Graph of the world's tallest structures (timsdad/wikipedia.org)
For many years, humanity has been pulled upward into the sky. Even the Bible has a story about the construction of the Tower of Babel. Not only New York was destined to become a city of skyscrapers. In many Asian cities, skyscrapers of the most interesting shapes have risen one after another, adding to the list of tallest buildings. The list is presented below.
Kingkey 100 is located in Shenzhen. In the central part of the financial district in Guangdong province. It ranks tenth on the list of tallest buildings. Its height is approximately 442 meters. It ranks fourth in height in the entire Celestial Empire.
As you can guess from the name, the skyscraper has 100 floors. This building is multifunctional. The first 67 of its floors are office buildings. Above are shopping malls and a hotel. The top four floors are occupied by elite restaurants and a garden called “Heavenly”.
Kingkey 100 (11×16 Design Studio / flickr.com)
Willis Tower is one of the landmarks of Chicago. This is a city where, like New York, they once began to build skyscrapers. And here a skyscraper was erected, which is in ninth place on the list.
Willis Tower Observation Deck (Dustin Gaffke / flickr.com)
The building was built in 1973, and for 25 years it was the tallest building in the world. How many floors did it have? There are 110 floors, and the offices occupy quite a considerable area - 418 thousand square meters.
It stands as the second tallest skyscraper in the United States. From this height you can see the entire state of Illinois. Neighboring states can be seen from the observation deck. An equipped place with a magnificent view is called Skydeck. In general, the tower is very popular among visitors, so it is visited by about 25 thousand people a day.
Willis Tower (Dustin Gaffke / flickr.com)
Located in Nanjing in the financial center of Nanjing Greenland. This is one of the high-rise buildings of the new millennium - it was built in 2008. Included in the list of the tallest buildings in the world.
The tower owes its extraordinary appearance to the architect Adrian Smith. The tower appears to be surrounded by two interconnected elements, symbolizing two dancing dragons.
It ranks third in height in China. Many windows glisten in the sun and somewhat resemble the scales of giant reptiles. The building contains many offices, an intercontinental hotel, shops and an observatory. There is a roof garden with a swimming pool.
Since the top of the building is equipped with lighting, the skyscraper looks like a beacon at night and can be used as a landmark in a dark city.
From different angles this building looks different every time; it owes this feature to its unique design.
These sparkling towers are located in the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. They look like two giant ears of corn connected by a bridge.
Petronas Towers (Davidlohr Bueso / flickr.com)
They are considered a true masterpiece of modern architecture. And they are included in our list of buildings. On the plan of the entire complex you can see that the buildings have the shape of an eight-pointed star. One of the symbols of the Muslim world.
Two identical skyscrapers are connected by a pedestrian span. Each tower has 88 floors. The construction of this structure took 6 years and 800 million dollars. The area of all its premises could accommodate 48 football fields.
Like other similar buildings, the offices of various companies are located here. At the very bottom there is a huge shopping center occupying six floors. It has many luxury shops.
In the area around the towers there is a vast park with a swimming pool and a fountain, where you can see a unique spectacle - singing fountains. For some time, these towers were lucky enough to be the tallest skyscrapers on the planet.
Petronas Twin Towers - 452 meters, Malaysia (Simon Clancy / flickr.com)
A building with 118 floors. The third tallest building in China is located in the Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China.
It towers above 4 thousand other high-rise buildings in Hong Kong. Year of construction: 2010.
It is located in the west of Hong Kong in the Kowloon area at Unity Square. It was originally conceived as a building with even greater height. But due to the ban on the construction of buildings higher than the surrounding mountains, its number of floors was reduced.
At the very bottom there is a shopping center. An observation deck is open to tourists, which is located on the 100th floor.
Above are high-end five-star restaurants and a hotel, including a presidential suite on the 117th floor. One day of stay there costs 100 thousand Hong Kong dollars. You can get to the top floors or go down using 30 working elevators.
The World Financial Center building is located in one of the major cities of China - Shanghai. This is the tallest building in China.
It owes its fantastic appearance to the American architect David Mallott. The skyscraper is popular and has received the nickname “opener” among the local population.
Why it got such a name can be guessed from its appearance. A popular souvenir among tourists who come here is a drink opener in the shape of this famous skyscraper.
