Glass-skinned steel-frame skyscrapers have many advantages. They're relatively quick, inexpensive and easy to build and require comparatively few materials. But they pose problems; heat not least among them. Buildings with fully glazed facades are essentially greenhouses, so when the sun comes out, they can get uncomfortably hot. The problem that is more acute in hot climates like that of the United Arab Emirates, where, despite this fact, the appetite for glassy high-rise continues to be voracious.
