Quote:
Originally Posted by Guiltyspark
I hate to disagree with you Big Apple Guy. But the windows don't increase in size on the way up. How could they? the dimensions of the building don't change an neither do the number of windows. The picture you posted show windows that are all the same size...
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An engineer should clear this up.
But I do know it is typical for the piers in concrete frame buildings to get narrower (and frequently for windows to get bigger, conversely) the higher up they are:
1) because the higher piers bear less load and can be smaller
2) because it is necessary to reduce building weight bearing down on lower structural components, so higher components need to be as light as possible.
Remember back to the famous masonry-framed Monadnock Building in Chicago: the brick walls are something like 16 feet thick at the base:
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/gsapp/BT/EEI/HISTORY/monad2.jpg
The Chicago forumers are usually very informed about this kind of stuff. Maybe one of them can chime in.