On the hundredth floor you can see the city from an elevation of 472 m. The hotel, which is located on the upper floors, was for some time the tallest hotel in the world.
The shape of the opening at the top of the building was originally supposed to be round, but the authorities decided that this symbolized the land of the rising sun, so the window became trapezoidal in shape.
Located in the capital of Taiwan - Taipei. It has 101 floors. More than one and a half billion dollars were spent on design and construction work.
Construction was quite expensive. It was necessary to build a skyscraper that had to withstand severe earthquakes and typhoons. Sufficient attention was also paid to the appearance. It is built in a post-modern style and has various elements of Asian culture and European innovations.
Taipei 101 – 509 meters, Taiwan (中岑范姜 / flickr.com)
It is located in the New York area, Manhattan. This is the tallest skyscraper in the USA. Together with the antenna, the height of the structure is 541 meters, and without the antenna - 417 meters. By making simple calculations, you can find out how many meters the spire adds to the building. Its length is 124 meters.
The building was built exactly on the spot where the Twin Towers, which were destroyed in the disaster, were located until 2001. The new skyscraper is named Freedom Tower. This building is the first of a complex of skyscrapers that was intended to serve as a reminder of the September 11 tragedy.
The memorial was dedicated in 2011 by the current and previous presidents of the United States. Exactly where the foundations of the two towers were, two large pools were made. Construction work began in 2006, and completion was planned for 2013. At the time of construction, the Freedom Tower was the tallest skyscraper in the United States.
Freedom Tower, New York (Phil Dolby / flickr.com)
This is a tall tower with a huge clock, not unlike Big Ben in London. Time can also be viewed from four sides. The diameter of the dials is 43 meters. Their height is 400 meters. This is the largest and tallest clock in the world.
The spire, 45 meters long, connects the clock on the tower and the golden crescent - a religious symbol. The building is located in Mecca. This is the tallest building in Kuwait. Located on the other side of the Al-Haram Mosque, where the great Islamic shrine is located.
The building houses a hotel called the Royal Clock Tower. Pilgrims visiting Mecca stop here. Construction work on the construction of this tower ended in 2012.
Many people are interested in which building is the tallest and how many floors does it have? This is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. This is the tallest building in the world.
Burj Khalifa – 828 meters, United Arab Emirates (Mohammed J / flickr.com)
It is far superior in height to all skyscrapers and buildings on the planet. The tallest skyscraper looks like a giant mirror stalagmite.
Another name is Burj Dubai. The building was erected at the beginning of 2010. It has 163 floors. The floors of this building are almost entirely residential.
There is a hotel, various offices and a shopping center. An observation deck is equipped for visitors. There is also an underground parking that can accommodate 3 thousand cars.
Burj Khalifa is the main attraction of Dubai. This is one of the world's record-breaking buildings, located in the United Arab Emirates. Firstly, it is the tallest building created in the entire history of mankind, secondly, it is the building with the largest number of floors, and, finally, the most expensive building in the world.
And this would seem like something completely unheard of and unprecedented if the Emirates had not surprised the world earlier by building the largest singing fountain, the most prestigious area with the largest artificially created beaches and canals, the most exclusive metro and much, much more, the most diverse and unusual. The skyscraper rises 828 meters high, the number of floors of the building is more than 160. And the total cost of the structure is more than one and a half billion dollars. By the way, controversy and rumors surrounded the Burj Khalifa all the time before the opening of the skyscraper. About height, for example. Initially, it was assumed that the 705 m high tower project would be a modified project of the Australian “Grollo Tower” (560 m). The project managers said that the height would in any case be more than 700 m (that is, the Burj Khalifa, after completion of construction, in any case, would become the tallest structure on Earth). In September 2006, rumors spread to society about the final height of 916 m, and then even 940 m. But still, the final height was 828 meters with 163 floors (not including technical levels).
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The city of Dubai in the UAE, for many centuries it was a small trading port where fish and pearls were caught in the coastal waters of the Persian Gulf. In recent decades, the city's wealth has risen sharply thanks to the discovery of oil and the desire of its rulers to turn Dubai into a business center. In 2003, two hundred skyscrapers had already been built or were under construction. And then the Emir of Dubai, Mohammed ibn Rashid, gave a simple order - to build the tallest building in the world. The construction of the tallest building begins with digging a hole, a very large hole.
