{"reviewed":"2026-10-03","scope":"Project-specific notes only. Directory measurements retain their own verification dates.","buildings":{"taipei-101":{"checked":"2026-10-03","sourceTitle":"Thornton Tomasetti: Taipei 101","url":"https://www.thorntontomasetti.com/project/taipei-101","sections":[{"title":"A core that recruits the perimeter","text":"A braced core, outriggers and perimeter moment frames share lateral resistance. The outriggers allow the widely spaced outer columns to participate in resisting overturning, rather than asking the core to do all the work."},{"title":"Wind and earthquake demands","text":"Thornton Tomasetti describes wind-informed shaping and seismic detailing of core connections. The suspended damper addresses motion, while the main framing still has to provide strength and stiffness. These are separate engineering jobs."},{"title":"Who did which work","text":"Thornton Tomasetti identifies its role as structural concept and preliminary design, review of the local engineer’s final design, and advice during construction. This is not the same role as the local engineer of record."}]},"shanghai-world-financial-center":{"checked":"2026-10-03","sourceTitle":"Shanghai World Financial Center: official project introduction","url":"https://swfc-shanghai.com/about_intro.php?l=en","sections":[{"title":"Several disciplines behind the tower","text":"The owner credits Kohn Pedersen Fox and Irie Miyake for design, Leslie E. Robertson Associates for structural design, and ECADI as the local design institute. China State Construction and Shanghai Construction Group are credited for construction."},{"title":"Material and programme","text":"The official introduction describes steel and steel-reinforced-concrete construction, with three basement levels beneath the mixed-use tower. Those descriptions establish the material family; they do not identify a concrete strength, steel grade or foundation depth."}]},"international-commerce-centre":{"checked":"2026-10-03","sourceTitle":"Arup: innovation legacy, foundation case study","url":"https://www.arup.com/globalassets/downloads/insights/a/arups-innovation-legacy/arup-innovation-legacy.pdf","sections":[{"title":"Foundations shaped by the ground","text":"Arup describes a fault zone beneath the site that made a conventional end-bearing solution problematic. The response used shaft-grouted friction barrettes, transferring load along their sides instead of relying solely on bearing at the base."},{"title":"Testing before relying on the design","text":"Arup reports five trial piles and tests on four working barrettes. For an engineer, the important connection is between the proposed load-transfer mechanism and measured settlement and capacity, not just the nominal depth of a foundation."}]},"111-west-57th-street":{"checked":"2026-10-03","sourceTitle":"WSP: 111 West 57th Street","url":"https://www.wsp.com/en-nz/projects/111-west-57th-street-new-york","sections":[{"title":"Stiffness where it preserves the views","text":"WSP describes two main shear walls on the east and west, leaving the north and south elevations open to views. The reported 24:1 slenderness makes lateral serviceability especially important."},{"title":"Movement, crown and finishes","text":"A tuned mass damper controls motion near the top, while lightweight steel forms the crown. WSP also identifies coordination of movement with facade and interior finishes. Comfortable accelerations and tolerable differential movement are distinct from ultimate structural strength."}]},"willis-tower":{"checked":"2026-10-03","sourceTitle":"SOM: Willis Tower","url":"https://www.som.com/projects/willis-tower-formerly-sears-tower/","sections":[{"title":"Nine tubes acting together","text":"SOM describes nine square tubes, each 75 feet wide, bundled into one structural system. Sharing load between tubes allows a much larger overall footprint than a single narrow tube."},{"title":"Why the setbacks matter","text":"The tubes terminate at different heights. This changes the floor area as the building rises and creates its stepped silhouette. The visible form therefore records the underlying structural organisation, rather than being an independent decorative skin."}]},"432-park-avenue":{"checked":"2026-10-03","sourceTitle":"schlaich bergermann partner: 432 Park Avenue","url":"https://www.sbp.de/en/project/432-park-avenue/","sections":[{"title":"Two concrete tubes","text":"The engineer describes a concrete core working with a high-strength-concrete perimeter moment frame. This tube-in-tube arrangement places resisting elements at the centre and the outer edge of the floor."},{"title":"Open floors and outriggers","text":"Open mechanical levels interrupt the facade to reduce wind-induced excitation. Outriggers at mechanical levels connect the core and perimeter. The reported 15:1 proportion is a width-based slenderness ratio, not a ratio of height to floor count."}]},"central-park-tower":{"checked":"2026-10-03","sourceTitle":"Doka: construction report, 2017","url":"https://www.doka.com/us/news/press/central-park-tower","sections":[{"title":"Building the core ahead","text":"Doka’s construction report describes a concrete core advancing ahead of floor slabs, with complex steel-to-core interfaces at the lower levels. Formwork had to remain usable as the sequence changed from core-ahead work to pouring down."