Q 01/05

In which city is the world's tallest skyscraper, the Burj Khalifa?

A) Doha

B) Abu Dhabi

C) Dubai

D) Riyadh

Answer · why

C) Dubai

At 828 metres it nearly doubles the height of the Empire State Building.

Q 02/05

Which city has the most skyscrapers over 150 metres in the world?

A) New York City

B) Hong Kong

C) Dubai

D) Shenzhen

Answer · why

B) Hong Kong

Its 569 towers put it well ahead of Shenzhen (465) and New York (324).

Q 03/05

What is usually called the first steel-frame skyscraper, built in Chicago in 1885?

A) Rookery Building

B) Reliance Building

C) Home Insurance Building

D) Monadnock Building

Answer · why

C) Home Insurance Building

It rose only 10 storeys and 42 metres, with two more floors added later.

Q 04/05

Which architect created the load-bearing frame of Chicago's first steel-frame skyscraper of 1885?

A) William Le Baron Jenney

B) Louis Sullivan

C) Dankmar Adler

D) Henry Hobson Richardson

Answer · why

A) William Le Baron Jenney

The building also combined fireproofing, elevators and electrical wiring, all staples of skyscrapers since.

Q 05/05

Who invented the safety elevator that stops automatically if its hoisting rope breaks?

A) Charles Schindler

B) Elisha Otis

C) George Westinghouse

D) Werner von Siemens

Answer · why

B) Elisha Otis

He demonstrated it dramatically at the New York Crystal Palace in 1854 by cutting the rope.