Several months have passed since Dubai-based developer Emaar signed a contract with Chicago-based SOM. Oddly enough, this building does not have a foundation firmly anchored in the rocky ground. Here in the desert you won't find as much stone as in New York or other geological areas. We used hanging piles. These piles were screwed into sand and soft rock, and their load-bearing capacity was determined by their diameter and length. These are 45-meter piles, approximately one and a half meters in diameter. In total, we screwed in about 200 of these piles, says one of the project architects.
The skyscraper construction project included the construction of a so-called “city within a city” - its territory had its own parks, boulevards, and lawns. The total cost of the tower construction project was about one and a half billion dollars.
The author of the Burj Khalifa tower project was an architect from the USA, Adrian Smith, who had sufficient experience in designing similar structures. For example, Smith was directly involved in the design of the Jin Mao skyscraper, located in China, whose height is more than 400 meters. The construction division of Samsung from South Korea was chosen as the general contractor for the construction, which had previously participated in the construction of similar facilities, for example, the famous Petronas Twin Towers located in Malaysia.
Construction of the tallest skyscraper in the world was carried out quite quickly. Every week the building became 1-2 floors higher. After the 160th floor was built, concrete work stopped and assembly of the giant 180-meter spire from metal structures began. Construction of the skyscraper lasted for 5 years.
According to the project, 108 floors are allocated for residential premises: a luxury hotel is located on 37 of them, and ordinary apartments are located on the remaining floors. Although it’s hard to call apartments built in the most expensive and tallest skyscraper in the world “ordinary”! As noted above, the Burj Khalifa skyscraper is completely autonomous. To provide energy for such a large-scale structure, an equally large 61-meter turbine is used. In addition, numerous solar panels placed on the walls of the tower help provide the building with energy.
Despite its size, the building is well designed and protected, so in the event of a fire, complete evacuation takes only about half an hour!
The Sheikh of Dubai talks about plans to build the tallest building in the world Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, first announced in 2002. The tower was to become a key element of the new area, designed to attract tourists from all over the world to Dubai. The developer of the tower was a Dubai company Emaar, general contractor - South Korean Samsung Engineering. The tower was originally called Burj Dubai, from the Arabic Dubai Tower, but the completion of the project coincided with the global financial crisis and Dubai was forced to turn to the neighboring emirate of Abu Dhabi for help. In gratitude for the multi-billion dollar support received, the skyscraper was renamed in honor of the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi:“From now on and forever, this tower will bear the name “Khalifa” - “Burj Khalifa.”
In the outlines of the foundation one can see the outlines of the desert pancrat flower. This form facilitates the construction of buildings several hundred meters high. And when construction had already begun, lead architect George Estafio and his client made a bold decision - to increase the height of the building from the original 550, which exceeded the tallest Taipei Tower at that time (509.2 meters) by only a few meters, and not just increase, but almost doubled.
After laying the foundation, the tower began to grow rapidly. Work on site took place 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There were about 100 designers, architects, and engineers, and up to 12,000 workers worked on the site every day.
Every three days a new floor appeared. But the higher you go, the more problems there are. And the main one is the wind. It is impossible to build a single tower of such height and uniform shape. Then the effect of the wind will be too strong, the vibrations will become too significant.
The terraces were built according to a certain pattern, rising in a spiral. The shape of the building is asymmetrical. This way the wind creates less vibration of buildings and as it rises the asymmetry changes, but also creeps up.
When you build the tallest building in the world, every centimeter counts. When pouring concrete, engineers needed to know where the center of the building would be, and with constant movement it is not easy to calculate it. The contractor installed 3 different devices GPS on the ground and another one at the very top of the building.
The building's exterior panels presented a major challenge to engineers. The glass had to reflect heat but transmit light. It should also be water-, wind- and dust-proof. About 200 of these panels were required for each floor.
During construction, the creators took into account literally everything - from the high temperatures in the Arabian sun to the angle of incidence of light into the premises of the tower. The building is equipped with special solar protection and reflective glass panels that reduce the heating of the rooms inside (temperatures in Dubai reach 50°C), reducing the need for air conditioning. Well, for air conditioning in the skyscraper, a convection system is used, driving air from bottom to top along the entire height of the tower, and sea water and underground cooling modules will be used for cooling. A special brand of concrete was created especially for the Burj Khalifa - such concrete is heat-resistant and does not deform under the scorching sun of the United Arab Emirates. By the way, the skyscraper will completely independently generate electricity for its own use: for this there will be a 61-meter wind-driven turbine and an array of solar panels (some of them are located on the walls of the tower).
