The Tallest Buildings in the World

Seeking to set it apart from your average slate-grey skyscraper, MAD designed the SinoSteel Plaza to be “natural, organic and futuristic.” Situated in Tianjing near BoHai Bay, the complex comprises two structures: a 1,174 foot tower and an adjacent hotel.

Each building’s elegant white façade plays an integral role in its energy efficiency: “By mapping the different air flows and solar direction across the site, we were able to position different sized windows accordingly, minimizing heat loss in the winter and heat gain in the summer.” The façade also acts as the building’s main structural support, which allows the interior spaces great flexibility for the types of use they can accommodate.

Construction is currently underway and the complex will be completed in 2011.

Dubbed The Worst Building in the History of Mankind by Esquire Magazine in January, 2008, the unfinished and never occupied 105-storey Ryugyong Hotel is reportedly back under construction after a 16-year lull.

The Ryugyong Hotel is an unfinished concrete skyscraper. It was intended for use as a hotel in Sojang-dong, in the Potong-gang District of Pyongyang, North Korea. Its 105 stories rise to a height of 330 m (1,083 ft), and it contains 360,000 m² (3.9 million square feet) of floor space, making it the most prominent feature of the city’s skyline and by far the largest structure in the country. At one time, it would have been the world’s tallest hotel.

There’s a new super-skyscraper going up, and for once it’s not in Dubai. The new Tokyo Sky Tree will stand a whopping 2000 feet (610 meters) over Tokyo, making it by far the tallest building in Japan and perhaps the second tallest building in the world.

It’ll be a bit short, however, of the tallest tower in the world, despite some news sources calling it that, with the Burj Dubai already at 2,087 feet and expected to grow to an insane total of over 2,600 feet. But still, 2000 feet is nothing to scoff at, putting it higher than the CN Tower, the Taipei 101 and the Sears Tower.

The top of the tower will feature a restaurant and the requisite broadcast antennae, but it’s not known what’ll be in the rest of the building. The cost is expected to be around 60 billion yen, or $555 million, and it should be completed in 2011

Two days ago, the all-authoritative Xinhua produly proclaimed that the new building, which is to be named Shanghai Center (we are unsure if this has any relation to the existing Shanghai Center) will be the tallest building east of Dubai at 580 meters and 118 stories. According to them, that’s 72 meters higher than the Taipei 101 Tower, currently the tallest building in Asia at 508 meters.

Bangalore is all set to have the world’s tallest sky tower at Tippasandra near BDA’s Anjanapura Layout. The proposed tower will scale 560 metres, beating the Canadian National Tower (553 metres) in Toronto.

The sky tower was earlier planned in Freedom Park on the old Central Jail premises, but was scrapped because it would have attracted a lot of tourists, leading to traffic problems.

The proposed tower will be built to boost communications, tourism and commercial activities. It will be a major landmark in the southern part of the city.

A special feature of the tower is that it will be a major revenue earner for the BBMP. With a microwave dish platform at an altitude of 410 metres, the tower will enhance overseas and inter-departmental communications of government organizations like the Railways, All India Radio (AIR), police and Doordarshan.

Four floors will be earmarked for these organizations.

This apart, four floors will be set aside for private telecom giants, who will set up their infrastructure.

The floor diameter at 350 metres serves as a microwave disc platform to facilitate live telecast of major events within a radius of 100 km. Visitors can get a bird’s eye view of Bangalore from here.

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Created by Skidmore Owings & Merrill (the same group behind New York City’s Freedom Tower), it will be a zero-energy building — and thanks to its massive array of solar panels up top actually feed back to the grid. Everything from air-conditioning to heating to lighting will be covered by clean, green energy — enough to cover the needs of the 5,000 people expected to work there.

“It’s unique cooling system will take cold water from the river Seine and pump it around the building - eliminating the need for a traditional air conditioner. The building will also utilize cutting edge insulation, reducing amount of electricity consumption per square meter of office space per year to 16 kilowatts, the lowest in the world for a building of its size.”

Cost are expected to be about 25%-30% above that of a comparable old school office structure.

The Qatari government is close to buying most of London’s £400m Shard of Glass development, skyscraper that has not yet been built, Doha Time reported.

The 66-storey London Bridge Tower, otherwise known as the Shard of Glass, is built in south London this will become one of the tallest buildings in Europe.

Kuwait is building the world’s tallest tower at 1,001 meters in Madinat al Hareer, also known as the City of Silk. When completed, the Burj Mubarak al-Kabir will beat a residential tower undergoing construction in Dubai estimated to rise between 700 to 800 meters.
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The Ras al Khaimah Convention and Exhibtion Centre looks a lot like something out of Star Wars. Unlike the traditional high-rise building, the design for the Ras al Khaimah Convention and Exhibition Centre accommodates all primary functions, such as the convention centre, hotel rooms, apartments, offices and retail space in a giant sphere.

The city’s planning board has endorsed a proposal for a twisting lakefront tower that would become the nation’s tallest building.

With Thursday’s approval from the Chicago Plan Commission, the design and site plan for the 2,000-foot Chicago Spire goes to the city zoning committee next week.

“This is a wonderful project, and everyone is very enthused,” said Constance Buscemi, spokeswoman for the city’s planning department.

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