},{"title":"The temporary works are a project of their own","text":"Hydraulic climbing platforms carried formwork, storage and the concrete placing boom between lifts. The supplier credits Lend Lease as main contractor and Pinnacle Industries for concrete work. The article is construction-stage evidence; its forecast completion and floor counts are not used as final measurements."}]},"one-vanderbilt":{"checked":"2026-10-03","sourceTitle":"Thornton Tomasetti: One Vanderbilt","url":"https://www.thorntontomasetti.com/project/one-vanderbilt","sections":[{"title":"Connections before fabrication","text":"Thornton Tomasetti describes early connected steel modelling and advance bills of material to coordinate procurement, connection design and shop drawings on a constrained Manhattan site."},{"title":"A precise credit matters","text":"Its stated service is advanced project delivery and connection design. Severud Associates is the structural engineer listed in the project team. Keeping those responsibilities separate is essential when assessing who designed the global frame and who developed its fabricated connections."}]},"al-hamra-tower":{"checked":"2026-10-03","sourceTitle":"SOM: Al Hamra Tower","url":"https://www.som.com/projects/al-hamra-tower/","sections":[{"title":"A carved tower with a thermal purpose","text":"The floor plate changes with height around the south-facing carved surface. SOM describes stone at that elevation as a response to solar heat, connecting the sculpted shape with envelope performance."},{"title":"Transfers at the bottom and top","text":"At the lobby, inward-sloping columns reconcile the tower’s perimeter with a tall open entrance. At the restaurant near the top, a cantilever truss supports the curtain wall across the unusually tall space. These local transfers require attention beyond the typical office floor."}]},"270-park-avenue":{"checked":"2026-10-03","sourceTitle":"Severud Associates: 270 Park Avenue","url":"https://www.severud.com/office-buildings/270-park-avenue/","sections":[{"title":"Loads above operating railways","text":"The engineer describes a transfer structure called the Tabletop above the lower supports. The tower must deliver large loads through a site occupied by active tracks, so the foundation locations and the superstructure cannot be designed independently."},{"title":"Several systems sharing lateral loads","text":"A braced core, five levels of outrigger trusses and diamond-shaped facade macro-braces work together. Post-tensioned anchors engage the bedrock through the caisson caps."},{"title":"Two kinds of vibration","text":"A mass damper limits wind accelerations. Train-induced excitation required separate modelling calibrated against the former building’s measured response. Controlling wind sway does not automatically solve vibration arriving through the foundations."}]},"875-north-michigan-avenue":{"checked":"2026-10-03","sourceTitle":"SOM: 875 North Michigan Avenue","url":"https://www.som.com/projects/875-north-michigan-avenue-formerly-john-hancock-center/","sections":[{"title":"The exterior is the lateral system","text":"SOM describes Bruce Graham and Fazlur Khan’s diagonalized tube. Large exterior X-braces organise the perimeter into a stiff structural shell, reducing reliance on closely spaced interior supports."},{"title":"Structure visible at city scale","text":"The diagonal pattern extends over groups of roughly twenty stories. Reading those diagonals as load paths explains the facade more usefully than treating them as applied decoration. The taper also accommodates changing floor-area needs along the tower."}]},"jin-mao-tower":{"checked":"2026-10-03","sourceTitle":"SOM: Jin Mao Tower","url":"https://www.som.com/projects/jin-mao-tower/","sections":[{"title":"One tower, different floor-plate needs","text":"SOM identifies an 88-story building that stacks hotel accommodation above office space. Successively smaller upper sections relate to both the programme and the pagoda-inspired form."},{"title":"Architect and structural engineer together","text":"SOM lists both architectural and structural engineering expertise on the project. Its public overview describes wind and earthquake engineering but does not publish a complete member schedule. Concrete grades, connection details and pile capacities remain outside this profile’s confirmed evidence."}]},"china-resources-tower":{"checked":"2026-10-03","sourceTitle":"KPF: China Resources Tower","url":"https://www.kpf.com/project/china-resources-tower","sections":[{"title":"From vertical columns to a diagrid","text":"KPF describes 56 perimeter columns converging into 28 toward the upper and lower zones and eventually meeting at the crown. The geometry transforms the regular shaft into a more tightly triangulated upper structure."},{"title":"Fabrication and usable space","text":"The architect credits prefabricated steel and column units with supporting construction and clear interiors. At the sky hall the diagrid becomes part of the room’s enclosure, joining the structural arrangement to the visitor’s view of the city."}]},"raffles-city-chongqing-t3n":{"checked":"2026-10-03","sourceTitle":"Arup Journal 2021 issue 1: Raffles City Chongqing","url":"https://www.arup.com/globalassets/downloads/arup-journal/the-arup-journal-2021-issue-1.pdf","sections":[{"title":"The northern towers’ system","text":"Arup describes the two 350-metre northern towers as concrete-core structures with composite floors, four major corner columns, perimeter moment frames, belt trusses and four levels of hybrid outriggers."