Sustainability: a new high‐rise vernacular?

This paper outlines the viability of the tall building as a sustainable element in our future urban centres and examines several tall building case studies that have embraced environmental approaches to a lesser or greater degree. In doing this, it suggests a number of design approaches which, collectively and broadly, could be interpreted as a new vernacular for the skyscraper based on sustainability. This vernacular is particularly relevant to developing cities, whose import of Western models is contributing to a degradation of local culture and an homogenization of urban centres globally. The paper concludes with a fledgling set of design principles to encourage this new sustainable vernacular in high rise design.