How long can skyscrapers stand

More specifically, how long would something like the ESB stick around if for some reason maintenance ceased today? How long would it be a visible skyline landmark?

How long before a skilled archaeologist could detect no trace that it had ever existed? The prior thread, If you had to warn people 10, years in the future to stay away from a site, how would you do it?

A skyscraper, or that skyscraper? Building techniques and materials have changed quite a bit since the '30s. With this question I'm not sure how picky I can afford to be; I haven't been able to dig much up about it. I would think that you'd have several natural disasters in that time span that dramatically overshadow all other degenerative forces combined, so you need to find out how many earthquakes for example it would take to reduce it to rubble, and then figure out how long it would take for them ot happen.

Gunn at PM on November 16, How close to sea level and the coast is your average skyscraper? Sea levels seem to fluctuate as much as m every 10, - , yrs. Were humans to disappear tomorrow, I suspect any tower in Manhattan would likewise disappear within that time period from simple erosion processes. Along with earthquakes, ice ages and their glaciers cutting through rock , you have many powerful geological forces acting on objects built to last maybe a few hundred years at most without those stresses.

Since most of civilization and therefore most of its archeological artifacts aggregate around coastal areas, it seems it would be pretty hard for your future archeologists to find what you're after.

Was this inspired by the New York Times article about earthen chevrons suggesting massive life-destroying tidal waves as recent as 4, years ago?

I've been wondering about this, too. There are surviving signs of ancient architecture that date back 5, years, and the materials involved in building these buildings seem a lot more fragile than steel. Steel does corrode, though. I figure the steel inside the building will last the longest.

Steel corrodes at variable rates depending on many different conditions. Throughout its lifetime, it can expect to be exposed to air, water, and earth. The main things acting on the steel will be 0 2 , H 2 O and salt. Since much of the steel will likely also be galvanized, the beams will be protected as long as the environment exists for a stable oxide to form with the zinc. This degrades in reduced oxygen areas with excess water and acidity, so then you have to start wondering about the ground the building is built on.

What's the pH of the soil? What are the leeching qualities of the soil and as a result, its ability to hold on to salts? Knock an order of magnitude off to take into account major earthquakes or meteors or whatnot. So, 10, years where it stands. Oh, that's assuming an average 1-meter girder assembly.

This page has some projections as to when various evidence of humanities existence would disappear if we were to suddenly vanish. By: Tom Harris. Throughout the history of architecture, there has been a continual quest for height. Thousands of workers toiled on the pyramids of ancient Egypt, the cathedrals of Europe and countless other towers, all striving to create something awe-inspiring. People build skyscrapers primarily because they are convenient -- you can create a lot of real estate out of a relatively small ground area.

But ego and grandeur do sometimes play a significant role in the scope of the construction, just as it did in earlier civilizations. Even in the sun-baked Sahara, early pyramids crumbled under the destructive power of frost, which expanded as it formed on chilly desert nights and prised open gaps in the limestone blocks.

For years it was thought that the Egyptians had eventually figured this one out by learning to carve blocks with a tighter fit, though how exactly remained a mystery. Then in the early s someone finally peered at the rocks under a high-resolution microscope.

Deep inside the ancient blocks, he found tell-tale signs: microscopic algae, called diatoms, whose hard shells had been partially dissolved by the alkaline cement. The Egyptians made their rocks from four main ingredients; limestone, lime, water and mud.

These reacted together to form a chemical glue. The neat part is that as it ages, the glue reverts back to its raw ingredients, turning the cement back into rock. But if the main concrete shell of a skyscraper may be relatively resilient, the fate of the their windows is less straightforward. Glass has the weight of granite and the stiffness of aluminium; it would take 10 tonnes of pressure to crush a single 1cm cube.

Even in the sea, it can take up to 50 years of tumbling to wear into the colourful frosted pebbles found on beaches. And yet it can spontaneously fail. Finally, would the glass eventually flow towards the bottom of the frame? The idea is based on medieval windows — which appear to be thicker lower down — and the myth that glass is actually an extremely viscous liquid: over hundreds of years, glass was thought to flow to the underside of the frame. The densely packed island of Manhattan is the birthplace of the modern skyscraper Credit: Getty Images.

According to Konstantinos, concrete structures will last longer, since rust sets in long before concrete begins to crumble. Either way, Redford is not convinced. They are functional structures for sure, but they will last only as long as there is a need for that function. In the end, most skyscrapers are more likely to be torn down than fall down.

In fact the Great Pyramid was not the only impressive building around 4, years ago. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Already subscribed? Log in.

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