SUSTAINABLE DESIGN OF TALL BUILDING STRUCTURES AND FACADES

Kyoung Sun MOON Ph.D 1

Keywords: tall buildings, sustainable design, structural design, double skin facades

Abstract
Tall buildings are a worldwide architectural phenomenon today due to their economic benefits in dense
urban land use. Because of their enormous scale, however, tall buildings are built with an abundant amount
of resources and consume lots of energy during occupancy. This paper presents various sustainable design
strategies for tall buildings. Material-saving design methodologies for tall building structural systems are
investigated. Holistic design integration approaches between structures and facades to save energy for
environmental control are studied. Innovative design ideas to control structural motion as well as to utilize
that motion to harness energy are discussed. Considering abundant emergence of tall buildings all over the
world in recent years, the importance of the studies presented in this paper cannot be overemphasized for
constructing more sustainable built environments.

1. Introduction
Tall buildings have great potential of creating sustainable built environments by their own nature. Compared
with the cities with low-rise buildings, those with tall buildings use land more efficiently. Tall buildings provide
denser occupiable spaces using less land. Therefore, more land can be saved for environmentally friendly
green spaces. A tall building with many vertical layers of spaces has less area of the exterior envelope
directly contacting harsh outdoor environment than multiple low-rise buildings containing the same total floor
area. Thus, energy usage for environmental control can be less in tall buildings than in low-rise complexes.
Power in tall buildings can be served with shorter length of distribution lines than in low-rise complexes,
when identical total space served is considered. Hence, electricity can be delivered more efficiently in tall
buildings. There are many other inherent sustainable features tall buildings can provide, which come from
their compactness and higher density. (Ali and Moon, 2007)
Viewed from a different angle, on the other hand, tall buildings have many serious issues to be considered.
Tall buildings require lots of resources to build and consume enormous amounts of energy to operate. Tall
buildings cast very large shadows around them. Tall buildings often cause severe local turbulences, which
disturb people, especially when they occur near the ground. Tall buildings are sometimes targets for
terrorism, which result in catastrophes. For these and other reasons, there have always been skeptical
opinions about constructing tall buildings. Nonetheless, tall buildings have been built all over the world. The
number of tall building construction has been ceaselessly increasing, and they are becoming taller and taller,
now reaching the height of over 800 meters by the Burj Dubai.
Recognizing tall buildings as a natural architectural phenomenon due to their efficient urban land use as well
as their inherent symbolic power, and appreciating sustainable design as zeitgeist, this paper presents
various design strategies to produce sustainable tall buildings. Sustainable design strategies for tall building
structural systems, which will lead to constructing tall buildings with a minimum amount of structural
materials, are investigated. As a buildings height increases, the required amount of structural material to
resist lateral forces increases drastically. Thus, material-saving structural design is of significant importance
for a sustainable built environment. Design integration between structures and facades to save energy for
environmental control through augmented use of thermal mass capacities of structural components is
studied. Further, innovative design ideas to control building motion and to generate energy using that motion
are investigated.

School of Architecture, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA, kyoung.moon@yale.edu