The entire building project costs more than one and a half billion dollars - a huge amount, albeit for a highly developed country at this stage. Due to problems with financing the construction of the Burj Khalifa, the official opening of the skyscraper was postponed from September 9, 2009 (this date was originally planned - the opening date of the Dubai metro) to January 2010.
The Burj Khalifa project was created according to the idea of a “city within a city”. The building is surrounded by adjacent roads, convenient parking spaces, private lawns, boulevards and parks. In addition, the high-rise building hosts independent sponsored entertainment for young people and business people. Once again, a new site in the Khalifa Building is open for business. In addition to the hotel located on the first 37 floors, as well as luxury apartments between the 45th and 108th floors, most of the floors are still given over to office areas and business premises. Spacious, comfortable and air-conditioned rooms for meetings and presentations today attract business people from all over the world, which once again brings Dubai to the level of the business capital of the world - since almost every complex of buildings that open every year has a corner, so to speak, investor. The 123rd and 124th floors are equipped with an observation deck. Thousands of tourists who come here every year say that the sensations cannot be expressed in words - it is so breathtaking and filled with wonder, how could a person create such a thing!
In Arabic, "burj" means "tower".
The creators of the Dubai skyscraper also claim that the distinctive feature of the building is the highest residential floor and an observation deck located on the 124th floor. In the skyscraper, which can be seen from a distance of 90 kilometers, 57 elevators of the world's fastest system, the cabins move at a speed of 18 meters per second. There is also an autonomous power supply system - a 60-meter wind turbine and huge solar panels. The tower has a modern design, but its architecture also shows the influence of Islamic traditions.
According to the designers, the building is resistant to strong wind loads and can also withstand an earthquake. "We were struck by lightning twice, last year we felt the echoes of a powerful earthquake in Iran. In addition, during construction we experienced all possible types of wind. The results are good," Mohamed Ali Alabbar told the BBC. head of Emaar Properties, which built the tower.
Some of the apartments in the skyscraper were sold at a price of 24.3 thousand dollars per sq.m., but now their price has dropped by about half. The project, which has demonstrated resilience to natural disasters, did not remain unaffected by the global financial crisis. According to analysts, there will be especially many problems with the rental of office space in Burj Dubai, since fewer and fewer companies can afford such luxury.
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The opening ceremony of the skyscraper was timed to coincide with the fourth anniversary of the reign of the current Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashed Al Maktoum, in the emirate of Dubai, who came to power on January 4. At the ceremony, the sheikh renamed the skyscraper, which was known as Burj Dubai during construction, to Burj Khalifa, dedicating it to the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. “From now on and forever, this tower will be called Khalifa - Burj Khalifa,” he said.
Sheikh Khalifa is also the emir of Abu Dhabi, which has allocated $10 billion to Dubai to help pay off debt obligations, including to support the investment company Dubai World.
The long-awaited opening of the legendary building took place with fireworks and festive concerts. The event was amazing in its incredible scope - the public saw the promised fireworks, theatrical performances, and a laser show. The list of honored guests invited to the opening ceremony included six thousand people. Others were able to watch a tour of the building on huge screens installed on the streets or on TV. In total, the opening ceremony was broadcast on television and was watched by more than two billion people around the world.
From the first to the 39th floors of the building are occupied by the Armani Hotel. Above are office and technical premises, as well as individual apartments. In addition, there are special observation floors that serve as a high-altitude observatory. The 180-meter spire houses special communications equipment. Burj Khalifa (Burj Dubai) boasts 65 double-decker elevators. True, you will have to make several transfers on the way up or on the way down. From the first to the very last floor there is only one technical elevator. By the way, the Burj Khalifa elevator system is the fastest in the world, as the elevators reach speeds of up to 18 meters per second.
Here are some technical specifications of the Burj Khalifa:
— Style: Modernism
— Materials: structures - reinforced concrete, steel; facade - stainless steel, aluminum, glass.
— Purpose: office and retail space, residential real estate and hotel.
— Height: 828 meters.
— Floors: 164 (including two underground floors).
— Area: 3595100 sq. m.
