In the world’s tallest buildings - assuming something like a public viewing area at the top - is it normal to have at least one elevator that takes you to the top without a change? I seem to remember a 1960s visit to the Empire State building which involved at least one change to reach the top, but no change when I visited decades later (I could be mistaken, since there are viewing areas on the 80th, 86th, and 102nd floors)…
How about buildings that aren’t so public-friendly (e.g. the Chrysler building in NYC)? Multiple rides to reach the upper floors?
I would assume that it’s more efficient (and space-saving) to have elevators serving blocks of floors - rather than all floors being served directly from the ground floor. But one office tower near to me has lobby elevators serving floors 1-20, 21-40, and 41 and up (no changes necessary, and no public viewing deck).
I was recently in the Burj Khalifa, in Dubai, which is currently the world’s tallest building. It has 57 elevators grouped into various banks. One bank of elevators does go directly from the ground to the observation deck.
The only one I know much about are the World Trade Centers. They were very fast and went from bottom to top. At least the express elevators did. They moved at almost 20mph.
I think the 4 express elevators of the Empire State Building only go to the 86th floor and then you transfer to get to the 102nd. I will try to dig for more on this.
According to wiki, it is the 80th floor and then transfer to get to the 86th and 102nd observation decks.
Even back in the days of elevator operators there were separate banks of lifts for different blocks of floors. Seattle’s Smith Tower built in 1914 had operators up until about 20 years ago and elevators were designated for different floors.
The Chicago skyscraper which was formerly known as the John Hancock Center (and is now simply “875 North Michigan Avenue”) has an observation deck on the 94th floor; there is a set of elevators which provide a direct trip from the building’s concourse to the 94th, and are said to be the fastest elevators in the Western Hemisphere.
But for every “express” elevator to upper floors, shaft space is being dedicated to them, rather than to “local” elevators which could be serving the other floors. An “express” could stop at every 10th or 20th floor, and then you would transfer to a “local”.
What percentage of an average tall building is taken up by elevator shafts, and is that a major factor when constructing new buildings?
In the WIllis Tower (nee Sears Tower) in Chicago, the solution is this:
Elevators only directly serve the first 28 floors, as well as a pair of express elevators which serve the Skydeck (observation deck) on the 103rd floor
Many of the elevators are “double decker,” able to load/unload passengers on two floors at the same time
To access higher floors, you take an express elevator to a “sky lobby” (either on the 33rd/34th floor, or on the 66th/67th floor), and then transfer to a local elevator to reach your final floor
As I understand it, the local elevators on the higher floors occupy the same vertical shafts as elevators which serve lower floors
For a building like Burj Khalifa or the Empire State Building, with a publicly accessible observaton platform for tourists, ticketing revenue from those tourists are a major source of income. It’s lucrative for the owners to dedicate an express elevator to the observation platform (and to turn the ride itself into some sort of multimedia experience). I’ve seen this in many highrises in different countries.
No longer accurate since 1 World Trade Center in Manhattan opened. But as far as I can tell, 875 North Michigan Avenue is still second.
Speaking of 1 World Trade Center, this is another giant building with express elevators from the lobby to the top. I see it listed a 5 express elevators.
Also in Chicago the Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower) has an express elevator to the skydeck (103 stories up I think). Not sure how it rates in speed but it is pretty fast. I recall they advertise it as one of the fastest elevators out there even if no longer the fastest.
Absolutely the amount of space needed by elevator shafts is a concern.
Thirty years ago, Maxis (publishers of SimCity) released a Japanese game called SimTower that had the player designing a mixed-use skyscraper, including providing sufficient elevators to keep the virtual people happy.
I still fire up SimTower (actually the later update Yoot Tower) from time to time in an emulator. Normal passenger elevators are limited to 30 stories, so you can’t have any span the entire building. You’re forced to use express elevators that only stop every 15 stories and then arrange locals to serve the in-between floors. When a building approaches 100 stories, you have to start getting creative with express/local elevators otherwise your lower floors will be filled with nothing but elevator shafts.
IIRC there is one elevator to the main observation deck on the Burj at the 124th floor. Then you transfer to another elevator to the additional observation deck near the very top (148th floor?). Tickets are NOT cheap… I think we paid about $US100 per person for the sunset viewing at the top.
I have a photo of the second elevator panel, the buttons go from 123 to 154.
There is also the reality that the actual bulding tenants do not want tourists to be able to get off the elevators at intermediate floors, nor do they want to have tourists clogging the elevators the tenants use to get up & down the building.
So there’s really two cases here that are utterly distinct:
In tall buildings withOUT any public observation decks, how are elevators banked by height for best efficiency?
In buildings WITH public observation deck(s), how are the tourist traffic flows separated and accommodated versus the tenant traffic flows?
My experiences from around 2016: I believe that the Empire State building has a separate entrance (with ticket and souvenir sales) to access the elevators to the viewing areas. In the Chrysler building (no viewing area), you have to clear security before entering the elevator lobby.
Related: (At least some) new tall buildings have “smart” elevators: you don’t push a button; you enter the floor you want to go to, and it tells you which car to wait for. It optimizes based on load. So if three people want to go to 22 and one to 23 and one to 50, the 22/23 folks may share a car and the 50 person gets his own. Only with that few it’s not a challenge–this allegedly handles busy times much more efficiently. This allows fewer elevators, which is a win for the architects and building.
And still doesn’t mean there aren’t zones or express elevators, of course.
The original twin towers in NYC were notable for the “express” and local elevators since the were earlier high capacity buildings. there were several floors that were “mezzanine” where the express elevators stopped, and the local elevators were specific to that mezzanine. So below the next mezzanine were the motors to drive elevators that only went up from the mezzanine level. I.e. multiple elevators using the same shaft space to service only their local area. You go to the elevator, take it down to the mezzanine level below your floor, and from there catch an express elevator to the ground floor.
Although it appears the O.P. is asking primarily about pedestrian elevator use, I’ll toss this in.
As a cameraman, I shot 2 jobs at Windows On The World. This necessitated loading into a pretty secured subterranean dock, then getting your passes ( already approved and waiting ), then rolling down the hallways. And waiting. And waiting. And waiting. Until you could get onto one of the Freight elevators.
It took 3 separate Freight elevators to get us to the Windows On The World levels. ( Which, IIRC, were immediately below the enclosed Visitor Deck and 2 floors below the Observation Deck outside )
One was prepared for the enormous time spent doing this.
Yep. Last time I went, there was a long line to get on the 80-to-86 elevator. They announced “here are the stairs, if you don’t want to wait”. IIRC, my daughter took the stairs. My aching knees and I waited for the elevator.
