What's the World's Skinniest Skyscraper?

The world's slimmest skyscraper is in New York City, where it's less than one-third of the width of comparable buildings. Learn about Steinway Tower in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://science.howstuffworks.com/engineering/architecture/steinway-tower-news.htm

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff,
Lauren vogelbaumb here we humans love a superlative. There are
world records out there for the tallest buildings, both residential
and unoccupied, for the largest permanent vertical maze, and the

(00:22):
largest playing card structure. But today we're talking about the
world's skinniest skyscraper. It's called Steinway Tower, and it's located
at one eleven West fifty seventh Street in New York City.
The building stands one four hundred and twenty eight feet tall.
That's four hundred and thirty five meters, but it's no

(00:44):
more than sixty feet wide. That's eighteen meters, giving it
a width ratio of twenty four to one. If you're
having trouble imagining the width of this building, you could
think of it as about one and a half full
sized school buses long, or just shy of the distance
from the pitcher's mound to home plate on a Major

(01:04):
League Baseball pitch. But it is really tall. Only two
other skyscrapers in New York City are taller. There's the
one World Trade Center, which stands at one thousand, seven
hundred and seventy six feet that's five hundred and forty
one meters tall, and Central Park Tower, which is one thousand,
five hundred and fifty feet or four hundred and seventy

(01:26):
two meters tall, but each of those are over three
times as wide as the Steinway. Steinway Tower was so
named because it's built above the famed Steinway and Son's
Piano company headquarters. It cost two billion dollars to build
and is in a high rent district smack dab in

(01:47):
the middle of the southern end of Central Park. This
stretch of ultra luxury real estate is aptly nicknamed Billionaire's Row.
A Construction on the eighty four floor tower began in
twenty thirteen, and the building, with sixty condos total, began
welcoming residents in April of twenty twenty two. The cheapest
condo in Steinway Tower will reportedly set you back seven

(02:10):
point seventy five million dollars, with prices rising to more
than sixty six million for the Penthouse. This is a
three story condo connected by an oval staircase, with over
seven thousand square feet in its floor plan that's over
six hundred square meters. It includes four bedrooms, five baths,
fourteen foot high ceilings that's about four meters, and a

(02:32):
private elevator. But if you're interested, sorry, it's off the market.
It's sold to an international buyer who only viewed it virtually.
Most New Yorkers are happy to get a building with
a washer and dryer in the basement, But as you
might expect, Steinway Tower offers a few more amenities, including
a twenty four hour concierge and door attendant, a twenty

(02:54):
five meters swimming pool it's about eighty feet, a fitness center,
private shops, and a private dining room. There is a
slight downside to living among the clouds. The dimensions of
the tower make it highly susceptible to swaying when it's
hit by high winds as much as three feet that's
almost a full meter. Some visitors have complained of severe

(03:17):
nausea because of the swaying. A nearby residential building four
thirty two Park Avenue has been beset by engineering problems,
including sway, and those issues have been difficult to repair
because of the building's height. Whatever else they may have
done in creating Steinway Tower, the building's designers were attempting

(03:37):
to create something bold and memorable. While not the tallest
building in the world, it looks like they've fulfilled that mission,
though one critic who was not impressed with Steinway Tower's
dimensions said, these are not the proportions of a classical column,
but of a coffee stirer. This less than flattering nickname,

(03:57):
the coffee Stirer, has stuck. Today's episode is based on
the article maybe you can be Too Thin Meet the
World's skinniest skyscraper on HowStuffWorks dot Com, written by Patti Resmusen.
Brainstuff is production of by Heart Radio in partnership with
HowStuffWorks dot Com, and is produced by Tyler Klain. The

(04:18):
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