2. Material Savings for Tall Building Structures

2.1 Evolution of Structural Systems for Tall Buildings and Dematerialization
Tall buildings, which began from about 10-story office towers, have evolved to megastructures such as the
160-story tall Burj Dubai. It is expected that building heights will continuously increase in conjunction with
improvements in technology.
Steel skeletal structures invented for multi-story office buildings in Chicago were a very important
technological breakthrough, which have led to the present state of the skyscraper. Due to the absence of
advanced structural analysis techniques, however, early tall buildings mostly employing braced frame
structures were quite over-designed. More innovative structural concepts, which use less structural material
to resist lateral loads, were developed from the late 1960s. In tubular structures, structural efficiency for tall
buildings was maximized by locating primary lateral load resisting system on the building perimeter.
Among the various tubular structures, such as framed, braced, and bundled tubes, braced tube systems
having diagonals are generally more efficient than other tubes composed of only orthogonal members
because the tube members in braced tubes carry lateral loads by their axial action. While this traditional
braced tube concept with a combination of orthogonal and diagonal members are still used for todays tall
buildings, another similar approach, diagrids, has emerged as a new design trend recently. Different from
conventional braced tubes, all the vertical members at the building perimeters are eliminated in
contemporary diagrid structures in most cases. For very tall buildings, diagrids, with their diagonals axial
action, also provide very efficient structural systems. Due to their inherent structural efficiency, both braced
tubes and diagrids can be designed with a relatively small amount of structural material. The following study
investigates a design strategy leading to even more augmented structural efficiency for diagrid structures
which are more prevalent today with their powerful structural rationale and architectural potential.
2.2 Material Savings through Stiffness-Based Design
The two most important design requirements for building structures are the strength and stiffness, and for a
very tall building with a large height-to-width aspect ratio, stiffness constraint generally governs the design.
With the rapid advancement of materials science and consequently produced higher strength materials,
building structures are more often governed by stiffness requirements because of the lag in material stiffness
versus material strength (Connor, 2003). Despite this irreversible phenomenon, current structural design
practice for tall buildings generally relies on conventional strength-based design, which is more appropriate
for shorter buildings.
Conventional structural design of tall buildings in practice begins with selecting preliminary member sizes
based on strength, and proceeds by iteration i.e., gradually increasing member sizes to meet the
stiffness requirements. Through iteration, an acceptable solution is chosen for the final design. However, this
iteration process does not guarantee that the selected design uses the least amount of structural material to
meet the design requirements, because it is not likely to produce the optimal stiffness distribution through
conventional trial-and-error approach.
One of the most important stiffness design parameters to consider in any tall building design is its maximum
deflection, which is usually in the neighborhood of a five hundredth of the building height. Two modes of
deformation, bending and shear deformation, primarily contribute to the total deformation. A specific
structural system for a tall building with a certain height-to-width aspect ratio has a unique optimal mode of
deformation, which is a combination of a particular bending and shear deformation. With this optimal mode
of deformation, structural design can meet the target displacement criteria with the least amount of material.
For this purpose, tall building structural design should begin from specifying its desired bending and shear
deformation. Taller buildings behave more like bending beams and shorter buildings behave more like shear
beams. Consequently, taller buildings should be designed to have more bending deformation than shorter
buildings, and vice versa. A building structure should be designed in the way it naturally tends to behave in
order to obtain the desired performance most efficiently. Optimal stiffness distribution can be made based on
the optimal deformation mode, and strength requirements can be checked afterward to finalize the design.
Based on this stiffness-based design concept, diagrid structures having various heights and geometric
configurations were designed and comparatively studied to find optimal geometry of the system depending
on its height and height-to-width aspect ratio. This study will lead to enhanced material saving and
consequently more substantial built environments.
2.3 Material Savings through Optimal Geometric Configuration
Diagrid structural systems can be configured with diagonals placed at various angles. Figure 1 shows 60story diagrid structures with a height-to-width aspect ratio of about 6 and having various diagonal angles
ranging from 53 to 76 degrees. Each structure, assumed to be in Chicago and subjected to the code defined
wind loads, was optimally designed using the stiffness-based design methodology to meet the maximum
lateral displacement requirement of a five hundredth of the building height. Figure 2 shows steel masses
required for each structure shown in Figure 1 to meet the target stiffness requirement. As can be seen from

the figure, the diagrid structure configured with a diagonal angle of 69 degrees meet the design requirement
with the minimum amount of material. As the diagrid angle deviates from its optimal configuration, structural
steel usage increases. Thus, in order to construct a diagrid tall building with the minimum amount of
material, diagrid angles should be configured to be close to the optimal.

