How seemingly soulless glass-and-steel towers transcend function to become esteemed icons of cities.

As I looked out the window and took in the seemingly endless stretch of flatness surrounding the highway just outside of O’Hare Airport, I sighed.

Did mountains not exist here?

Having spent the first 18 years of my life living in Los Angeles, where mountains and hills sprang up in all different directions and stood as natural landmarks, I found it odd—almost eerie—that a landscape could be so flat without any major defining characteristic, besides its persistence to run uninterrupted by the slightest incline. 

Even in the most central parts of California, where farmland dominated the region, you could still see the silhouettes of mountain ranges that loomed in the background, rising dramatically over the flat land. Here, in Chicago, however, the land just fell off in the distance—absent of any depth, like a void. Despite my subtle discomfort in the absence of mountains, I had to adjust to this featureless land as I would be living here for the next four years.  

Still a few miles outside the city and stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic, I grew tired of looking out the window—at the endless stretches of flatland—and started scrolling on my phone.

“Look up!” my mom yelled.

And, as if in a sudden burst of sunlight, I caught a glimpse of a sleek black tower rising amidst the sea of flatness. I stared ahead intently, waiting for more. Then it came.

Sitting proudly as it shimmered in the midday sun, the skyline appeared—so grand that it resembled a mountain range with its various peaks and valleys, which formed an irregular yet uniform shape. In a remarkable turn of events, the seemingly featureless land had been transformed by a sweeping array of glass towers, establishing the city as an undeniable force, and I couldn’t wait to be in Chicago.

Photo by Rykley Braun

 “An awe-inspiring skyline is a city’s announcement that it is open for business and confident in its future growth. Supertall structures stand as ‘place makers’ in the planning process, since they create neighborhood landmarks to draw companies, residents, tourists and foreign direct investment” – Jason M. Barr

 Just as architects and wealthy businessmen competed to build the world’s tallest buildings in the early twentieth century, the race to the sky continues today—more active and widespread than ever before. 

Originating in Chicago with the Home Insurance Building (1885), the skyscraper was born in the United States. However, over 100 years later, these iconic structures are now most prominent in China, which has more than 2,000 skyscrapers, more than the U.S.

In fact, nine of the 10 world’s tallest buildings are in Asia. The continent also has more 150-meter or taller buildings (the modern-day minimum height designated for skyscrapers) than the rest of the continents combined.

Up until 1998—when the Petronas Towers in Malaysia reached unprecedented heights—the U.S. had long been home to the world’s tallest building, establishing itself as a powerhouse for skyscraper design and construction. Even in the 1933 edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, a skyscraper was defined as “a high building of many stories, especially one of those characteristics of American cities.”

However, the arrival of the twenty-first century has marked an era in which skyscraper design and construction flourish worldwide.

According to The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, during the decade 1991-2000 an average of 12 skyscrapers, 200 meters or taller, were built annually. However, from 2011 to 2020, that annual average was 113. This increase in the annual average has resulted in 84 percent of the world’s 200m+ skyscrapers being built after 2001.

Of the 1,316 skyscrapers—200 meters or taller—built since 9/11, most have been outside of North America. In 2001, 49 percent of the world’s 200m+ skyscrapers were in North America, yet today, that number has dwindled to 15 percent. Asia is now the world leader with 66 percent. And, in the Middle East, the number of 200m+ skyscrapers has gone from only five in 2001 to 191 in 2021, totaling the region’s number to 11 percent.

When considering the world’s “supertall” buildings—300 meters or taller—their construction has also seen an upward trend since 9/11, as they have jumped from only 27 in 2001 to 164 worldwide in 2021.  

So, despite the attacks in New York City on 9/11, skyscrapers have experienced their greatest development in the 20 years following the tragedy. Continuously growing higher and expanding into new regions, these tall buildings maintain their relevance as powerful symbols and catalysts of change for the city or nation they represent. In such cases as Dubai, which has become a global center after the construction of the world’s tallest building, we see that architectural height—in all its pride—is meaningful after all.

Photo by Rykley Braun

“Quickly growing or modernizing countries still see the skyscraper—as Americans did in the 20th century—as the ultimate prestige project” – Christopher Hawthorne

Between 1880 and 1890, almost 40 percent of the townships in the U.S. lost population because of migration to urban areas. As American cities experienced this rapid growth, the workforce began transitioning from factories to desks. 

For instance, the Chicago clerical workforce (those who work in an office) increased by 740 percent between 1870 and 1890. 

Innovations in communications technology, such as the national telegraph network and the telephone, made it possible for workers to be located away from the point of production. Moreover, the development of America’s first giant national and international corporations during this period contributed to the rise in office work, as all aspects of production—from sourcing to sale—were now controlled by one company, thus creating more management, analytical and clerical positions. 

