Groundscraper

A groundscraper is a large building that has relatively few stories but which greatly extends horizontally.

The Squaire, Frankfurt Airport, Germany. With a floor area of 140,000 square metres (1,500,000 sq ft) it has more office space than any of the skyscrapers in Frankfurt.

Estonian National Museum main building

Definition

Encarta defines groundscraper as "a large low or medium-rise building, typically containing offices, that spreads horizontally and occupies a large amount of land".^[1]

Examples

• 5 Broadgate, a groundscaper owned by Swiss bank UBS, was once the largest office building in the City of London.^[2]
• Horizontal Skyscraper – Vanke Center in Shenzhen is as large as the Empire State Building, but is laid out horizontally and five stories above ground level.^[3][4][5] A park occupies the space below.^[4][5]
• The Pentagon – the world's second largest office building
• Apple Park
• Bharat Mandapam
• The Squaire
• Colossus of Prora, originally 4.5 km (2.8 mi) in length.
• Estonian National Museum
• SAS Frösundavik Office Building^[6]
• The klystron gallery at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is 3 kilometers long and 1 story high.
• Each arm of the LIGO gravitational wave detectors is 4 kilometers long and housed in an above-ground concrete structure.

See also

• Earthscraper
• Skyscraper
• List of largest buildings