— The highest observation deck is located at an altitude of 442.10 m.
- The Armani Hotel (the first of its kind) will occupy the lower 37 floors.
— From the 45th to the 108th floor there are about 700 apartments.
— The remaining floors will contain office and retail space.
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Interesting facts about Burj Khalifa:
— The skyscraper has the world's fastest 57 elevators. They are designed to serve their group of visitors to the Burj Khalifa - staff and attendants, cargo, office workers, visitors and residents of the building, VIPs.
— From the 124th floor, two-story observation elevators operate - they accommodate from 12 to 14 people. The ascent speed is 10 meters per second.
— To build the tower, 330,000 cubic meters of concrete and 31,400 tons of steel reinforcement were required.
— The tower is located in the center of an artificial lake
— The Burj Khalifa has several recreational areas for visitors to relax - fitness and spa are located on the 43rd, 76th, 123rd floors, and swimming pools (the highest in the world), rooms for relaxation and other events are located on the 43rd and 76th floors.
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— The shape of the building plan (three rays emanating from the center) is based on a desert flower bud growing in this region.
— The highest residential floor is 109.
— The highest observation deck is located on the 124th floor.
— The depth of the foundation piles is more than 50 meters.
— The building’s water supply system uses recycled rainwater (about_0 rain in the desert?)
— The tower will independently generate electricity for itself: for this, a 61-meter turbine rotated by the wind will be used, as well as an array of solar panels (partially located on the walls of the tower) with a total area of about 15 thousand m².
— The building is equipped with special sun protection and reflective glass panels that will reduce the heating of the rooms inside (in Dubai there are temperatures of up to 50 °C). For air conditioning in the skyscraper, a convection system is used, driving air from bottom to top along the entire height of the tower, and sea water and underground cooling modules will be used for cooling. It is stated that the air temperature in the building will be about +18 °C.
Burj Khalifa was created according to the principle vertical city- floors are arranged in blocks designed for different functions. The tower contains about 900 apartments, a hotel with 304 rooms, 35 floors are given over to offices. There is parking for 3,000 cars on three underground floors.
| Floor | Purpose |
| 160-163 | Technical |
| 156-159 | Communications and broadcasting |
| 155 | Technical |
| 139-154 | Offices |
| 136-138 | Technical |
| 125-135 | Offices |
| 124 | Observation deck |
| 123 | Sky lobby |
| 122 | Restaurant At.mosphere |
| 111-121 | Offices |
| 109-110 | Technical |
| 77-108 | Apartments |
| 76 | Sky lobby |
| 73-75 | Technical |
| 44-72 | Apartments |
| 43 | Sky lobby |
| 40-42 | Technical |
| 38-39 | Hotel apartments |
| 19-37 | Hotel rooms |
| 17-18 | Technical |
| 9-16 | Hotel rooms |
| 1-8 | Hotel |
Royal Tower, Exceeding the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa in the United Arab Emirates by 167 meters, it is being built in Saudi Arabia and will be the first building on the planet whose height is close to a kilometer. The $1.2 billion project, located in Jeddah, will feature luxury condominiums, office space, an observatory, a Four Seasons hotel and the world's tallest terrace on the 157th floor (still quite a long way from the top of the building, by the way). Construction of the skyscraper officially began last year, and the building is due to be completed in 2019.
Construction of a 121-story Shanghai Tower in China, costing $4.2 billion, which began in 1993, was completed earlier this year and finishing work is now underway. Now it is the second tallest building in the world, but the official opening will be in 2015. However, millions of people have already seen the view from above, thanks to breathtaking images and videos taken by two Russian daredevils who illegally reached the summit last year, which went viral on the internet. The multifunctional skyscraper consists of nine different vertical zones and is surrounded by a layer of transparent glass covering to protect from weather conditions and provide natural ventilation.
Between designing artificial islands in the shape of parts of the world, the largest shopping mall known to man, and, of course, the tallest building in the world, someone decided that Dubai should have a luxury building that looked like an ordinary apartment building with its legs spread out ominously. Construction of a 73-story Dubai Pearl overlooking the Persian Gulf started in 2009 and is due to be completed in 2016. The planned "inner city" will feature four towers connected by a sky bridge and a premium 1,800-seat theater that will host the Dubai International Film Festival.
