Like Wright’s Illinois, the Grollo Tower, which at the time would have been the tallest in the world, remained an unbuilt vision. The Grollo Tower, a proposed Melbourne skyscraper that would have soared to 550m if it had been built, was conceived in the mid-1990s by a trio of Melburnians: Grocon (the builder-developer) Denton Corker Marshall (the architect) and Bonacci (the structural engineer). Record breaking tall buildings happen because technology, economy and urban political interests converge at one time into a single project.Īustralia has been at the forefront of concrete skyscraper design since the 1970s, and later on with what would have been the world’s tallest building once proposed for Melbourne’s Docklands. “It is one kilometre high, and not one mile, but still, who could have seen that? There is no limit to tall buildings, provided that the technologies of the time allow building at those heights in safety and provided that there is a mutual interest to do so from a private developer and a planning authority’s point of view. Marfella says The Kingdom Tower is reminiscent of Wright’s vision. It was previously known as “Mile High Tower”. The proposed Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia will be the tallest tower on the planet when it opens in 2019, soaring over a kilometre in height, with “double decker” elevators which will be able to stop at two floors at once. “The practical implications of a mile high tower were such that the Illinois was ridiculed by some American developers at the time. Marfella says: “In 1956 Frank Lloyd Wright designed the concept of the ‘Illinois’, a one mile high skyscraper for Chicago on the basis of a futuristic – but never realised - atomic powered lift system. Image: Flickr/Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture When construction is complete in 2019 it will be over one kilometre in height, reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1956 vision. Visionary architects once saw a future where the high-rise was a mark of prestige, and lifts have been the key technology to advance the development of record-breaking building heights. But since the introduction of lifts in the late 1800s, it’s now possible to enjoy expansive views of the city, with no dust, less noise, and a speedy trip from the ground floor to the top. In houses and offices in the past, the first floor was the prime real estate because you didn’t need to use the stairs.

Marfella says technological advances combined with logics of economic development are the main reasons high-rise habitats are now luxurious and elite, where once it was frowned upon to sleep or work in the upper levels of a building.

So we asked Giorgio Marfella, lecturer in Construction Management and Architecture at the Melbourne School of Design – what’s the limit when you’re building in the sky?

As global populations spread outwards and lift technology rapidly advances, skyscraper design is becoming ever more futuristic.

The down side supertall tower creaks