A description of modern structural engineering and late modern architecture through a brief history of Rochester, NY skyscraper, One HSBC Plaza.

1. MODERN LANDMARKS

2. Beginning in the late 19th Century, high-rise buildings were constructed with an internal system of
interlocking steel columns and beams known as the “skeleton frame.”
Like the human body, the outer shell/facade mostly served to protect the interior organs/systems from
the elements.
While very rigid, the amount of steel and mechanical equipment needed in skyscrapers past a certain
height rendered this system uneconomical to the developers of new office towers and apartments.

3. Lake Shore Drive Apartments
Mies van der Rohe
1951
Lever House
Gordon Bunshaft/SOM
1952
860, 880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments
Mies van der Rohe 1952
The initial response to the issues of economy and aesthetics was a Led by Mies van der Rohe, this movement allowed the
turn towards an “International Style” of architecture that removed developer to save money on material costs and the
the ornamental masonry and replaced it with walls of glass and architect to adopt this style as an honest progression of
steel. a truly modern building type, the high-rise.

4. However, the limitations of the skeleton-framed skyscraper to
produce an artistic and varied expression of its structural form led
many architects of the day to ponder the future of building design.
Many practitioners of 20th century architecture sat down with
author John Peter to discuss the "state of the art" in the 1950’s and
beyond……….

5. SC Johnson Research Tower
(1946)
"Form follows function, certainly…
But who the hell cares?
It's the form and the function, not reducing
that to some scientific analysis, that will
separate it and take it all apart…
We want it together.
We want the poetry of the thing."
–Frank Lloyd Wright (1955)

6. Pennzoil Place
(1976)
"... the problem is the same that Mies solved in
the technique of our day what Sullivan solved in
the technique of his…
And that is a basic pattern from which it is
extremely difficult to diverge. Many of us had
tried...
…but the more you try to make a building cheap,
which you have to do in today's economy and
socio-setup, the more you try to make it
expressive, the closer to 860 (Lake Shore Drive )
you’re going to end up.”
- Philip Johnson (1955)

7. "Today buildings are primarily being built as they were forty years ago. The skins are
different, but the basic construction is the same. Tons of water, tons of sand, tons of
brick, moved up and down structures, the same old way they did when they built the
Woolworth Building."
- Gordon Bunshaft of SOM (1956)
Union Carbide Headquarters
(1961)

8. "I feel quite strongly that the all-glass facade is in the long run
really no solution.
It lifts borrowed glory.
It does not give the effect of light and shadow which we are
used to connecting with an architectural appearance."
- Victor Gruen (1957)
(1962)

9. “Mies van der Rohe has made
most eloquent the steel frame
in this country, and it's really
difficult to see how that can
be carried further…
One of the things that we all
long for is much more
plasticity or depth in the
treatment of the exterior of
our buildings…
This, I feel, will come to a
large degree through
manipulation of reinforced
concrete.”
- Paul Rudolph (1960) Boston Governmental Services Center
(1962-1971: rendering of never-built tower)

10. "The materials are beautiful today.
Concrete is a marvelous material.
It's stone that can span with guts.
It's just stone and steel.
Stone that can understand…
I like certain things.
I like brick.
I like stone.
I like all these materials
...I got to like concrete.
I sort of moderately like steel,
you see."
- Louis Kahn (1961)
Richards Medical Research Building
(1965)

11. Although he was trying to achieve a
“pure” form of architectural expression
Mies often relied on the traditional
skeleton structure which was, by its
nature, meant to be covered by a façade.
In the Seagram Building and many
subsequent designs, Mies employed
ornament to “express” the building's
structure of interlocking I-Beams.
Decorative “I-Beam” Mullion
Structural Column
To artistically showcase the structure, new
ways of engineering and design needed to be
developed.

12. Skidmore Owings & Merrill’s Fazlur R. Khan (left) and Bruce Graham developed innovative solutions to the economic
and philosophical challenges of high-rise design in the post-war era through the creation of new, tube-based
structural systems.
Efficient in function and honest in form, these systems do not need to be “expressed” through ornament. Instead, they
are an integral part of the buildings’ architectural design.
A masterwork of this era stands among us in Rochester…

13. ONE
H
S
C
B
PLAZA

14. Intent on reducing the “premium for height” of tall buildings (the taller the building, the
higher the cost per floor) of the rigid frame system, Khan developed tube systems that often
involved load-bearing exterior walls to provide more open floor space, while requiring less
materials per floor than conventional construction. They also offered structural variety to
the architect who no longer was confined to the economy of the “glass box.”

15. Khan and Graham collaborated on many projects but are best known for a pair of
iconic towers of steel and glass in Chicago, the “birthplace of the skyscraper.”
Sears Tower
(1974)
John Hancock
Center
(1969)

16. Still, concrete was Khan’s preferred material to build with.
It was also his specialty, dating back to his first projects in Bangladesh in 1950.
Fittingly, the first buildings in which Khan utilized the tube system
were reinforced concrete high-rises in his adopted hometown of
Chicago.
The Brunswick Building
And
The Chesnutt-Dewitt
Apartments
Both were Completed in
1965

17. Innovative they were, yet Khan was frustrated by the necessity of using large transfer beams above the
first floor of both buildings.
To properly redistribute the weight of
the structure and create more open
space at street level very deep beams
had to be placed between the thin,
closely spaced columns of the upper
floors…
…and the larger and more widely spaced
base columns. Khan was determined to
find a better way to accomplish this load
transfer.

18. Khan solved this problem by first mapping out the natural load flow (the path that gravity takes on its way to the ground) of
a skyscraper (center). He then varied the size of the columns and spandrel beams to “follow” the load flow, creating tree-
like formations on HSBC’s lower floors (right).

19. This “arching effect” is expressed
on both the vertical and horizontal
planes. The columns’ width and
depth vary with their stress loads.

20. The corners are free of columns to add visual excitement and texture to the
façade, which is best appreciated as one walks around the building.

21. The concrete columns become thinner as the tower rises.
The delicate column design of the tall mechanical penthouse both compliments and
contrasts with the vertical and sturdy second floor façade.

22. The additional stiffness required to
resist the lateral forces of the wind is
provided by the hollow core of solid
reinforced concrete. Connected by an
innovative flooring system that includes
a hybrid joist-waffle layout, the shear
walls of the core and the external load-
bearing structure allowed a flexible,
column-free interior.

23. The local
newspapers
chronicled the
construction of the
complex, often
referring to the
unique design of
its structure.

24. “Topped out” on July 11, 1969
Officially opened on April 14, 1970

25. The following slides feature material from a flyer that introduced the building to
the community when it opened in early 1970.

27. Within months it was necessary to widen the curve leading into the 300-space
garage below the plaza as it was too sharp a turn for cars. Otherwise, it has proven
to be an attractive, strong and versatile building.

28. When asked what they noticed most about the building’s effect on their workplace experience, some
daily occupants replied that although it had strange cold and warm spots and no direct elevator access
from the garage to their floors, they didn’t notice the building most of the time.
To them, it is a pleasant building that doesn’t get in the way of their work.
From a functional point of view, that is the highest of compliments.

29. This presentation is the intellectual and artistic property of Daniel J. Palmer, 2008.
Sources available upon request.