Figure 1

69

63

53

73

76

60-story diagrid structures configured with diagonals placed at various uniform angles.
Structural Steel Usage for Diagrids
6000

Steel Mass (Ton)

5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
53

63

69

73

76

Diagrid Angle (Degree)

Figure 2

Structural steel usage (for diagonals only) for the 60-story diagrid structures shown in Figure 1.

Diagrid structures of various heights ranging from 40 to 100 stories were studied in the same way. The
structures height-to-width aspect ratios range from about 4 for the 40-story diagrids to 10 for the 100-story
diagrids. It was found that an angle of 63 degrees was the near optimal angle for the 40- and 50-story
diagrids. For the 60-story and taller diagrid structures, the study results suggest that an angle of 69 degrees
is the near optimal angle. Though the most efficient structural solution may not always satisfy other design
requirements in the best way, integrated design approach, which considers every aspect of design
holistically, should be appreciated toward more sustainable built environments.
Different from uniform angle diagrid structures presented here and employed for some notable tall buildings
such as the Hearst Headquarters Tower in New York, some other recent diagrid tall buildings such as the
Lotte Super Tower in Seoul employ varying angle diagrids. The study on material-saving design strategies
was expanded to investigate the structural efficiency of varying angle diagrids of various heights. Typical
varying angle configurations are shown in Figure 3 for 80-story diagrid structures with a height-to-width
aspect ratio of about 8. Notice that Alt. 3 is in fact a uniform angle design with the near optimal angle. Each
structure was designed to meet the same maximum lateral displacement requirement of a five hundredth of
the building height. As can be seen in Figure 4, varying angle design Alt. 2, which is configured with steeper
angle diagonals toward the base, uses the least amount of material for the 80-story diagrids. This is because
that a building behaves more like a bending beam as it becomes taller, and diagonals placed at a steeper
angle is better to resist larger wind moment at the base. However, if the angle becomes too steep (i.e., Alt.
1), it loses its shear rigidity drastically, resulting in less efficient solution. Alt. 4 and 5 were included for the
completeness of the study, but they use more materials than other design alternatives because their grid
configurations do not follow the shear and bending moment characteristics of tall buildings.

Based on the study performed with diagrid structures of various heights ranging from 40 to 100 stories, it
was found that uniform angle design produces more efficient structural solutions using less amount of
structural material for the 40-, 50- and 60-story diagrid structures, while varying angle design, configured
similar to Alt. 2 in Figure 3, is more efficient for the 70-story and taller diagrid structures. Thus, from the
viewpoint of structural engineering, it is suggested to use a varying angle diagrid structure for a very tall
building with an aspect ratio greater than about 7 to save resources and, in turn, to create more sustainable
built environments. Certainly, other design conditions should be carefully considered integrally to reach the
final design decision.

63

63

69

73
80

69

73
69

69

76
69
73

76

69

80
73

Alt. 1

Figure 3

Alt. 2

69

Alt. 3

63

Alt. 4

63

Alt. 5

80-story diagrid structures configured with diagonals placed at various varying angles.

S teel M ass (Ton)

Structural Steel Usage for 80-Story Diagrid Structures

18000
16000
14000
12000
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
Alt.1

Alt.2

Alt.3

Alt.4

Alt.5

Diagrid Angle (Degree)

Figure 4

Structural steel usages (for diagonals only) for the 80-story diagrid structures shown in Figure 3.

