Advanced Business English: Skyscrapers Vocabulary

Flashcards covering general and specialist vocabulary related to skyscraper architecture and the Burj Khalifa as presented in the lecture notes.

Grinded to a halt

Slowed down and stopped.

Contender

A participant in a competition.

Dwarf the competition

Be considerably larger than its competitors.

Surpassing

Overtaking; in the context of the Burj Khalifa, it exceeded the previous record-holder by over $60\%$.

Compensate

Make up for.

Masonry

Stonework; wider and thicker masonry at the base was used in early tall buildings to support weight.

Substantially

Considerably.

Shed

Get rid of; industrial steel helped buildings shed weight.

Vulnerable

Easy to damage or destroy; tall steel skyscrapers were vulnerable to strong winds.

Sturdy

Well-made, strong, and not easily destroyed.

Unprecedented

Something that has not happened or been done previously, such as the Burj Khalifa spanning $163$ floors.

Strategically

In a manner that improves chances of winning or will help to achieve a goal.

Calibrate

To engineer something in a precise way so that it can measure something; the Burj Khalifa's Y-shaped layout was calibrated to minimize wind forces.

Staggeringly

In a manner that is so incredible that it is difficult to believe or understand.

Scrutiny

A very thorough examination of something; the UAE fell under scrutiny regarding worker protection laws.

Marvel

An unusually wonderful person, object, or achievement.

Countermeasures

Protections or various designs intended to prevent swaying and structural damage.

Exoskeleton

A strong layer on the outside designed to protect; a steel and concrete exterior frame proposed by Fazlur Rahman Khan.

Braced

Reinforced or given extra protection or strength.

Protruding

Part of a building that sticks out from the main part.

Support beam

A strong, long piece of wood or metal that gives extra strength within a building to a floor or wall.

Load-bearing

Supporting the weight of the building.

Buttressed

Reinforced or strengthened walls.

Recedes

Goes back a little or moves away from; in the Burj Khalifa, the wings recede to form setbacks.

Tubular design

An engineering philosophy where exterior steel frames are braced with concrete to absorb and transfer wind force to the foundation.

Buttressed core

A design featuring a central column supported by three protruding wings, allowing a structure to work as a single load-bearing unit.

Setbacks

A series of steps formed where building wings recede, used to disperse air currents from winds up to $240\,km/h$.