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Already in 2016 Agora Garden in Taipei, a double helix-shaped building will be a compromise between the creations of Mother Nature and man. The winding 20-storey luxury building will be green in every sense of the word, with balconies on each floor supporting gardens and integrated life-support systems including solar panels and rainwater recycling.
When construction is completed next year, the 117-story skyscraper World One will be the tallest residential building on the planet and by far the tallest building in Mumbai, almost twice the size of the 61-storey Imperial Tower currently holding the latter title. World One will be home to some of Mumbai's wealthiest residents and will feature 300 luxury three- and four-bedroom apartments (prices start from $1.5 million) designed by Giorgio Armani's Armani/Casa studio. Funnily enough, World One won't be able to hold the title of tallest building in Mumbai for long as the upcoming India Tower will have 126 floors.
Located closest to the ground on this entire list, but no less mind-blowing KARSARC in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, looks more like a James Bond villain's lair than a multinational nonprofit hub. The futuristic crystal-shaped design is the brainchild of iconic Iraqi-born architect Zaha Hadid, who based the design on an interlocking hexagonal cage. Construction on the project began in 2009 and so far only the steel frame has been completed, so it is unclear when the facility will open.
Construction of the 730-meter, 138-story center in Suzhou, China has only recently begun, and it still has a long, long way to go. But if the $4.5 billion project is completed on schedule in 2020, it will be the tallest building in China and the third tallest building in the world. The tower, containing a hotel, offices and residential space, will be located next to the nearly completed 69-story Gateway of the East skyscraper, which, as has been repeatedly noted, resembles an oversized pair of trousers.
Significantly higher than all other buildings in Seoul, South Korea, a 556-meter, 123-story skyscraper will soar above the horizon Lotte World Tower, when it will be finished in 2016. The building will contain (from bottom to top): shops, offices, apartments, hotels and an observation deck at the top. It will also surpass North Korea's extraordinary pyramid-shaped Ryugyong Hotel to become the tallest building on the Korean Peninsula.
Tired of hotels that don't gracefully float between two cliffs above an abandoned quarry and lake? Chinese mountain resort Dawang will be waiting for you from 2016. Stretching 170 meters in length, the resort will include an "ice world of entertainment", an indoor ski complex, a water park and hanging gardens.
Obviously, this hotel, basking among rocks and lakes, is next on the list of high-end holiday destinations in China. Like the Dawang mountain resort, the hotel "Songjiang" is located in a quarry, and the hotel, located not far from Shanghai, will be built right on the walls of the quarry, and a waterfall will flow down its facade. Well, if you can’t enjoy the view from one of the upper floors, go to the lower ones - they will be under water.
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Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in Dubai and the tallest skyscraper in the world. The shape of the building resembles a stalagmite, which rises up to 828 meters. The building has 163 floors, on which there are 9 hotels and a fountain system. The total cost of the structure is estimated at $4.1 billion. And this includes the most amazing facts about Burj Khalifa.
It is common knowledge that Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the entire world. However, how tall is it compared to other monstrous structures? The height of the Burj Khalifa is 828 meters, and the height of the second tallest building in the world (Shanghai Tower) is 632 meters. The difference is more than obvious. Also, Burj Khalifa is three times taller than the Eiffel Tower.
Those who think that the Burj Khalifa is very impressive from the outside have simply never been inside the skyscraper. The highest observation deck is at an altitude of 452 meters. The building has a total of 164 floors, 1 of which is underground, and as many as 58 elevators that travel at a speed of 10 meters per second (these are some of the fastest elevators in the world). Burj Khalifa also has 2,957 parking spaces, 304 hotels and 904 apartments. Interestingly, the Burj Khalifa has a special elevator system designed for evacuation during a fire.
While the Burj Khalifa is located in Dubai (the skyscraper's original name was Burj Dubai), the building was designed by the American firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. Engineers from Chicago helped develop a special support structure that resembles a three-pointed star. The construction of the building was entrusted to the South Korean company Samsung Engineering and Construction.
Everyone knows that Burj Khalifa is the record tallest building in the world. In fact, the Dubai skyscraper holds more than just this record. It is the tallest free-standing building, the building with the highest residential floor, the building with the most floors, the building with the highest elevators and the second highest observation deck (the highest observation deck is at Canton Tower).
In order to build such a titanic building of almost a kilometer, it took a lot of time and effort (namely, 6 years and 22 million man-hours). On especially busy days, more than 12,000 workers were on the construction site at one time.
