ABSTRACT
A well-designed core is often the key to a tall building’s success. With a multi-storey building, there are a lot of services and circulation that need to go up and down the building, and most of these are concentrated in what is called the core. When designing the core, plan out the largest parts of the core first – the stairs and the lifts. The core is often sited in the middle of the building, with a similar amount of space on all sides between the core and the external facade. This ‘central core’ is a strong structural response, like a tree trunk, with roots down into the ground and branches branching off at each office level. Some new buildings are planned with a ‘split core’ solution, where two or more cores exist. This will typically have the main core in one part of the building and a secondary, minor core elsewhere, perhaps on the other side of the building.