},{"title":"Avoiding a mistaken comparison","text":"The Crystal skybridge is carried by other towers in the complex. Its elevated structure should not be attributed to the top of this northern tower."}]},"raffles-city-chongqing-t4n":{"checked":"2026-10-03","sourceTitle":"Arup Journal 2021 issue 1: Raffles City Chongqing","url":"https://www.arup.com/globalassets/downloads/arup-journal/the-arup-journal-2021-issue-1.pdf","sections":[{"title":"The northern towers’ system","text":"Arup describes the two 350-metre northern towers as concrete-core structures with composite floors, four major corner columns, perimeter moment frames, belt trusses and four levels of hybrid outriggers."},{"title":"Avoiding a mistaken comparison","text":"The Crystal skybridge is carried by other towers in the complex. Its elevated structure should not be attributed to the top of this northern tower."}]},"guangzhou-international-finance-center":{"checked":"2026-10-03","sourceTitle":"Master Builders Solutions: high-rise concrete case study","url":"https://assets.ctfassets.net/ctspkgm1yw3s/DMSY-1685695220-132672/5b2447d73d44d243ee931a2d56bdc111/high_rise_concrete_solutions.pdf","sections":[{"title":"A concrete core inside a diagrid","text":"The supplier’s case study describes a reinforced-concrete core working with concrete-filled steel tubes around the perimeter. Large diamond-shaped modules give the outer frame stiffness while the core and perimeter cooperate."},{"title":"Concrete beyond 400 metres","text":"The case study reports pumping concrete above 400 metres using specified admixtures. Pumpability is a fresh-concrete requirement as well as a delivery problem; the source does not provide enough mix-design detail here to reproduce the concrete."}]},"lakhta-center":{"checked":"2026-10-03","sourceTitle":"Shashkin and colleagues: geotechnical monitoring results","url":"https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-edit/10.1201/9781003299127-317/results-geotechnical-monitoring-high-rise-building-lakhta-center-st-petersburg-shashkin-shashkin-bogov-ulitsky-dashko","sections":[{"title":"The difference between a foundation label and measured behaviour","text":"The published monitoring study reports that the piles carried the measured foundation load, with no load sharing through the raft base in the unevenly compressible ground. Calling a foundation a piled raft does not by itself prove that both elements share load."},{"title":"Why monitoring matters","text":"This is an observation reported by the study’s authors during construction. It is useful evidence for soil-structure interaction, but it should not be treated as a universal rule for piled rafts on other sites."}]},"landmark-81":{"checked":"2026-10-03","sourceTitle":"Arup: Landmark 81 Tower","url":"https://www.arup.com/en-us/projects/landmark-81-tower/","sections":[{"title":"Foundations for weak ground and a changing design","text":"Arup describes exceptionally poor ground beneath the three basement levels. Its foundation solution combined a thick raft with barrette piles, allowing the design to develop while foundation construction proceeded. The fast programme made flexibility part of the geotechnical problem."},{"title":"Fire strategy is part of the engineering","text":"Arup provided structural, geotechnical and fire engineering, with Atkins listed as a collaborator. Its account describes a project-specific lift-assisted evacuation strategy informed by NFPA 5000. This refers to a deliberately engineered evacuation system, not permission to use ordinary passenger lifts during a fire."}]},"st-regis-chicago":{"checked":"2026-10-03","sourceTitle":"Magnusson Klemencic Associates: St. Regis Chicago","url":"https://www.mka.com/projects/st-regis-chicago/","sections":[{"title":"Connecting the narrow volumes","text":"MKA describes a buttress-coupled dual-core system that uses the combined width of the interconnected volumes to resist lateral loads. This lets the structure work across a wider stance while accommodating hotel and residential layouts."},{"title":"Changing the wind before damping the response","text":"A double-height open level allows wind to pass through the building. MKA reports reduced overturning forces from this arrangement. Six tuned liquid damper tanks then address acceleration by timing their water motion against the tower’s motion. Aerodynamic modification and added damping serve related but different roles."},{"title":"Project roles","text":"MKA identifies itself as structural engineer and McHugh Construction as contractor. Its team listing credits bKL Architecture with Studio Gang, Gensler and Loewenberg Architects. The percentages in the engineer’s account describe its project analysis; they are not transferable to another tower."}]},"petronas-tower-1":{"checked":"2026-10-03","sourceTitle":"PETRONAS: design and structure","url":"https://www.petronastwintowers.com.my/the-towers/design-structure/","sections":[{"title":"Deep foundations and moving connections","text":"The owner reports foundations reaching 120 metres below ground, built by Bachy Soletanche. The skybridge connection allows the towers to move in wind. A connection that accommodates movement has a different job from a rigid link that forces two towers to move together."},{"title":"A construction period needs endpoints","text":"The operator describes six years from foundations to opening. This is not directly comparable with the interval from structural start to topping out used on some other projects."