Groundscraper

The Squaire, Frankfurt Airport, Germany. With a floor area of 140,000 square metres (1,500,000 sq ft) it has more office space than any of the skyscrapers in Frankfurt.

Estonian National Museum main building

A groundscraper is a large building that has relatively few stories but which greatly extends horizontally.

Definition

Encarta defines groundscraper as "a large low or medium-rise building, typically containing offices, that spreads horizontally and occupies a large amount of land". ^[1]

Examples

• 5 Broadgate, a groundscaper owned by Swiss bank UBS, was once the largest office building in the City of London. ^[2]
• Horizontal Skyscraper – Vanke Center in Shenzhen is as large as the Empire State Building, but is laid out horizontally and five stories above ground level. ^{[3] [4] [5]} A park occupies the space below. ^{[4] [5]}
• The Pentagon  – the world's second largest office building
• Apple Park
• Bharat Mandapam
• The Squaire
• Colossus of Prora, originally 4.5 km (2.8 mi) in length.
• Estonian National Museum
• SAS Frösundavik Office Building ^[6]
• The klystron gallery at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is 3 kilometers long and 1 story high.
• Each arm of the LIGO gravitational wave detectors is 4 kilometers long and housed in an above-ground concrete structure.

See also

• Earthscraper
• Skyscraper
• List of largest buildings

References

1. "Groundscraper definition". MSN Encarta . Archived from the original on November 17, 2009. Retrieved January 17, 2011.^{[ better source needed ]}
2. "City 'groundscraper' unveiled". FT.com . May 16, 2006. Retrieved January 17, 2011.
3. Ouroussoff, Nicolai (2011-06-27). "Turning Design on Its Side". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2021-06-29.
4. Cheek, Lawrence W. (January 15, 2011). "Architects Find Their Dream Client, in China". The New York Times .
5. "Horizontal Skyscraper - Vanke Center". Steven Holl Architects. Retrieved September 16, 2014.
6. van Meel, Jurian. The European Office: Office Design and National Context. 010 Publishers, 2000. 97. Retrieved from Google Books on 12 February 2010. ISBN   90-6450-382-6, ISBN   978-90-6450-382-5.