The history of buildings such as the tallest skyscrapers began with the invention of automatic lifts. At the end of the 19th century, the American Henry Otis designed this invention, which helped create high-rise buildings without height restrictions. IN modern world construction is practiced in any metropolis, and the tallest skyscraper located in the city becomes a kind of business card. In the modern world, when space in the business part of the city is in short supply, the construction of high-rise buildings has become the only possible solution to the problem.
The tallest skyscrapers in the world have long been known and identified. First on this list is the famous Khalifa Tower in Dubai, which was completed in 2010. Height architectural masterpiece is 828 meters, and the building has 162 floors.
Second place is rightfully given to the Taipei skyscraper in Taiwan with its 508 meters and 101 floors. in the postmodern style, for 6 years it was considered the tallest high-rise building, until it had to give the palm to the Khalifa Tower, but it is still one of the most beautiful office centers, combining in its architecture the features of Western civilization with traditional Chinese motifs.
China's tallest skyscraper, the Shanghai International Financial Center, ranks third in the world rankings. It, like the Taiwanese Taipei, has 101 floors, but the total height is only 492 meters.
The fourth position is occupied by the Malaysian twin towers Petronas Towers, which at a height of 452 meters have 88 floors. These high-rise buildings are built using traditional Islamic motifs and have a 170-meter span called the “Sky Bridge”, which connects the two buildings into a single architectural composition.
The top five is completed by America's tallest skyscraper, the Willis Tower, located in Chicago. In addition to the fact that it occupies an honorable fifth place in the list of tallest buildings, it is also one of the oldest skyscrapers, it was built in 1973. This 110-story building is different original architecture- it resembles several parallelepipeds folded together and elongated, and its height reaches 443.2 meters.
Well, what can European countries boast of? The tallest skyscraper in Europe is the London Shard, which has a height of a “modest” 310 meters and 95 floors. This, in the form of a giant narrow pyramid with a unique laser illumination, caused a lot of controversy in society. The Italian architect Ranzo, who is the developer and author of the idea, was accused of disfiguring the historical appearance of London. The matter came to the intervention of UNESCO, but the authorities managed to convince the general public that the skyscraper brings more advantages than disadvantages.
But the race between countries for the right to have the tallest architectural structure in the world continues. America plans to build a mega-skyscraper in Miami, the height of which will be 975 meters, and negotiations are underway in Bahrain to build a 200-story building. But the Japanese turned out to be bolder than all other nations - their plans are to build a skyscraper 4 kilometers high!
Human nature cannot be changed; people have always tried to surpass their own achievements and set new records in absolutely any area of their activity.
So in architecture, in an attempt to conquer the limits of height, people erect the tallest buildings in the world. With the development of technology, the invention of modern composite materials and the creation of fundamentally new building designs, only in the last 25 years has it become possible to construct the tallest buildings on the planet, the sight of which is simply breathtaking!
In this rating we will tell you about the 15 tallest buildings in the world that are definitely worth seeing.
15. International financial center - Hong Kong. Height 415 meters
Construction of the Hong Kong International Financial Center was completed in 2003. The building is completely commercial, there are no hotels or residential apartments, but only offices of various companies.
The 88-story skyscraper is the sixth tallest building in China and is one of the few buildings to have double-deck elevators.
14. Jin Mao Tower - China, Shanghai. Height 421 meters
The official opening ceremony of the Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai took place in 1999, at a construction cost of more than $550 million. Most of the building's premises are office, there are also shopping centers, restaurants, nightclubs and an observation deck, which offers a gorgeous view of Shanghai.
More than 30 floors of the building are rented by the largest hotel, the Grand Hyatt, and the prices here are quite affordable and affordable for tourists with average incomes; a room can be rented for $200 per night.
13. Trump International Hotel and Tower - Chicago, USA. Height 423 meters
Trump Tower was built in 2009 and cost the owner $847 million. The building has 92 floors, of which boutiques and various shops occupy the 3rd to 12th floors, a luxurious spa salon is located on the 14th floor, and the elite Sixteen restaurant is located on the 16th floor. The hotel occupies the 17th to 21st floors, with penthouses and private residential apartments above.
12. Guangzhou International Financial Center - China, Guangzhou. Height – 437 meters
This tallest skyscraper was built in 2010 and has 103 floors, and is the western part of the Guangzhou Twin Towers complex. Construction of the eastern skyscraper should be completed in 2016.
