We knew how to build skyscrapers of almost any size, shape and form; the bigger question now was whether we should.

 

R. Shankar Nair, Chicago, USA

CTBUH Chairman (1997–2001)

My term as chairman of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat ended just weeks before September 11th 2001, when the world of tall buildings was suddenly turned upside-down.  Thoughtful people know of course that what happened that day was a security failure, not a building failure, and that the lesson of 9/11 is not that tall buildings should be built differently; it is that criminals should be prevented from flying airplanes into buildings. But this wasn’t obvious at the time, at least to the general public, and correcting the misperception gave the Council an immediate and critical raison d’être.

But this was after my tenure. In the years leading up to 9/11, the challenge facing the Council was to answer two questions: (1) Does the Council have a reason to exist and (2) how do we manage after Lynn Beedle?

These issues would have seemed very remote in 1972, when I had my first experience with the Council. That was at Lehigh University, at the first Congress of the predecessor to CTBUH.  The organization was known then as the Joint Committee on Tall Buildings of IABSE and ASCE, and the conference title was “Planning and Design of Tall Buildings.”  Skyscraper design seemed like a new and exciting field then, and I still remember that there was a certain spirit and enthusiasm at that event that could make it a model for almost any conference on any subject (even if a clambake is not possible everywhere).

I never imagined in 1972 that I would one day be chairman of the Council, but I became increasingly active in the organization from the mid-1980s onward. By that time the Council had been transformed into much more than a structural engineering group. And the tall building focus had been broadened to include the urban habitat of which the buildings are a part. The international nature of the organization had also been reinforced.  By the mid-1980s, the Council was recognized as the only organization in the world involved with tall buildings and the urban habitat that was both international and multidisciplinary.  

By 1997, when I became chairman of the Council, the technology of skyscrapers had advanced to the point that the “why” of tall buildings was at least as important as the “how.”  We knew how to build skyscrapers of almost any size, shape and form; the bigger question now was whether we should. But the Council’s focus was perceived, rightly or not, as being more the nuts-and-bolts of skyscraper design and construction than the broader issues of the building’s place in the urban environment. So the challenge was to correct that perception or, if the perception was correct, to change the focus of the Council to conform to what was needed for the age.  But there was legitimate concern that this would duplicate what other, larger organizations were doing already.

An interesting sideshow—of great interest to the public but peripheral to the Councils’ mission—throughout my tenure was the controversy over how to measure skyscraper height. The Sears Tower had just lost the tallest-building crown to Petronas, as a result of rules under which spires count in the height measurement. To many people this just didn’t make sense. But to those who say that spires shouldn’t count, I would ask:  Should we not count the spire on the Chrysler Building?  Anyway, the issue has gone away now, with Taipei 101 (and soon Burj Dubai) being the tallest by any measure.

The other challenge facing the Council in the 1990s, beyond the matter of its reason to exist, was leadership transition. The Council had had several very illustrious chairmen before my time but the guiding spirit all along was Lynn Beedle, the founding director. And after 30-plus years, the Council was so closely identified with Dr. Beedle that a CTBUH without him as its anchor was hard to contemplate. It was touch-and-go for a while but thanks to the efforts of my successors, Ron Klemencic and David Scott, the transition has been made successfully and this organization is well positioned now to go from strength to strength.

Ron Klemencic, Seattle, USA

CTBUH Chairman (2001–2006)

I had my first interactions with CTBUH around 1990. I was working on the design of a tall concrete tower for a Japanese client and the client suggested that the project design team travel to Hong Kong to attend the CTBUH World Congress. This trip was my first to Hong Kong, in fact my first to Asia, and WOW, …what an eye opening experience. Hundreds and hundreds of very tall buildings that I had never seen before… all in one location. Who designed all of these buildings, I wondered?

The Congress itself was an eye opener as well. Attended by something like 600 of the world’s top architects, engineers and contractors, I remember distinctly catching a glimpse of some of the “rock stars” of the industry—Walter P. Moore, Les Robertson, Gene Kohn, Richard Keating, and so on… then there was Dr. Lynn Beedle… the energetic, charismatic man leading the Council and the Congress.

Interestingly, my senior project at Purdue University was based on a book written by Dr. Beedle, Plastic Design of Steel Structures. As a senior at Purdue, I simply thought the material in his book was an interesting and exciting design direction. I had no idea our paths would ever cross, or what a huge influence Dr. Beedle would have on my career.

I was fortunate enough to meet Dr. Beedle at the Congress and spend a few minutes chatting with him. Always the promoter, Dr. Beedle had me signed up as a member of the organization and assigned to a committee before that first conversation ended. Being simply bedazzled by the energy of the Congress on the construction-crazy Hong Kong environment, I returned from the trip with a clear and specific vision of what I wanted to do… design tall buildings… cool tall buildings… all around the world.

Over the course of the next few years, I actively engaged in CTBUH activities, attending other conferences and committee meetings, networking with the “who’s who” of the tall buildings industry. The opportunity to learn from the best in the world was profound.

By the late 1990s I had entered a leadership role in CTBUH, first serving as the Finance Committee Chair, then as Congress Chair of the 7th World Congress in Melbourne, Australia, and ultimately was appointed CTBUH Chairman in the summer of 2001. I accepted the Chairmanship two months before the attacks of 9/11.

The 9/11 attacks resulted in the media reporting the “end of the high rise” in a panic-ridden time. Immediately, the Council was called upon to attempt to assess what the collapse of the World Trade Center towers meant for the future of high rises and tall building safety. Industry leadership was the call of the Council for the ensuing months and even into the next few years. Countless meetings, seminars, and phone conferences resulted in CTBUH publishing the first set of high rise safety guidelines in the fall of 2002.

During my term in service as Chairman, I had tremendous opportunities to travel and interact with some of the most interesting and engaging people in the industry and around the world. Prince Charles, the Mayors of Taipei, Kuala Lumpur, London, Seoul, and Shanghai, the President of Taiwan, and countless other dignitaries were among the numbers. I relished the opportunity of interacting and learning from colleagues around the globe… not just technical engineering information, but also business and cultural practices. What an enjoyable and fascinating journey. I remain most honored and privileged to have served the CTBUH organization in this capacity and happily remain active today, serving on the Board of Trustees.