3. Reducing Energy Use through Design Integration

3.1 Design Integration between Structures and Facades
Integrative design strategies to reduce energy usage during building occupancy are presented in this section.
From the viewpoint of technology, the emergence of tall buildings began from the functional separation of
structures and facades. Iron/steel skeletal structures and the curtainwall concept replaced traditional
masonry walls, and the era for tall buildings began. The functional separation of building structures and
facades, however, did not accompany complete physical separation. Structural and facade systems have
always been together with physical contacts for their mutual benefit. The two systems, once-fully-integrated
with serious limitations when implemented in tall buildings, have been relatively separated with minimum
connections necessary to contribute to each other. Thus, new modern ways of integration to accommodate
the new concepts have been developed. Architects and engineers are in charge of developing better
performance for these two independent but very closely related systems.
Compared with heavy masonry walls, much lighter modern curtainwalls, typically composed of metals and
glasses, allow more visual and environmental connections between the exterior and interior. More visual
connections including introduction of more natural light and great views into the interior space have been
desirable for most architects. However, more connections between the ever changing harsh exterior
environment and the interior environment conditioned for the occupants comfort require careful design
considerations. For periods when the outdoor environmental condition is unfavorable for the occupants,
insulation capacity of faade systems should be maximized, while for the time when the outdoor condition is
close to the human comfort zone, faade systems should be designed to allow the maximum use of the
outdoor environment to generate indoor comfort more economically. In hot summer days, for example,
faade design that can maximize nighttime free cooling through natural ventilation can be considered. In this
case, the structure and interior finish (i.e., ceilings, floors) of the building should be designed to allow the
maximum contact of the outdoor air to the major thermal masses such as concrete slabs (Figure 5).

Figure 5

AIR FLOW THROUGH THE CAVITY

SIGLE SIDE NATURAL VENTILATION

- SUMMER DAYTIME -

- SUMMER NIGHTTIME & SHOULDER SEASONS -

Double skin faade design and operation examples.

To obtain free nighttime cooling, faade openings should be configured carefully to maximize natural
ventilation. Two rooms of the same size with different faade opening configurations were comparatively
studied to investigate summer nighttime free cooling capacity using natural ventilation. The two rooms have
9m x 9m floor area with a ceiling height of 3 m. Twenty centimeter thick concrete slabs were assumed for
thermal masses. Outdoor temperature at summer nighttime was assumed to be 18 degrees Celsius (C),
and indoor temperature, 25 degrees C. The two rooms have single side ventilation configuration. While the
first room has a 60 cm high opening strip at the mid-height of the faade (Case 1), the second room has two
30 cm high opening strips at the top and bottom (Case 2, similar to what is shown in Figure 3). With an
assumed wind speed of 5 m/s and 12 hours of nighttime natural ventilation, Case 1 cooled down the
concrete slabs to 21.4 degrees C, while Case 2, to 18 degrees C, the same as the assumed outdoor
temperature. If combined with double skin facades, one of the most advanced contemporary building
envelope systems, this nighttime free cooling strategy will perform better by keeping the cooled slabs for an
extended amount of time during daytime.
Double skin facades can be a good design choice for tall buildings. With two layers of skins, if appropriately
configured, double skin facades can allow natural ventilation even for tall buildings higher level floors
because the outer skins can work as primary wind buffers. Properly designed double skin facades can
successfully accomplish visual lightness and transparency as well as better environmental control than
single skin facades, eventually leading to energy saving. Studies also suggest that the productivity of the
occupants in the buildings clad with double skin facades is higher because of the more comfortable work
environment double skin facades can offer (Oesterle et al., 2001). Usable area reduction due to the cavity
spaces, larger faade self-weight, and more expensive initial cost are, however, some of the issues which
require careful design decisions.

3.2 Other Strategies to Reduce Energy Use in Tall Buildings

There are many other strategies to reduce energy use in tall buildings. Displacement ventilation strategy to
provide more comfortable indoor environments using less amount of energy has been gaining more
applications. Effective use of daylight through faade design, such as incorporating light shelves to
introduce daylight deeper into the space, is another approach. By thoughtful design with sustainability in
mind, energy use in tall buildings can be substantially reduced.

