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World’s Most Spectacular Corporate Buildings: Structures

post updated 16 February 2026

Power Structures across the Globe : Images + Links

Power Structures: The World’s Most Spectacular Corporate Buildings

10 Apr 2013

World’s Most Spectacular Corporate Buildings

Best Commercial Developments across the Globe

Hamburg, April 9, 2013 – The taller, the bigger, the more eye-catching the better: more and more companies around the world are investing millions in spectacular corporate buildings in a desire to express their identity through architecture. Buildings range from offices at dizzying heights, to daring designs by star architects, to large company campuses. But, despite their diversity, these architectural calling cards all have one thing in common: they are all – put simply – impressive.

The Bow, Calgary, Alberta, Canada:

photo © Daniel Haug

BMW Welt Komplex, Munich, Bavaria, southern Germany:

photo © Abdul Rahman

The Lloyd’s Building, City of London, south east England, UK:

photo © Lloyd’s

Hearst Tower, Midtown, New York City, NY, USA:

photo © Mathias Beinling

The world’s most dazzling corporate buildings have now been compiled by a jury of building experts from Emporis (www.emporis.com), the international provider of building data. Innovative design, visual impact and function of significant corporate architecture served as the selection criteria. Structures from all over the world, housing companies from all kinds of industries, were considered.

Gazprom office tower, Russia:

photo © Leonid Kazakov

Tour CMA CGM, Marseille – Marseilles Buildings, southern France:

photo © Iwan Baan

Aldar Headquarters, Abu Dhabi, UAE:

photo © Michael Merola

Bank of China Tower, Hong Kong, China:

photo © Johannes Kair

Big companies such as the Malaysian petroleum giant Petronas, or the Bank of China, use the imposing effect of skyscrapers to represent their economic might. The 452 meter-tall twin Petronas Towers – the tallest buildings in the world up until 2004 – and the 367 meter-tall Bank of China Tower count among the world’s tallest corporate palaces.

Riviera TwinStar Square, Shanghai, China:

photo © Evan Chakroff

Jong-ro Tower, Seoul, South Korea:

photo © Alexei Bobko

ING House, Amsterdam, The Netherlands:

photo © Michiel van Dijk

Petronas Towers, Malaysia, south east Asia:

photo © Jon Bek

Other companies create buildings that are outsize versions of their most important products. Thus the 101 meter-tall tower at BMW’s headquarters in Munich is intended to evoke the pistons of a four-cylinder engine. adidas commissioned a similarly symbolic building: the footprint and facade of adidas LACES, completed in 2011, bring to mind a giant sneaker.

General Motors Renaissance Center, Detroit, Michigan, USA:

photo © Dan Macy

Torre Mare Nostrum, Barcelona, Catalunya, north east Spain:

photo © José Miquel Hernández Hernández

adidas LACES, Herzogenaurach, Germany:

photo © adidas Group

It is not unusual for renowned architects to be responsible for designing such buildings, with Foster + Partners, who have already provided several firms with an accomplished architectural presence, leading the way. Last year saw the completion of their crescent-shaped skyscraper The Bow for the Canadian energy company EnCana. Their next major project, Apple’s new headquarters in Silicon Valley, is already in the starting blocks – a ring-shaped campus 230 meters in diameter reminiscent of a futuristic spaceship.

World’s Most Spectacular Corporate Buildings information / images received from Emporis GmbH.

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