The cost of constructing the building was $280 million, most of The buildings are occupied by office space, up to the 70th floor. From the 70th to the 98th floor is occupied by the five-star Four Seasons Hotel, and on the top floors there are cafes, restaurants and an observation deck. There is a helipad on the 103rd floor.
11. KK 100 – Shenzhen, China. Height 442 meters.
The KK 100 skyscraper, also known as Kingki 100, was erected in 2011 and is located in the city of Shenzhen. This multifunctional building was built in the modernist style and most of the premises are for office purposes.
The 23rd floor of this one of the tallest buildings in the world is occupied by a six-star premium business hotel “St. Regis Hotel”, there are also several chic restaurants, beautiful garden and the first IMAX theater built in Asia.
10. Willis Tower - Chicago, USA. Height 443 meters
The Willis Tower, formerly known as the Sears Tower, rises 443 meters in height and is the only building in this ranking built before 1998. Construction of the skyscraper began in 1970 and was fully completed in 1973. The cost of the project was more than $150 million at the prices of that time.
After completion of construction, Willis Tower firmly took the status of the most tall building in the world for as much as 25 years. On at the moment, in the list of tallest buildings, the skyscraper is on the 10th line of the list.
9. Zifeng Tower - Nanjing, China. Height 450 meters
Construction of the 89-story skyscraper began in 2005 and was completed in 2009. This building is multifunctional, there are office spaces, restaurants, cafes and a hotel. On top floor There is an observation deck. There are also 54 freight lifts and passenger elevators built in Zifeng Tower.
8. Petronas Towers - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Height 451.9 meters
From 1998 to 2004, the Petronas Twin Towers were considered the tallest buildings in the world. The construction of the towers was financed oil company Petronas, and the project amount was more than $800 million. Nowadays, building premises are rented by many large corporations - Reuters agency, Microsoft corporation, Aveva company and others. There are also elite shopping establishments here, there are art gallery, aquarium and science center.
The design of the building itself is unique; there are no other skyscrapers in the world built using the Petronas Towers technology. Most high-rise buildings are built from steel and glass, but in Malaysia the cost of high-quality steel was very high and engineers had to look for another way to solve the problem.
As a result, high-tech and elastic concrete was developed, from which the towers were built. Experts carefully monitored the quality of the material and one day, during routine measurements, they discovered the slightest error in the quality of concrete. The builders had to completely dismantle one floor of the building and build it anew.
7. International Commerce Centre, Hong Kong. Height 484 meters
This 118-story skyscraper rises 484 meters. After 8 years of construction, the building was completed in 2010 and is now international commercial center is the tallest building in Hong Kong and the fourth tallest building in China.
The upper floors of the skyscraper are occupied by the five-star Ritz-Carlton hotel, located at an altitude of 425 meters, making it the tallest hotel on the planet. The building also features the world's highest swimming pool, located on the 118th floor.
6. Shanghai World Financial Center. Height 492 meters
Built for $1.2 billion, the Shanghai World Financial Center is a multi-functional skyscraper that houses office space, a museum, a hotel, and a multi-story parking lot. Construction of the center was completed in 2008, and at that time the building was considered the second tallest structure in the world.
The skyscraper has been tested for seismic resistance and is able to withstand tremors of up to 7 points on the Richter scale. The building also houses the highest observation deck in the world, located at an altitude of 472 meters above the ground.
5. Taipei 101 – Taipei, Taiwan. Height 509.2 meters
The official operation of the Taipei 101 skyscraper began on December 31, 2003, and this building is the most stable and resistant to natural disasters structure ever created by man. The tower is able to withstand wind gusts of up to 60 m/s (216 km/h) and the strongest earthquakes that occur in this region once every 2,500 years.
The skyscraper has 101 ground floors and five floors underground. On the first four floors there are various retail outlets, on the 5th and 6th floors there is a prestigious fitness center, from 7 to 84 various office premises are occupied, 85-86 are rented by restaurants and cafes.
The building holds several records: the fastest elevator in the world, capable of transporting visitors from the fifth floor to the 89th floor to the observation deck in just 39 seconds (elevator speed 16.83 m/s), the world's largest countdown board, which turns on New Year and the world's tallest sundial.
4. World Trade Center - New York, USA. Height 541 meters
Construction of the Center international trade, or as it is also called the Freedom Tower, was fully completed in 2013. The building stands on the site of the World Trade Center.
This 104-story skyscraper is the tallest structure in the United States and the fourth tallest building in the world. The construction cost was a whopping $3.9 billion.
