RACE TO THE SKY

Today, skyscrapers are an increasingly common sight where land is expensive, as in the centers of big cities, because they provide such a high ratio of rent-able floor space per unit area of land. They are built not just for economy of space; like temples and palaces of the past, skyscrapers are considered symbols of a city's economic power. Not only do they define the skyline, they help to define the city's identity. In some cases, exceptionally tall skyscrapers have been built not out of necessity, but to help define the city's identity and presence or power as a city. The building of skyscrapers has become a thing of competition among top cities in the world. This is a look into some of the famous skyscrapers in the world and what makes them unique and also looking at what the future skyscrapers will look like. Enjoy it.

Pyramids of Giza 147m (482ft): The tallest of the pyramids stood at 147m, making them the tallest things humans had ever built. And they remained that way for nearly 4,000 years. It wasn't even until the 1300's that we finally got around to making something taller, a cathedral in England. It took the Ancient Egyptians 20 years to build the pyramids at Giza.

Chrysler Building 319 m (1,046 ft): The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco style skyscraper in New York City. The elaborate ornamentation on the top of the building is the most attractive and stunning feature of the skyscraper. I have always wondered why the final height of the building is always kept confidential.  One of the reasons happens to be competition. Building of tall buildings is a big and not-so-friendly competition. Take this for an instance; the Empire State Building was going up at the same time, backed by Chrysler rival John Raskob, founder of General Motors. Raskob, in a bit of not-so-friendly competition, wanted to make sure his building was taller than Chrysler’s, but Chrysler was keeping the height of his building a secret, making it hard for Empire State Building architects to plan. “Raskob was worried that Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute,” said project manager Hamilton Weber. Well, Raskob sure knew his rival, because that’s exactly what Chrysler did. Once the Chrysler Building was done, Raskob’s architects did some figuring and decided they could make the building 85 stories tall, eight stories taller than the Chrysler Building. They did, of course, and the Chrysler Building was bumped to the second-tallest building in the city.

Eiffel Tower 324 m (1063ft): The Eiffel Tower is an iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris. Nicknamed “Iron Lady”, the Eiffel Tower was the tallest building in the whole world till 1930. Fifty engineers and designers produced 5,300 drawings, and over 100 workers built more than 18,000 different parts of the tower in a workshop.

Empire State Building 381m (1,250 ft): When the Empire State Building was constructed in 1931; it stood at 381m (1,250 ft) tall. The famous skyscraper was the world's tallest building — and held that title for more than 40 years. It has always been of personal interest in that it was the first structure ever built by man that was so tall, were you to jump off the top of it; you would actually reach terminal velocity before you hit the bottom. It was the first structure human ever built that was so tall, rather than just continuing to accelerate as you fell, you would actually stop accelerating because you would reach the fastest possible speed your limp body could fall at.

Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) 442 m (1,451 ft): Willis Tower is a 108-storey, 1,451-foot (442 m) skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois. At the time of its completion in 1973, it was the tallest building in the world. The building has nine framed tubes or nine skyscrapers that combine to make one building; in a 3x3 matrix. It is interesting to know that the Sears Tower looks different from all angles.

Petronas Twin Towers 451.9 m (1,483 ft): twin skyscrapers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It held the title of the tallest building for 6years (1998-2004). Nicknamed Global Towers by me, because, the effort that went into the building of these towers, turned out to be global. The architect was an Argentine; the consultants were from Canada, the structural design engineers were from New York and lastly two consortiums were hired one from Japan and the other from South Korea.

International Commerce Centre 484 m (1,588 ft): abbreviated ICC Tower, it is a 118-storey  484 m (1,588 ft) commercial skyscraper completed in 2010 in West Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is a part of the Union Square project built on top of Kowloon Station. As of 2013, it is the world's seventh tallest building by height, world's third tallest building by number of floors, as well as the tallest building in Hong Kong.

Shanghai World Financial Center 492 m (1614.2ft): The Shanghai World Financial Center (SWFC) is a super-tall skyscraper located in Shanghai, China. Despite Burj Khalifa is the tallest building, Shanghai World Financial Center still holds the record of world tallest observation deck at a height of over 470m at 100th floor. Burj Khalifa just took the title of world tallest outdoor observation deck at a height of 452m at 124th floor.

The Taipei 101 Tower 508.0 m (1667 ft): Located in Taiwan China, Taipei 101, 116 stories, 101 of them are above the ground while five stories are underground. It is the first building in the world that breaks the half-kilometer mark in height. Fitted with one of the world’s fastest elevators traveling upwards at 1008 meters/minute (60.48 km/hour) and downwards at 610 m/min. (36.6 km/hour). This is one of the few buildings in the world equipped with double-deck elevators.

Burj Khalifa(Formerly Burj Dubai) 828m (2,717 ft): Today’s world's tallest building is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai— 2,717 feet into the air. The Burj Khalifa smashed the record held by Taiwan's Taipei 101.

