9. Vertical cities The world exposition saw a competition between various countries to erect the tallest man-made structure ever made. Eiffel tower was built with a similar intent to create a symbol of technological advancement in the construction industry using lightweight materials like steel and glass. It was later replaced by Chrysler building in New York and then an even taller empire state building was erected, and the list goes on. The meaning of skyscraper was a building that exceeded 10 to 12 floors but now it means a structure that exceeds 40 to 50 floors. It has evolved in years with advancing construction technology, and better resistance to seismic and wind loads. What arranging entities in a vertical orientation does is decreasing the overall footprint and avoiding the unorganized horizontal expansions on the city fabric. Also, a common service core can be spread across these entities.
Illustration 10. Experimenting with vertical orientation of entities.
Right from the time when the skyscrapers were erecting, architects and city planners have envisaged a time when entire cities might be housed in one building. A city consists of comfortable housing that is also connected to social amenity spaces, service-based centres, in short, a combination of spiritual, commercial and social spaces. A city should therefore respond to this multifunctionality to its inhabitants and also provide a
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