The construction of the huge building required a huge amount of materials. So much aluminum was used that it would be enough to create 5 Airbus A380s. 55,000 tons of reinforcing steel and 110,000 tons of concrete were also used. This is approximately equal to the weight of 100,000 elephants. And if you take and stack the reinforcement from a building in a row, it would stretch over a quarter of the Earth.
Dubai is very hot, with an average summer temperature of 41 degrees. In July 2002, the highest temperature recorded in Dubai was 52 degrees. Naturally, a building built in this country must withstand extreme temperature changes. That's why more than 300 Chinese cladding experts were hired to develop a cladding system that could protect against local temperatures.
Naturally, normal life in such a huge building requires a monstrous amount of resources. For example, the Burj Khalifa requires about 950,000 liters of water every day (while Dubai on average uses about 200-300 liters of water per day). The building also consumes a huge amount of electricity (about as much as 360,000 hundred-watt light bulbs “eat”).
How to clean and wash 26,000 glass panels that always look perfectly smooth. This is done by 12 machines, each weighing about 13 tons, moving along special rails on the outside of the building. The cars are serviced by 36 people.
The design of the Burj Khalifa was inspired by the Hymenocallis, a flower that has long petals radiating out from the center. The three wings of the Burj Khalifa spread out to the sides like these petals.
The availability of modern technologies and building materials provides architects all over the planet with the opportunity to constantly create bold designs for the tallest buildings in the world and turn them into reality. As a result, every year not only thousands of ordinary buildings, but also hundreds of skyscrapers appear in different countries. Some of them are typical, while others are so unique and recognizable that they bear the title of real architectural masterpieces. This article further presents a ranking of the 10 tallest buildings in the world in ascending order, taking into account the spiers and masts on their roofs.
This structure is also known as the “Zifeng Tower”, and it is located in the Chinese city of Nanjing. It consists of 89 floors and has a height of 450 meters. The commissioning of this skyscraper took place in 2010. Now the high-rise building, which is built in the shape of a triangle, has a mixed purpose. In particular, the lower floors house various shops and restaurants, while the upper floors are used as offices. The observation deck on level 72 offers beautiful views of the local area and the Yangtze River. The project was characterized by three conceptual positions - the aforementioned Chinese river, landscaped gardens and motifs of local mythology (dragons with iconography on columns).
In ninth position in the “World’s Tallest Building” ranking is the symbol of Kuala Lumpur (the capital of Malaysia) - the Twin Towers. The then Prime Minister of the state, Mahathir Mohamad, took an active part in their design. It was he who came up with the idea of building them in the Islamic style, and more specifically, in the shape of eight-pointed stars. Both skyscrapers were built in 1998, consist of 88 floors and have a height of 451.9 meters. Inside they have conference rooms, art galleries and offices. The cost of the project reached 800 million US dollars. An interesting feature is that the structures were built on soft ground, so to strengthen it, piles about 100 meters deep were driven into the ground. This foundation is the most powerful on the planet to this day. A covered walkway has been constructed between the towers, one of the important purposes of which is fire safety.
The height of this structure is 484 m. It consists of 118 floors and was put into operation in Kowloon in 2010. It mainly houses offices, shops and shopping centers. The top seventeen floors are occupied by a five-star hotel with a huge swimming pool on the last floor. Initially, it was planned to build a 102-story structure with a height of 574 meters, but due to the ban on building buildings higher than the surrounding mountains, the project was revised.
This representative of the "World's Tallest Building" rating was built in 2008. The World Financial Center in Shanghai is 492 meters high and consists of 101 floors. The skyscraper can boast of several prizes and awards as the best high-rise building in 2008 and the owner of the highest observation deck on the planet. The structure has passed the seismic stability test and is capable of withstanding an earthquake of up to magnitude seven. Moreover, even at the design stage, the architects provided three options for saving people during a fire. On every twelfth floor there is a protected area where you can hide from a fire or wait for rescuers.
In sixth position on the list is a skyscraper from Taipei, the capital of Taiwan. The building consists of 101 floors and its height is 508 meters. The high-rise building, built in 2004, harmoniously combines ancient Chinese architecture and modern postmodernist traditions. Between the 87th and 91st floors there is a giant pendulum ball weighing 660 tons, which significantly reduces the likelihood of collapse in the event of an earthquake or hurricane. The structure, which is predominantly made of steel, aluminum and glass, is supported by 380 pillars made of concrete and extending underground to a depth of 80 meters.
