High-rise building

A high-rise building is a tall building. It is used as an apartment building, office building or other functions, such as hotel or retail. Sometimes, multiple purposes are combined. A residential high-rise building is also called a tower block or an "MDU", standing for "Multi Dwelling Unit".^[1] A very tall high-rise building is called a skyscraper.

High-rise buildings became possible with the invention of the elevator (lift) and cheaper and more abundant building materials. The materials used for high-rise buildings are reinforced concrete and steel. Most North American style skyscrapers have a steel frame, while residential blocks are usually constructed of concrete. There is no clear difference between a tower block and a skyscraper but a building with fifty or more stories is generally considered a skyscraper. The opposite of high-rise is a low-rise building and in the middle are mid-rise buildings.

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1. ↑ BICSI (2002). Residential Network Cabling. McGraw Hill Professional. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-07-138211-3.
2. ↑ "skyscraper". ©2012 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved 19 September 2012.