The Ten Tallest Buildings in the World
/The Ten Tallest Skyscrapers In The World
First Published Date : Jan 29, 2009
For many years the Empire State Building in New York, USA was the unrivalled nominee for being the tallest building in the world. Since this building was completed in 1931, at 381 meters high, technology would have to advance for nearly seven decades before its height could be surpassed. In 1996, Shun Hing Square in Shenzhen, China became the world’s tallest building, at 384 meters.
Whilst there are many tall buildings currently under construction, in terms of actual completed tall buildings which are both completed and still in existence (for example the World Trade Centre is no longer on the list), and taller than the Shun Hing Square, there are several, which have displaced the Empire State Building to now ranking 14th on the list, followed by the Shun Hing Square in Shenzhen at number 13.
The Two International Finance Centre in Hong Kong, at number 10, is followed by the Jin Mao Building which is next at number 9 and the 8th tallest building is the Guangzhou West Tower, Guangzhou in China.
The 7th tallest building in the world is the Wills (formerly Sears) Tower in Chicago. Number 6 on the list is the Greenland Financial Centre in Nanjing.
The Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, follow at numbers 4 and 5, and then there is the Shanghai World Financial Centre, China, placed at number 3. The previous tallest building in the world was the Taipei 101 Tower in Taipei, Taiwan and now this is surpassed by the re-named Burj Dubai – making it the tallest building in the world – the Burj Kalifa, in Dubai.
There are criteria which must be met for being the highest building in the world which is not just a matter of constructing a huge antenna on top of the roof to gain that extra size. According to the Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, towers per se do not count, unless they also have floors so as to qualify them to be classified as buildings. A building such as the Taipei Tower is named as a tower but is still a building for ranking purposes because of its design and intended use as a commercial, residential or manufacturing building which is actually occupied. Height is measured from the ground to the structural highest point of the roof – spires are included but you cannot add into the count such things as flag poles or radio masts or antenna.
Heights and rankings of tall buildings are often disputed, and other lists which are informed from web based data may vary from the official listing above, which has been made up from data obtained by the Council. There are many other buildings around the world still in process of construction but they do not form part of the list because to meet Council requirements – a building must be “topped out”. Burj Kalifa is 828 meters high which tops the Empire State by just over double its size – the amenities of the buildings today are far in advance of the original pioneer development – the Empire State Building.
To streamline and minimize blog maintenance, I will be discontinuing maintaining the realestateexpedition.com website (however, I will still hold the domain). I will gradually move all articles from this site to A Dawn Journal. This article originally published on the above website on Jan 29, 2009.
