New York City is almost synonymous to the tall skyscrapers towering over humans and gently grazing the blue sky. During the era of the Empire State Building, architects and construction builders were obsessed with the idea of building up and building tall. When the Empire State Building was finished in 1931, it stood for 40 years as the tallest building in the word. Developers since then have been competing in a race to build the tallest buildings. Nowadays, however, buildings, like humans, are paying more attention to their body shapes. Rather than building up, buildings are now building slim. Architects and designers are now focused on building super-slim towers rather than super-tall towers. Skyscrapers have the name “skyscraper,” because when you looked up from the ground, it literally looked like the buildings were scratching the sky. Skyscraper development moving towards this development of super-slim towers diminishes the name of a skyscraper, because the focus is shifting from height to width. However, this shift may be necessary to accommodate a growing population in New York City and a diminishing amount of land available to live on.

There are already plans to create and construct the world’s most slender building in New York. Located at 111 W 57^th Street, the building will have a ratio of the width of the base to height of 1:23. The skyscraper will be situated between to significantly smaller buildings and in the middle of a crowded street. I think the shift towards slender and skinnier buildings is a result of the lack of space in New York City. New Yorkers have always adapted to their environments, and so given the lack of space in the city, smaller and skinnier buildings were necessary. I believe that this shift has been a response to the need of housing in New York City. For example, when 432 Park Avenue’s construction is completed in 2015, it will become the tallest residential building in New York City and even taller than One World Trade Center. This idea of building slender buildings in small places can help accommodate a growing population in New York City.  As well, architects have been finding ways to incorporate both building slender and building tall into their designs, and thus do not diminish the idea and concept of a skyscraper.

Recently, architects and designers have been able to incorporate both the slender and skinny look of buildings with the tall and looming qualities of a skyscraper. I think that not only are these buildings aesthetically pleasing, they allow for a more practical use of land and space in a crowded city.