4. Controlling Building Motion and Generating Energy through Innovative Design

4.1 Tall Building Motion Control and Energy Generation Using Damping Mechanisms
Buildings, subjected to various loads, move. In tall buildings, lateral movements due to winds are very
critical. In general, lateral vibration in the across-wind direction caused by vortex-shedding-induced lock-in
condition results in the most serious motion problem in tall buildings. Stiffer structures have a lower
probability of the vortex frequency locking on a modal frequency (i.e., a lock-in condition) because as a
structures fundamental frequency increases, the wind velocity required to cause a lock-in condition also
increases. In this sense, diagrid structures, presented earlier in this paper, have relatively high lateral
stiffness due to the triangular configuration of their structural members, and, consequently, have less
probability of lock-in condition. Irregular building forms which disturb organized vortex-shedding, aerodynamic forms which reduce wind loads by shaping the building appropriately, and auxiliary damping
devices such as tuned mass dampers are among many other strategies to minimize tall building vibrations.
Wind loads are initially applied to the building facades and then transmitted to the structures. Considering
this fact, a new approach to control tall building vibration through design integration between structures and
facades is investigated in this section. Further, an idea to generate energy with this motion control
mechanism is discussed.
Various faade systems, such as glass/metal curtainwalls, precast concrete panels, and stressed steel skins,
are used to clad tall buildings. Generally, most faade systems are composed of several layers. In
conventional cases, there are no substantial gaps between the facade layers. Unlike these traditional cases,
a double skin faade system (DSF), the application of which has been increasing due to its energy efficiency,
has a substantial cavity between the faade layers, as was discussed in the previous section. While many
studies have been performed regarding environmental/energy aspects of the DSF system, no research has
been done on the structural capability of the DSF system. This section introduces tall building dynamic
motion control as well as energy generation concepts using double skin facades.
The idea is designing very flexible connectors between the DSF outer skin and the buildings primary
structure in the direction perpendicular to the building facades so that the transmissibility of the dynamic
wind load can be reduced through them. The stiffness of the connectors in the other two directions parallel
to the building facades should be comparable to that of other normal DSF systems. As a result, the DSF
outer skin moves back and forth, but the vibration of the primary structure, which is enclosed by the inner
skin and contains occupants within it, is reduced significantly. Dynamic motion control for tall buildings is
achieved through this mechanism. Figure 6 shows a concept diagram and simplified model of the system.

Primary
Structure

Proposed
DSF
Connectors

DSF
Outer
Skin
Vibration
due to
Dynamic
Wind
Loads
(Dotted
Lines)

DSF
Outer Skin
Mass
Primary
Structure
Mass
k

kd
p
cd

c
u

Figure 6

md

u+ud

Concept diagram and simplified model of structural motion control using double skin facades.

The system is composed of the primary mass (m), which corresponds to the primary building structure
including the inner skin of the DSF system, and the secondary mass (md), which corresponds to the outer
skin of the DSF system. The two masses are connected by low-axial-stiffness spring (kd) and damper
components (Cd). Sinusoidal load (p), which represents simplified dynamic wind load, especially the vortexshedding condition, is applied to the secondary mass to anticipate the system performance. Then, the
solutions for the motion of the primary structure (u) and the DSF outer skin (ud)can be expressed as
u=
ud =

p
Hei1
k
p
H d e i 2
k

Here, H is the dynamic amplification factor of the primary structure, Hd is that of the DSF outer skin, and

s are the phase angles between the response and the excitation.

The DSF outer skin mass is assumed to be 1% of the primary structure mass in this study. The primary
structure damping ratio is assumed to be 1%, which is within the range of statistically reasonable values
based upon measured intrinsic damping ratios for tall buildings. With this 1% structural damping ratio, the
maximum dynamic amplification factor, H, of the primary structure without the proposed DSF system is
about 50 for a damped single degree of freedom system subjected to a harmonic load.
Figure 7 shows the simulation results of the case when the natural frequency of the DSF connector is half
that of the primary structure. With this very low axial stiffness of the DSF connectors, the proposed system
substantially reduces the transmissibility of the applied dynamic loads from the DSF outer skin to the primary
structure as intended. The maximum dynamic amplification factors of the primary structure, H, occurring
when the forcing frequency is almost the same as the primary structure frequency ( 1 ), are about 18 and
22 when DSF connector damping ratios are 20% and 40% respectively (Figure 7-a), less than half of the
maximum H value of 50 in the case without the proposed DSF system.
The results of this study show that dynamic motion of tall buildings can be reduced. However, there exists a
design challenge: the excessive motion of the DSF outer skins. The maximum dynamic amplification factor
of the DSF outer skin, Hd, shown in Figure 7-b, is about 1000 and 500 with DSF connector damping ratio of
20% and 40% respectively, when the forcing frequency is almost the same as the DSF connector frequency.
Even though these excessive movements can be reduced by increasing connector damping ratio and DSF
outer skin mass ratio or by introducing an active control system, further research is required for the practical
application of the proposed system.

