Author Archives: Ian Marr

Virtually any answer to this question quickly gets weird due to several things. First, given any reasonable definition of “from across the ocean” will get a structure that needs to be more than 84 miles in height, or is now extending out of the atmosphere and into space. Unless this structure is many many miles …

Continue reading “Barring all architectural difficulties, could you build a structure tall enough to be seen from the opposite side of the ocean?”

As someone who has actually designed a skyscraper, yes. (Residential condo 16 stories up and 6 stories below ground.) Even if the floors seem identical there are small changes occurring. If nothing else the structural system and mechanical system change size. Designers or architects that say otherwise either have never worked on one, at best …

Continue reading “Do architects create floor plans for every floor in a skyscraper?”

It can be. Architecture and architects can go heavily into the engineering and mathematics/geometry of buildings. Or, you can avoid these items altogether letting others resolve these issues. Structural and electrical engineering are quite math heavy. With modern cad systems you use an incredible amount of geometry. And lastly, you are always measuring.

Simple answer; yes. Without the background to this question it becomes more difficult to answer. Are you looking for light? Heat? Energy? Are you trying to avoid one of these?

A lot of the answers so far are rather idealistic. The vast amount of construction demolition is thrown away into landfills. Machines and equipment that remain are usually what’s left that the owner couldn’t sell or recover. Buildings that have wood or metal decorations may be visited by salvagers looking to resale parts, but this …

Continue reading “When a building is demolished, what happens to the construction materials?”

There are really three methods, not two. Rectangular, triangular and prism. They can be used separately or together. It comes down to conditions and judgment. Rectangular pressure works as surcharge, as mentioned in the question, or as a worst-case/ conservative scenario. Triangular methods are easy to calculate. The assumption is that they are pretty close …

Continue reading “What is the concept for the backfilling of soil in earth pressure (rectangular/surcharge or triangular pressure)?”

This depends on how theoretical or abstract you want to get. You can have a mechanical system that moves upward faster than you can get down (think of a fast escalator), or some kind of impediment making travel in one direction difficult to the point of near impossible (think gates or barrier you must move …

Continue reading “Can a stair be designed only to go up but not down?”

This something of a question of scale. Everything is flexible to some degree. Materials literally run the full gambit of flexible under extremely light force to flexible under only extreme forces. Materials can only take so much force before they break or deform. So, we need more context.

There are three general items we place as poles or spikes on top of buildings. First, lighting rods. I only use this first as they’ve been around the longest. Lighting has a huge amount of amps and volts, so we give a convenient path for that power rather than through sensitive electrical systems like you …

Continue reading “Why are there spikes on top of buildings?”

Yes, you can recover some energy as other answers have mentioned. But, keep in mind that this is a system that is working incorrectly and basically damaging itself.