This high-rise building is located in the Chinese city of Guangzhou. It is also known as the International Financial Center. The skyscraper was built in the modernist style and was officially opened in 2010. As of today, it belongs to the category of “the tallest buildings under construction in the world”, since work on its construction is still ongoing. According to the architects' plans, they should be completed in 2016. Then it will be a whole complex consisting of two towers. The height of the completed western building, consisting of 103 floors, is now 441 meters. The complex also includes a 28-storey building, which is connected to the existing tower through a 4-storey common basement. The impact of air flow on the building is practically reduced to zero due to its streamlined shape.
Located in the American city of New York, the Freedom Tower is a skyscraper with a height of 541.3 meters. It should be noted that this is the tallest building in the world that is used exclusively for offices. Moreover, it is the largest high-rise building in the entire Western Hemisphere. The Freedom Tower became the main structure of the new World Trade Center, built to replace the complex destroyed by a terrorist attack in 2001. The building itself is 417 meters high up to the roof, and the remaining 124 meters fall on the 758-ton spire installed on it. On the outside it is lined with glass with a bluish tint, so it looks very beautiful.
The representative of Saudi Arabia closes the top three in the top tallest buildings in the world. The structure is located in the world famous city of Mecca and rises 601 meters. It consists of 102 floors and was officially opened in 2012. The skyscraper is the largest on the planet in terms of construction volume and boasts the highest clock on Earth. The mosque with the main Islamic shrine (Kaaba) is located directly across the road. The Royal Clock Tower houses a hotel that proudly bears the title of the highest in the world. It can accommodate about 100 thousand people at the same time.
In second place in the “World’s Tallest Building” ranking is a super-tall structure called Shanghai Tower, the construction of which is currently being completed in the Chinese city of the same name. According to the project, its height will be 632 meters, and the number of floors will be 128. The cost of its implementation, according to preliminary estimates, will be 4.2 billion US dollars. It is expected that its official commissioning will take place in 2015, despite the fact that construction work started in 1993. The frame itself has already been erected, and now only finishing work is underway. The skyscraper is multifunctional and consists of nine separate vertical zones. The finishing is made using durable glass, which provides not only protection from external weather conditions for people, but also natural ventilation.
The ranking of the tallest buildings in the world is confidently headed by the Burj Khalifa, a skyscraper from the city of Dubai (UAE). Its peak is at an altitude of 828 meters. The building was erected in 2010 and consists of 136 floors. In its shape it resembles a stalagmite. Initially, the facility was planned as a city within a city, which would have its own lawns, parks and boulevards. There are three separate entrances to the skyscraper. From the 1st floor to the 39th floor, there are offices and the Armani Hotel. This is not surprising, since the design of the hotel was personally developed by Giorgio Armani. On the site from levels 44 to 108, the architects built 900 apartments, and from 111 to 154 they equipped office space. There is an observation deck on the 124th floor.
Without a doubt, located in the city of Dubai, the tallest building in the world amazes the human imagination. Be that as it may, many high-rise buildings and dozens of skyscrapers appear on our planet every year. Many of them, even at the construction stage, can well be considered as potential competitors to the representatives of the above rating. A clear indication of this is the fact that some of them are already considered real architectural masterpieces and are recognizable throughout the planet. The most iconic objects that can already be safely included in the list of “The World’s Tallest Buildings of the Future” are considered to be Zhongnan Center (China), Lotte World Tower (South Korea) and World Tower (Mumbai).
The first of the mentioned structures, according to the project, should have a height of 730 meters and consist of 138 floors. If all work is completed according to schedule, then its official opening will take place in 2020. After this, the building will become the tallest in China. The project is estimated at $4.2 billion.
The height of the Lotte World Tower skyscraper in Seoul is expected to reach 556 meters. Its construction should be completed in 2016. The architects plan to place offices, shops and a hotel inside.
As for the World Tower, the building should welcome its first visitors next year. The tallest building now in Mumbai - the Imperial Tower - this structure will be almost twice as large. In addition to shopping centers and offices, it is planned to build approximately three hundred luxury apartments, the cost of which will start at $1.5 million.
