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Tallest Buildings in the World
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World’s Tallest Building
Sky City Tower – World’s Tallest Building
26 + 23 Nov 2012 – Construction is scheduled to commence in December 2012 on the world’s tallest building in Changsha, China. The tower is due to be completed in only 90 days.
World Tallest Building image © BROAD Group
World Tallest Building – Sky City Tower
The tower is due to have 220 floors and be 838 m high.
It has been titled Sky City tower but is also known as SKYCITY – J220
Expected completion: Mar 2013
Contractor: Broad Sustainable Building (BSB)
Elements: schools, hospital, apartments for over 30,000 people
Unusual feature: 17 helipads
Status: awaiting planning permission
Tallest Trends and the Burj Khalifa
Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat ratifies official height and “World’s Tallest” status of the Burj Khalifa
History and Progression of the “World’s Tallest” building
Chicago, 11th March 2010 – The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat has received and examined detailed drawings of the Burj Khalifa submitted by building owner Emaar, and can now confirm the official building height at 828.00 meters (2716.54 feet), as well as the title of “The World’s Tallest Building”. With the official completion of the building on January 4th, 2010, the Burj Khalifa surpassed the previous “World’s Tallest” (Taipei 101) by 320 meters, an unprecedented increase of 61%.
The Burj Khalifa has become the 16th building to hold the title of the “World’s Tallest” and stands an additional 773 meters higher, or 15 times taller, than the world’s first “tall building” (the Home Insurance Building completed in Chicago in 1885).
125 years on from the completion of the first skyscraper, the tall building typology continues to evolve at a rapid pace. The Burj Khalifa exemplifies four major trends in current tall building construction, with respect to location, function, structural material and height.
World Tallest Buildings image © CTBUH
Location
Until the 1990’s, the world of tall buildings was dominated by the North American continent and the United States in particular. In 1990, 80% of the world’s tallest 100 buildings and nine of the tallest ten buildings were located in North America. Two decades later, these numbers have fallen to 35% and two respectively. This trend is the result of a dramatic (and continuing) increase in tall building construction in both Asia and the Middle East. The Burj Khalifa becomes the third consecutive “World’s Tallest” to be located outside North America.
Function
The mixed-use but predominantly residential function of the Burj Khalifa is also in line with current tall building trends. 20% of the world’s current 100 tallest buildings are now mixed-use; a figure which will increase dramatically in the next few years, as a large number of mixed-use buildings complete around the world. The Burj Khalifa is the first mixed-use building to hold the “World’s Tallest” title.
Structural Material
For many years, steel was the material of choice for the tall building, a fact displayed in the first twelve “World’s Tallest” buildings. Currently, composite, concrete and mixed-structure construction is much more prevalent in tall buildings. Only 24% of the world’s current 100 tallest buildings contain a purely steel structural system, down from 57% in 1990.
Height
As exemplified by the Burj Khalifa, the average height of supertall buildings is also increasing. The number of completed supertalls (buildings over 300 meters in height) now stands at 44, up from 11 in the year 1990. This figure is predicted to increase significantly over the next decade, with 70 projects 300 meters or taller currently under construction internationally.
In addition to becoming the “World’s Tallest,” in the primary height category of “Height to Architectural Top”, the Council confirms that the Burj Khalifa has surpassed previous record heights in the “Height to Tip” and “Highest Occupied Floor” categories and lists these heights at 829.84 meters (2722.57 feet) and 584.50 meters (1917.65 feet) respectively. The building also contains a record-breaking number of floors, at 163; a record previously held by New York’s World Trade Center Towers at 110 floors. The Burj Khalifa’s observation deck becomes the second highest in the world at 452.10 meters (1483.27 feet), surpassed only by that of the Shanghai World Financial Center at 474 meters (1555.12 feet).
About the CTBUH
The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, based at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, is an international not-for-profit organization supported by architecture, engineering, planning, development and construction professionals, designed to facilitate exchanges among those involved in all aspects of the planning, design, construction and operation of tall buildings.
The Council is the arbiter of the criteria upon which tall building height is measured, and thus the title of ‘The World’s Tallest Building’ determined. CTBUH is the world’s leading body dedicated to the field of tall buildings and urban habitat and the recognized international source for information in these fields.
World Skyscrapers – The Tallest Towers
Burj Khalifa skyscraper, Dubai
Design: SOM
photograph : Imre Solt
World’s Tallest Tower – Burj Khalifa : 828 m high
Skyscraper Buildings
Skyscraper Images : A-B
Skyscraper Developments : C-H
Skyscraper Designs : I-N
Tower Designs : O-R
Tower Images : S-Z
World Skyscraper Designs
23 East 22nd Street, USA
Office for Metropolitan Architecture
image from Office for Metropolitan Architecture
Absolute Tower, Canada
MAD
image from architect
Bahrain World Trade Centre, Bahrain
Atkins
photo from architects
Bank of China Tower, Hong Kong
IM Pei
photo © Andrew McRae
Busan World Business Centre, Korea
UNStudio Architects
image : UNStudio 2007
City Palace Tower, Russia
RMJM Architects
image from architect
Dorobanti Tower, Bucharest
Zaha Hadid Architects
image from architects
Empire State Building, New York City, NY, USA
Shreve, Lamb & Harmon
photo © Andrew McRae
Iris Bay skyscraper, Dubai, UAE
Atkins
image © from Atkins
KLCC Towers, Malaysia
Cesar Pelli
photo © Tom Ravenscroft
Phare Tower Paris, France
Morphosis
image from architect
Ras Al Khaimah Tower, UAE
Snøhetta
picture : MIR
Tall Buildings
Selected High-rise architecture by country:
World’s Tallest Buildings
World’s tallest hotel building : Burj al Arab tower
image from architect
World’s Tallest Skyscraper (former) : Shanghai World Financial Center
photo © Andrew McRae
World’s Fastest Elevators – Skyscraper Buildings News
photo : Daniel Shih
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