With such a sudden shift in the workforce, there was an overwhelming demand for office space, outnumbering the existing supply. 

Between 1885 and 1892, 35 “tall” office buildings—at least 10 stories and 130 feet in height—were built or under construction in Chicago. This outbreak of “tall” office buildings, our first skyscrapers, supplied the rising population of office workers and symbolized America’s transformation from a rural to an urban society, in which capital was primarily concentrated in the lofty buildings of major corporations. 

Today, over half of the world’s population lives in cities and more than 80 percent of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is generated in cities. The presence of skyscrapers in modern cities reflects the rise of capitalism throughout the world’s most developed and influential nations.

We can see this phenomenon in nations such as China, which has experienced a skyscraper boom during the last four decades—due to economic reform and dramatic internal migration. 

In 1979, only 19 percent of Chinese residents lived in urban areas. That figure grew to 66 percent in 2023. 

Accompanying this vast urban migration has been China’s transformation from a socialist economic system with few skyscrapers (pre-1990) to a predominantly capitalist economic system rich in skyscrapers. 

When China experienced peak skyscraper construction in 2016, the nation accounted for nearly 70 percent of the world’s completed skyscrapers that year. This investment in the rapid development of skyscrapers symbolized the country’s rise to a global superpower in the twenty-first century, as it was now the world’s second-largest economy. 

However, China hasn’t been the only Asian country to see such prominent development amid economic prosperity. 

Malaysia, Indonesia and India have experienced annual gross domestic product growth rates more than three times that of the U.S. in the last decade. Profiting off their booming industries, these countries have erected skyscrapers to invest in their economies and propel their urbanization—today, they all rank within the top 15 countries with the most skyscrapers.

In the Middle East, which is home to 53 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves and nearly half of all known natural gas reserves, skyscraper construction has also flourished. 

Saudi Arabia’s prolonged Jeddah Tower resumed construction seven months ago and is on track to become the world’s largest building at over 1,000 meters, beating out the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Along with the Makkah Royal Clock Tower in Mecca, which stands adjacent to the Grand Mosque (where millions of Muslims embark on a pilgrimage each year) and is the world’s fourth-tallest building, the Middle East could soon have three skyscrapers within the top five of the tallest buildings in the world. 

The Middle East’s immense wealth from its valuable resources has resulted in its integration of globalization—the growing interconnectedness of the world’s industries, governments, people, and cultures—which is aptly exemplified through the region’s construction of supertall buildings. 

Spanning over 100 years of existence, the skyscraper has historically been a symbol of global capitalism as nations have built these structures to concentrate all economic activity within the confines of a major marketplace—a city. 

The impressive skylines of modern cities attract commerce and express a city’s presence as a global player. 

However, this desire to create a hub of connectivity of tall buildings results in a world where our global cities look increasingly similar. 

Seemingly soulless glass-and-steel towers dominate the images of cities when you search them on the internet, making the architectural identity of urban areas nearly indistinguishable.  

With its homogenous nature, the architecture of the modern urban landscape aims to serve a city’s assimilation onto the global stage as skyscrapers—the chosen mode of architecture—are status symbols demonstrating economic development and innovation. 

Photos by Rykley Braun

“Form follows function” – Louis Sullivan

Despite their status as symbols of global trends, skyscrapers are a design rooted in functionality and efficiency as they are built to maximize the profits of real estate in the city—which consists of small parcels of land. 

The vertical expansion granted by these lofty structures is an opportunity that was made possible through technological innovation in late nineteenth-century America.    

Before the invention of the passenger elevator, the average height of U.S. office structures had been kept down to four or five stories because prospective tenants did not want to climb so many stories; hence, the upper floors were always the cheapest and least coveted.

Following the implementation of passenger elevators in office buildings, owners noted that the demand for upper floors was greater than that for lower ones—the social status of floors had been completely reversed. So, they began to build higher to increase profits.

However, it wasn’t until the introduction of the steel skeleton frame that skyscrapers truly took off into the sky. Tall office buildings had previously been made of thick masonry, which weighed down the structure and limited height. With a steel frame, buildings could now rise at least four times as high as ones made of masonry.

Between the invention of the passenger elevator and the steel skeleton frame, American buildings quickly increased in height, giving way to the construction of skyscrapers. Yet, the first skyscraper designs lacked identity as architects merely elongated established forms, such as Beaux-Arts and Neo-Gothic, expressing what would happen if a four or five-story structure extended indefinitely upwards.

Louis Sullivan, a pioneering American architect of skyscrapers, was a vocal critic of such traditional designs, calling them “mere folly.”

He believed that the fundamental principle of skyscraper design was to model the exterior after the interior. That is, first identify the building’s function, to which the form (design) would then follow.

