The Sustainability of Tall Building Developments: A Conceptual Framework
October 28, 2025Assessing the oppressive impact of the form of tall buildings on citizens: Height, width, and height-to-width ratio
October 29, 2025Energy, Economics and Architecture
By Capeluto,G., Yezioro, A., Gat, D. and Shaviv, E.
Full Citation
Capeluto, G., Yezioro, A., Gat, D. and Shaviv, E. (2003). Energy, Economics and Architecture. Proceedings of the Eighth International IBPSA Conference, Eindhoven, NL August 11-14, 2003.
Key Findings
Very often, high rise buildings are proposed as a means of achieving high urban density. However, tall buildings may cause environmental problems like high wind velocities in open spaces around them, as well as extended shadows over nearby houses and open spaces (HELIOS, 1999, 2000). Moreover, the construction cost of high-rise buildings is steep (Tan, 1999, Gat, 1995). When all these factors are taken into account it is not a priori clear that the desired high urban density can be achieved by tall buildings along with an acceptable solution to the above-mentioned environmental problems. Recent studies have shown that a reasonable density may be achieved with six stories high buildings while preserving the solar rights of neighboring buildings, as well as open spaces among them (Capeluto and Shaviv, 2001).
