All around Louisville, you can see skyscrapers – the tallest since 1993 is 400 West Market, which has been the tallest building in Kentucky since 1993 and stands a whopping 549 feet tall. When you look at this skyscraper, as well as the other skyscrapers in Louisville, it might amaze you just how incredible the building team had to be to make it work.
However, what you might not realize is that the area lying underneath these skyscrapers is an architectural feat as well. The foundation of every skyscraper requires monumentally incredible design, and every skyscraper has to have an equally spectacular foundation. The design of the foundation, for the most part, relies on two elements.
- Building Design
Of course, the design of the building plays a part in the foundation design as well. In general, the taller a building is, the deeper the foundation will have to be. Although 400 West Market may tower over Louisville at 549 feet tall, some skyscrapers worldwide are much larger than that – Shanghai Tower in China is nearly four times that height, 2,073 feet tall, and its basement stretches a further 282 feet below ground. Additionally, more modern skyscrapers have different building structures that now allow them to be taller and still be safe.
- Site Location
A foundation system will need to adapt uniquely to the environmental factors of a site location. These foundational needs will vary tremendously depending on the city, but they can even change monumentally within a city; Midtown Manhattan, for example, rests about 35 feet above bedrock, but lower Manhattan can rest as high as 150 feet above bedrock. The foundation designers will have to ask questions about the soil, flooding risks, lateral strength necessity, wind speed impacting the skyscraper, specific environmental threats, and much more.
The Importance of a Good Foundation
All in all, a foundation is important no matter where you are or what building you’re talking about. Sure, skyscraper foundations are an immense architectural wonder, and they’re something to look at with awe. However, the foundation for your own home is arguably just as important, and it may even be more important.
An average home weighs about 50 tons. This may not seem like much on the back of a skyscraper, which can weigh many times more than that, but 50 tons is still a lot of weight, and your foundation needs to be able to stand up to that. Foundation damage can also result in a 30% loss in market value, which means that you need to have confidence in your foundation’s strength for structural integrity and value.
Conclusion
When you look at a skyscraper, you probably see an amazing architectural wonder, and you should definitely praise the people who were able to make the skyscraper happen. However, a strong foundation is also an important element of architectural integrity, especially in a place like Louisville, which has average humidity levels of 69% year-round. No matter what type of building you’re looking at, the foundation is crucial to consider.