Unlike the thick and elaborate masonry facades, which crowded the building’s surface as they staggered on top of each other, Sullivan’s skyscrapers were sleek structures that embraced the steel skeleton frame on the exterior of the building. Purposefully, only the ground floors had lavish designs to stand out to pedestrians, while the upper levels lacked exterior ornamentation and were strictly grid-like. This design resulted in larger windows and sharper angles, allowing the building to rise freely as its vertical lines boldly stretched toward the sky.

Sullivan’s straightforward yet elegant designs represented the function of commercial skyscrapers. These buildings were home to offices and thus had to be constructed in a manner that most efficiently served this function—large windows filtered in light and thin walls allowed for more space.

The design style of Sullivan has been widely influential as it has given way to the modern skyscraper, whose form is uniquely recognizable now. With their sleek all-glass facades, through which one can see inside, these buildings’ exterior is modeled after the interior more than ever before.  

Photo by Rykley Braun

 “The United States’ largest cities have all but completely priced out middle-class life” – Ryan Scavnicky

The demand for office space has plummeted since the pandemic.   

Recent research shows that 40 percent of U.S. job seekers are interested in a fully remote position. Thus, the skyscraper faces questions of identity in today’s increasingly digital world. 

Before 2001, office buildings accounted for more than 80% of all 200-meter-plus buildings globally. Now office buildings represent less than 46% of the 200m+ group, with significant growth of mixed-use, residential, and hotel functions. 

And, in the already existing downtown office buildings, vacancy is at a record-breaking high.  

During the final months of 2023, Chicago experienced a 23.8 percent office building vacancy rate, significantly higher than the 13.8 percent vacancy rate at the beginning of the pandemic. 

These vacancies have increased interest rates and caused commercial building sale prices to plummet by more than 50 percent. This sudden and hard dip in commercial real estate value can be attributed to the rise of remote work. 

In 2019, an average of seven percent of paid workdays were worked remotely. However, this number has climbed to 28 percent as of this past March.

Although remote work has left many downtown offices vacant, these lofty buildings remain powerful symbols of America’s economic and societal trends. A barren downtown business district in a major city, such as Chicago, is a sign of changing industries and outward migration. The option to work remotely makes people feel less inclined to live in major, overpriced cities. In recent years, many Americans have relocated to smaller, more affordable cities and towns. 

A 2023 report from the Economic Innovation Group found that 2 million people left the nation’s large urban counties between July 2020 and July 2022. 

Moreover, according to the University of Virginia Demographics Research Group, an estimated 291,400 people last year migrated into America’s small towns and rural areas. This same report also found that areas with a population of 250,000 to 1 million people saw a net in-migration of 266,448 people, while areas with 1 million to 4 million people experienced only a 44,300 gain. The biggest losers were areas with more than 4 million people who lost 600,000 residents.  

With all this migration out of major urban areas, will small towns and mid-size cities be the ones to erect the next era of great American skyscrapers?

Just a few months ago, Oklahoma City—a classic mid-sized city—made headlines for the proposal of Legends Tower, which would be the country’s tallest skyscraper. 

The ambitious development covers more than three acres and is planned to host more than two million square feet of residential, retail and entertainment space, including two Hyatt hotels, condos, apartments, stores, and restaurants.

In the proposed images online, the skyscraper stands out sorely in the rather underdeveloped downtown district. Unnecessarily tall, Legends Tower is an attempt to make OKC culturally and economically relevant on a national level, yet it disregards the necessities of the current landscape—it would be more reasonable to cut the tower into several sections to create a dense and affordable neighborhood. 

Despite Legends Tower’s questionable merit, its proposal demonstrates the desire for supertall, impressive skyscrapers. And so, nearly 150 years after their birth, these lofty structures remain icons of status. 

However, their role within the urban ecosystem is evolving. 

Long gone are the days when skyscrapers served the needs for office space—many people are working from home now. Where is home, though? It’s a question that many Americans are asking themselves right now amid a housing crisis—home prices are up about 60 percent over the past decade (adjusted for inflation), and 12 million households spend more than half their income on housing. With such high prices, Americans are relocating, often fleeing big cities. 

Yet, how do we prevent these big cities from becoming unaffordable to the point that they price out all but the upper class? The great beauty of cities is their diversity, and how can a city be diverse when its residents are among the top percent—it’s a paradox. 

A month ago, Mayor Brandon Johnson announced the continuation of the LaSalle Street Reimagined Inative, previously created in 2022 by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot. This initiative is an effort to combat the desolate business district by converting four office buildings into over a thousand apartments, only 30% of which are considered affordable. 

Looking ahead, it’s essential that we reimagine the function of skyscrapers. It’s almost inevitable that these buildings will continue to be built, and at taller heights, but what they offer to a city or nation will vary—just as it has throughout their existence.

Header by Sofi Martinez