A super cool fact about the Burj Khalifa is that you can literally watch the sunset from the base of the building, and then take a super-fast elevator all-the-way up to the top and watch the same sun set again. Cool right? In fact, the difference in timing between sunset at the base and the top is so significant, the Dubai Islamic Affairs department actually had to make a ruling about when you can start, and break, your fast during Ramadan inside the building. People above floor 80 or higher have to actually wait to start eating 2-3 minutes after the people at the base, because the sun hasn't yet set for those at the top. And they also have to start fasting 2-3 minutes earlier before people at the base.

Aside from holding the World Record for being the tallest building in the world, Burj Khalifa holds six other World Records: tallest freestanding structure in the world, highest number of stories in the world, highest occupied floor in the world, highest outdoor observation deck in the world, elevator with longest travel distance in the world, and tallest service elevator in the world.

 The Burj Khalifa and the rest

And the race continues…

A brief look at future towers.

 

Kingdom Tower (‎ Burj al Mamlakah) 1,001 m (3,281 ft): previously known as Mile-High Tower ‎, is a skyscraper currently under construction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Construction began April 1 2013 and estimated to be completed in 2019. If completed as planned, the tower will reach unprecedented heights, becoming the tallest building in the world, as well as the first structure to reach the one-kilometer-high mark. The tower was initially planned to be 1.6 kilometers (1 mi) high; however, the geology of the area proved unsuitable for a tower of that height.

 

Mubarak al-Kabir Tower 1,001 m (3,284 ft): to be erected in Kuwait, is the proposed 1,001 m (3,284 ft) Mubarak al-Kabir Tower as part of a massive development project called Madinat al-Hareer ("City of Silk") that also includes an Olympic stadium, residences, hotels, and retail facilities. However, the project may take 25 years to complete.

 The  Mubarak al-Kabir Tower

Murjan Tower 1,022 m (3,353 ft):. Another proposed super tall skyscraper, the Murjan Tower in Manama, Bahrain is planned to be 1,022 m (3,353 ft) tall with 200 floors. The Murjan Tower is being designed by Danish firm Henning Larsens Tegnestue A/S.

Al Burj ("The Tower") 1,200 m (3,937 ft):  is being developed by Nakheel Properties who are also keeping the project's final height tightly under wraps. Meed.com recently reported that this tower's projected height would be around 1,200 m (3,937 ft) with at least 200 floors.

 Al Burj compared to the rest

Here come the 2km structures…

The Aeropolis 2001 2,001 metres (6,565 ft): The Aeropolis was a proposed 500-story high-rise building over Tokyo Bay in Japan, envisioned by Obayashi Corp. With a height of 2,001 m (6,565 ft), the mammoth structure would be approximately five times as high as the former World Trade Center in New York City. The Aeropolis 2001 was proposed in 1989, amid a spate of similar projects for incredibly large buildings.

 The Aeropolis 2001

The Shimizu TRY 2004 Mega-City Pyramid 2,004 m (6,575 ft): is a hypothetical project for construction of a massive pyramid over Tokyo Bay in Japan. The structure would be more than 14 times as high as the Great Pyramid at Giza, and would house 1,000,000 people. The structure would be 2000 meters (6,561 feet) above mean sea level, including 5 stacked trusses, each with similar dimensions to that of the great pyramid of Giza.

 The Shimizu TRY 2004 Mega-City Pyramid

Hexahedron City 2101.0 m (6893 ft): A visionary skyscraper to  be built in Scottsdale USA.

Hexahedron City 

The Dubai City Tower 2,400 m (7,874 ft): The Dubai City Tower, also known as the Dubai Vertical City, is a proposed skyscraper design announced on 25 August 2008. The building is supposed to be 2400 m (7900 ft) tall. The building, created by an architect to display possibly future technologies, is the third tallest building ever fully envisioned after the X-Seed 4000 (4000m) and the Ultima Tower (3217m). If ever constructed, the Dubai City Tower will be much taller than any other current man-made structure, at almost three times the height of the Burj Khalifa. The Dubai City Tower would be almost seven times taller than the Empire State Building.

 The Dubai City Tower

Introducing the 3km structure…

The Ultima Tower 3,218.7 m (10,560 ft): is a hypothetical supertall skyscraper, designed by American architect Eugene Tsui in 1991. With a total height of 3,218.7 m (10,560 ft), the tower would be 2 miles tall, and comprise 500 stories if built.

 The Ultima Tower

And here comes the tower of Babel...

The X-Seed 4000 4,000 m (13,123 ft): is the tallest building ever fully envisioned, meaning that the designs for construction have been completed. The idea was initially created and developed by Peter Neville. Its proposed 4 km (2.5 mi) height, 6 km (3.7 mi) wide sea-base, and 800 floor capacity could accommodate 500,000 to 1,000,000 inhabitants. This structure would be composed of over 3,000,000 tons of reinforced steel.  It was designed for Tokyo.

There is definitely no limit to how high man can build. :)

Worthy of note, The tallest building in Nigeria, the Millennium tower, would be 170m high when completed. :(  I leave you to do your comparison.