Tower Block

Tower block - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tower blocks were built in the UK after the Second World War. The first residential tower block, "The Lawn" was constructed in Harlow, Essex ...
en.wikipedia.org

Warning: mkdir() [function.mkdir]: Permission denied in /home/webs/affiliatelib2/CacheManager.php on line 12

Warning: mkdir() [function.mkdir]: No such file or directory in /home/webs/affiliatelib2/CacheManager.php on line 12

Warning: fopen(/home/templatecore2cache//*cluesnet.com/01/0131a61e477697ceec2c4e2f4ffab1b30df610a4.tc2cache) [function.fopen]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/webs/affiliatelib2/CacheManager.php on line 130

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /home/webs/affiliatelib2/CacheManager.php on line 131

Warning: fclose(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /home/webs/affiliatelib2/CacheManager.php on line 132

A tower block, block of flats, or apartment block, is a multi-unit high-rise apartment building. In some areas they may be referred to as MDU standing for Multi Dwelling Unit.

Apartment blocks have technical and economic advantages in areas with high population density. They have become a distinguished form of housing accommodation in virtually all densely populated urban areas around the world. In contrast with low-rise and single-family houses, apartment blocks accommodate more inhabitants per unit of area of land they occupy and also decrease the cost of municipal infrastructure.

Apartment blocks around the world United Kingdom , South Wales, Manchester

Tower blocks were first built in the United Kingdom after the World War II, in many cases as a "quick-fix" to cure problems caused by crumbling and unsanitary 19th century dwellings or to replace buildings destroyed by German aerial bombing. Initially, they were welcomed, and their excellent views made them popular living places. Later, as the buildings themselves deteriorated, they grew a reputation for being undesirable low cost housing, and many tower blocks saw rising crime levels, increasing their unpopularity. One response to this was the great increase in the number of housing estates built, which in turn brings its own problems. In the UK, tower blocks particularly lost popularity after the partial collapse of Ronan Point in 1968. The city of Glasgow in Scotland contains the highest concentration of tower blocks in the UK - examples include the Hutchensontown C blocks in the Gorbals, the 20-storey blocks in Sighthill, Glasgow, and the 31-storey Red Road flats in the city's north east.

In recent years, some council or ex-council high-rises in the United Kingdom, including Trellick Tower, Keeling House, Perronet House and Barbican Estate, have become popular with young professionals due to their excellent views, desirable locations and architectural pedigrees, and now command high prices. After a gap of around 30 years, new high-rise flats are once again being built in Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Cardiff, Liverpool, London, and Manchester however this time for wealthy professionals. Their developers market these properties by using the American term 'apartment buildings', perhaps in an effort to distance these newer buildings from the older tower blocks from the 1950s and '60s.

United States .

In the United States tower blocks are commonly referred to as midrise or highrise apartment buildings, depending on their height, while buildings that house fewer flats (apartments), or are not as tall as the tower blocks, are called lowrise apartment buildings.

Some of the first residential towers were the Castle Village towers in New York City completed in 1939. Their cross-shaped design was copied in towers in Parkchester, Bronx and Stuyvesant Town residential developments.

The government's experiments in the 1960s and 70s to use high-rise apartments as a means of providing the housing solution for the poor resulted in a spectacular failure. All but a few high-rise Public housing in the nation's largest city, such as Cabrini-Green and Robert Taylor Homes in Chicago, Penn South in New York, New York and the Desire projects in New Orleans, fell victim to the "ghetto" and are now being torn down, renovated, or replaced.

In contrast to their public housing cousins, commercially developed high-rise apartment buildings continue to flourish in cities around the country largely due to high land prices and the housing boom of the 2000s. The Upper East Side in New York City and Chicago's Near North Side, Chicago#Gold Coast, both featuring high-rise apartments, are the wealthiest urban neighborhoods in the United States.

Ireland , Dublin.

Tower Blocks are Called Flats in Ireland. Most of the flats in the country are in Dublin, typically but not exclusively found on the northside of the city, in such areas such as Ballymun, Dublin's inner-city and Coolock. Crime and drug abuse problems are very common in these areas, these problems also exist in flatted areas of Cork City such as Blackpool. Over the last five years the largest cities such as Dublin, Cork (city), Limerick and Galway have witnessed apartment building. Some large Towns such as Navan, Drogheda and Mullingar have also witnessed lots of apartments being built.

Eastern Europe and Russia 's municipality of New Belgrade, Serbia

, Moscow, Russia

Soviet housing Post Cold-War buildup Russia is currently undergoing a dramatic buildout, growing a commercially-shaped skyline that wasn't possible under communism.

Middle East South America The planned city of Brasilia, capital city of Brazil, was created as a vision of Le Corbusier, and includes some of the most (in)famous apartment block architecture in the world.

Asia apartment, ,

The unpopularity of tower blocks in the UK is in marked contrast to many Asian countries. In Singapore and urban Hong Kong, for example, land prices are so high that almost the entire population lives in high-rise apartments. In fact, over 60% of Hong Kong residents live in apartments, many of them condominiums. Tower Palace in Seoul, South Korea, is the tallest apartment complex in Asia.

References

See also

Brutalist architecture - an architectural style spawned by the modernist architectural movement and which flourished from the 1950s to the 1970s.
Gemeindebau - large scale public housing in Austria
Prefabrication
Falowiec - an example in Gdansk, Poland
Panelák - the equivalent in Czechoslovakia
Plattenbau - the equivalent in East Germany
Systematisation (Romania) - meaning Matchboxes in Romanian language is the equivalent in Romania

External links

Sustaining Tower Blocks
World's tallest residential towers
East European blocks of flats today
Photos of Apartment Blocks from around the world
News on the Block - a magazine all about flats

NSTBI Index Page
Sustainable Towerblocks Initiative. The Sustainable Tower Blocks Initiative is an informal grouping of voluntary organisations. The Initiative is seeking to discover and ...

STBI- summary report
matter! the challenge. making a start. making it happen : tower blocks matter! Tower blocks are compact and high-density housing. They have the potential to develop strong and ...

The Tower Block
Personal website of a Deptford man based around the metaphor of a high-rise block, plus travelogues with a friend as the Deptford Lads.

Tower block - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A tower block, block of flats, or apartment block, is a multi-unit high-rise apartment building. In some areas they may be referred to as MDU standing for Multi Dwelling Unit ...

Amazon.co.uk: Tower Block: Modern Public Housing in England, Scotland ...
Amazon.co.uk: Tower Block: Modern Public Housing in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies): Stefan Muthesius, Miles Glendinning: Books

Tower block plunge man named
A MAN who died after falling from the window of a second floor flat has been named as Frank Odame. Police say they are still unsure whether the 36-year-old Ghanaian national fell ...

BBC NEWS | Scotland | Two tower blocks are demolished
Two tower blocks in Glasgow's Gorbals district are demolished in a controlled explosion. ... Modern homes will be built on the site of the two tower blocks

Tower Blocks (11 pictures)
London’s skyline, which already boasts a 'gherkin' (right), is now set to get a 'walkie talkie' (centre), and a 'helter skelter' (left). There are also plans for a 'cheese grater ...

BBC NEWS | UK | Man 'planned tower block blast'
One of the alleged 21 July bombers planned "bigger and better" attacks than those of 7 July 2005, a court hears.

50-storey tower block gets green light| News | This is London
John Prescott has overruled a planning inspector to give the go-ahead to a controversial 50-storey block of flats in Vauxhall.