Figure 7. a. H Plot

b. Hd Plot

Since DSF outer skins are designed to vibrate in the proposed system to control the primary structures
dynamic motion, this DSF vibration can be potentially used as a source for power generation. By inserting
power generation mechanism within the studied DSF cavity, electricity can be collected there and supplied to
the building.
Another similar concept to generate energy in tall buildings is using electro-magnetic damping devices.
Electro-magnetic dampers can mitigate vibration of tall buildings caused by wind through their mechanical
system. At the same time, the electro-magnetic dampers can generate energy by their electrical system
coupled with the mechanical system through their magnetic fields. It is very challenging to harvest energy
from building motion while controlling it. There is always a need for further research for new technologies to
perform their best.

4.2 Energy Generation in Tall Buildings Using Wind and Sunlight

There are many other strategies to generate energy in tall buildings using free natural resources such as
wind or sunlight. Wind turbines are installed in quite a few recent tall buildings such the Pearl River Tower
designed by SOM. In general, a tall buildings broader facade is oriented to not face prevailing wind directly.
However, the Pearl River Towers orientation was strategically determined so that the buildings broader
faade can face the sites prevailing wind directly to maximize wind energy collection using wind turbines.
This building, with other energy generation mechanisms, is expected to use a substantially reduced amount
of energy according to the designer. Other buildings installed with wind turbines to generate energy include
the twin towers of the Bahrain World Trade Center. Wind turbines are installed between the twin towers in
this case in order to increase the speed of the wind when it passes through the gap.
There is an efficiency issue about generating energy through wind turbines. However, this is still free energy
which can be collected substantially in tall buildings higher levels because greater wind energy can be
obtained at higher altitudes due to greater wind speed there. Figure 8 shows a wind farm design idea at the
top of a very tall building proposed for Chicago lake front.

Figure 7

Wind farm design idea (Courtesy of W. Godfrey and C. Sharkey)

Photovoltaic panels, which convert sunlight directly into electricity, are widely used for many buildings such
as the Pearl River Tower in Guangzhou and Clean Technology Tower in Chicago. In these towers,
photovoltaic cells are installed on the glass roofs so that they can be used to generate energy as well as to
shade the floor area below.

5. Conclusions
This paper presented various design strategies to produce sustainable tall buildings. Today more than ever,
achieving sustainability is one of the most important building design issues. In this contemporary context, the
studies presented in this paper leading to built environments which can be constructed with minimum
resources, consume less energy, and even generate energy is very timely, and its importance cannot be
overemphasized.

References
Ali, M. M. and Moon K. 2007, Structural Developments in Tall Buildings: Currents Trends and Future
Prospects. Architectural Science Review, 50.3, pp 205-223.
Connor, J. J. 2003, Introduction to Structural Motion Control, New York: Prentice Hall.
Moon, K., Connor, J. J. and Fernandez, J. E. 2007, Diagrid Structural Systems for Tall Buildings:
Characteristics and Methodology for Preliminary Design, The Structural Design of Tall and Special Buildings,
16.2, pp 205-230.
Oesterle, E., Lieb, R., Lutz, M. and Heusler, W. 2001, Double-Skin Facades: Integrated Planning, Munich:
Prestel.