![]() Liverpool’s steel building was just five storeys, though. For example, the UK’s oldest business magazine, The Builder (renamed Building in 1966), called it “ludicrous”. In the late 19th century, though, the building’s design met with mixed responses. Today, the Oriel Chambers is considered one of the most outstanding architectural masterpieces of its time. Its distinguishing feature was a steel framework that supported a glass wall. In 1864, this method was tested in Liverpool during the construction of an office building called the Oriel Chambers. The mass production of inexpensive steel made it possible for urban planners to bring to life the idea of skyscrapers built using steel frameworks. Before Bessemer, architects made attempts to increase the height of buildings by thickening brick walls on the lower floors, but without luck. Bessemer’s expertise made it possible to reduce the cost of steel from 40 to 6-7 pounds sterling per tonne, thus improving production time and increasing production volumes.įortunately, inexpensive steel was applied not only in the manufacture of artillery pieces but also in peaceful multi-storey buildings. In 1856, Bessemer patented the first inexpensive method of industrial steel production using iron. ![]() This serves as another example when the interests of the military industrial complex were a driver of scientific and technological progress. The emperor needed a lot of steel at a low cost for rifles and cannons. A discussion with the Emperor Napoleon III was a turning point for Sir Henry Bessemer. The high-rise buildings known today as skyscrapers appeared owing to the discovery of the Bessemer steel production process, a metallurgical breakthrough from the late 19th century.īefore the advent of this new steel production method, steel was mainly used to make household items, such as tools or kitchen utensils. Until the time when the development of multi-storey buildings started in Chicago, the word skyscraper referred to a kind of sail, style of hat, long-legged horse or very tall person. The term skyscraper as we know it now appeared for the first time in an American architectural magazine in the summer of 1883. The superb architecture and elegance of the One World Trade Center tower, the Empire State Building, the Home Insurance Building and dozens of other steel skyscrapers inspire the imagination. ![]() ![]() A robust and light steel framework enables urban planners to deliver their boldest ides. ![]()
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