}]},"petronas-tower-2":{"checked":"2026-10-03","sourceTitle":"PETRONAS: design and structure","url":"https://www.petronastwintowers.com.my/the-towers/design-structure/","sections":[{"title":"Deep foundations and moving connections","text":"The owner reports foundations reaching 120 metres below ground, built by Bachy Soletanche. The skybridge connection allows the towers to move in wind. A connection that accommodates movement has a different job from a rigid link that forces two towers to move together."},{"title":"A construction period needs endpoints","text":"The operator describes six years from foundations to opening. This is not directly comparable with the interval from structural start to topping out used on some other projects."}]},"empire-state-building":{"checked":"2026-10-03","sourceTitle":"Empire State Building: owner facts","url":"https://www.esbnyc.com/about/facts-figures","sections":[{"title":"Organising a rapid build","text":"The owner records 410 days of construction across 1930 and 1931. This is a delivery milestone, not a measure of how quickly every individual floor was erected."},{"title":"Separate the tower from the antenna","text":"The owner gives 1,250 feet to the 102nd-floor roof and 1,454 feet including the antenna. The architectural height used here is 381 metres; the tip height is approximately 443.2 metres. Keeping those endpoints separate changes comparisons with other towers."}]},"suzhou-international-financial-center":{"checked":"2026-10-03","sourceTitle":"KPF: Suzhou International Finance Square","url":"https://www.kpf.com/project/suzhou-international-finance-square","sections":[{"title":"Form follows the site","text":"KPF describes a curved lower portion and a gently twisting tower that responds to Jinji Lake. The transition is an architectural account of the massing; it does not by itself identify the load-bearing system."},{"title":"Different uses need different floors","text":"Serviced apartments sit in the lower annex, offices and hotel accommodation occupy the main tower, and hospitality spaces sit near the top. This division makes lift access, servicing and the interfaces between uses important coordination questions. Member sizes and foundation depths are not published in this source."}]},"hanking-center":{"checked":"2026-10-03","sourceTitle":"WSP: Hanking Center","url":"https://www.wsp.com/en-hk/projects/hanking-center","sections":[{"title":"A detached service core","text":"WSP describes an offset service core and a mega-braced tube. Composite columns and steel diagonals engage the depth of the tower to resist overturning, rather than relying on a conventional central concrete core."},{"title":"Making the links work","text":"Bracing passes through floor plans and connects the separated core at selected levels. Its placement had to preserve usable office space and slender connecting floors. The engineer also reports nonlinear time-history analysis for seismic performance. The source is a construction-stage account, so its forecast occupancy date is not used as a completion confirmation."}]},"30-hudson-yards":{"checked":"2026-10-03","sourceTitle":"KPF: Edge observation deck","url":"https://www.kpf.com/project/edge","sections":[{"title":"A platform assembled in pieces","text":"KPF describes 15 prefabricated sections forming Edge, anchored to the east and south sides of 30 Hudson Yards. An elevated cantilever makes fabrication tolerances and installation sequence part of the structural problem."},{"title":"Surface quality at the scale of a skyline","text":"Reflective stainless-steel panels were checked for flatness before the assembly was dismantled and shipped. Angled glass panels enclose the perimeter. These details explain the observation platform, not the full lateral system of the office tower."}]},"bank-of-china-tower":{"checked":"2026-10-03","sourceTitle":"LERA: Bank of China Tower project sheet","url":"https://www.lera.com/_files/ugd/422e31_d52f53c71bf74c279c9a065a70f74716.pdf","sections":[{"title":"Structure and geometric form","text":"LERA identifies itself as lead structural designer and credits Pei Cobb Freed & Partners as architect. The project divides a square volume into rising quadrants, on a constrained site surrounded by highways."},{"title":"Be precise about the record","text":"The engineer lists a 131,000-square-metre office tower and two underground parking levels. Its project-sheet completion date is 1988; directory completion conventions may differ. This sheet does not establish pile dimensions or a concrete strength, so those values are not inferred."}]},"spring-city-66":{"checked":"2026-10-03","sourceTitle":"KPF: Spring City 66 opening, 21 February 2020","url":"https://www.kpf.com/wp-content/uploads/imported-files/20200221_Spring-City-66-Opening.pdf","sections":[{"title":"A tower within a larger development","text":"KPF’s opening release describes a 430,000-square-metre mixed-use development comprising a retail podium and office tower. That number is a complex-wide area, not an office-tower-only floor area."},{"title":"Connecting the ground plane","text":"A landscaped promenade links the development to nearby pedestrian routes and metro lines. The crag-like tower and undulating podium respond to Yunnan’s stone formations. The release documents urban design and opening, but not a complete structural system or foundation design."}]}}}