than the situation: Chicago stood on clay soil, which was not suitable
skyscrapers’ battle with the heavens that cover them.” Thus for the construction of tall buildings, while Manhattan rested
wrote the Spanish poet Federico García Lorca in the 1930s, on a rocky base of granite, which provided solidity and
after a stay in New York, torn between feelings of attraction stability. In addition, a large part of the Big Apple had been
and fear for these very tall buildings – never seen before and planned at the drawing board, as early as 1811, according to
for him so futuristic, soaring towards the sky – and, above all, the narrow and rigid grid design, which therefore only allowed
for what they represented: modernity, speed, and progress. the development of buildings in one dimension: vertically.
And while the American city remains the metropolis with And over the years, speaking of heights, aided by
the most skyscrapers in the world – its constantly changing technological evolution, we have truly reached the sky: the
skyline is unmistakable – it is interesting to know that these Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the tallest skyscraper in the world with
towering buildings did not originate in Manhattan. The first its 828 meters spread over 163 floors, soars like no other
ones, in fact, were built in Chicago after the great fire of has before.
1871. And it was at that time that the term by which they are But as is well known, records and firsts are made to be
commonly called today was coined: skyscraper. lost and regained, in an ongoing challenge based on image,
However, Chicago’s leading position did not last long, and reputation, luxury, engineering and much, much money
soon New York took the lead, thanks to a favorable geological invested.

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