3. Royal Clock Tower Hotel - Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Height 601 meters
The grandiose structure “Royal Clock Tower” is part of the Abraj Al-Bayt complex of buildings built in Mecca, in Saudi Arabia. Construction of the complex lasted for 8 years and was fully completed in 2012. During construction, two major fires occurred, in which, fortunately, no one was injured.
The Royal Clock Tower can be seen from a distance of 20 km, and its clock is considered the tallest in the world.
2. Shanghai Tower - Shanghai, China. Height 632 meters
This skyscraper is the tallest in Asia and ranks second on the list of tallest buildings in the world. Construction of the Shanghai Tower began in 2008 and was fully completed in 2015. The cost of the skyscraper was more than 4.2 billion dollars.
1. Burj Khalifa - Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Height 828 meters
The tallest building in the world is the monumental Burj Khalifa skyscraper, rising to a height of 828 meters. Construction of the building began in 2004 and was fully completed in 2010. Burj Khalifa has 163 floors, most of which are occupied by office space, hotels and restaurants, several floors are reserved for residential apartments, the cost of which is simply incredible - from $40,000 per sq. m. meter!
The cost of the project cost the developer, Emaar, $1.5 billion, which paid off literally in the first year after the building was officially put into operation. The observation deck at Burj Khalifa is especially popular, and to get to it, tickets must be purchased in advance, several days before the visit.
Kingdom Tower
In the hot sands of the Arabian desert, construction began on the largest and grandest structure in the history of mankind. We did not include this building in our rating, since a lot of time will pass before its construction is completed. This is the future Kingdom Tower, which will rise to a height of 1007 meters, and will be 200 meters higher than the Burj Khalifa.
From the highest floor of the building it will be possible to view the area at a distance of 140 km. The construction of the tower will be very difficult; due to the enormous height of the skyscraper, building materials will be delivered to the highest floors of the structure by helicopters. The initial cost of the facility will be $20 billion
1. . Located in the most beautiful city Dubai, UAE. The height of the building is 828 meters, roof height is 636 m, number of storeys is 163. The skyscraper was opened in 2010. The shape of the building resembles a stalagmite. known throughout the world as " Burj Dubai» (« Dubai tower"), renamed it, dedicating the building to the President of the UAE, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan.
2. Shanghai Tower is a super-tall building under construction in the Pudong district of Shanghai, China. According to the project, the height of the building is 632 meters, the number of storeys is 128, total area— 380 thousand m. After 2016, it will become the 5th in the world, also taking into account the India Tower in Mumbai.
3. Makkah Royal Clock Tower Hotel. The building is located in a city known to all Muslims Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The height of the building is 601 meters, the number of storeys is 120. It was put into operation in 2012. The tallest hotel in the world, the most big building in the world in terms of construction volume with the largest and highest clock in the world.
4. One World Trade Center or Freedom Tower). Hotel skyscraper located in New York (USA). Its height is 541.3 meters, number of floors is 104. Built in 2013. It is the tallest office building in the world and the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.
5. International Financial Center (CTF Finance Centre)- an ultra-tall skyscraper built in the modernist style. Located in the city Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China. The height of the building is 437.5 meters, the number of storeys is 103. The skyscraper was opened in 2010. It will be fully built in 2016.
6. Taipei 101 - skyscraper, located in the capital of Taiwan - Taipei. Its height is 508 meters, number of floors is 101. Built in 2004. Tallest office building in the world before the construction of the Freedom Tower. Architectural style combines in the spirit of postmodernism modern traditions and ancient Chinese architecture. The multi-story shopping complex in the tower contains hundreds of shops, restaurants and clubs.
7. Shanghai World Financial Center). Skyscraper in Shanghai (China). The height of the building is 492 meters, number of floors is 101. The skyscraper was opened in 2008. The building has received the following awards: Owner of the highest observation deck in the world, located on the 100th floor of the building (472 meters above the ground); best skyscraper in the world 2008.
8. International Commerce Center) - skyscraper built in 2010 in the western part of the district Kowloon city Hong Kong. This is the tallest building in the city. The height of the building is 484 meters, the number of storeys is 118. It was put into operation in 2010.
9. Twin Skyscrapers is in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad participated in the design of the skyscraper, who proposed building buildings in the “Islamic” style. Therefore, in plan, the complex consists of two eight-pointed stars. The Petronas Towers houses offices, exhibition and conference rooms, and an art gallery. The project cost is 2 billion ringgits (800 million dollars).
Petronas Tower 1
Petronas Tower 2. The height of the building is 451.9 meters, number of storeys is 88, built in 1998.
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10. - a super-tall building that houses business center cities Nanjing (China). The height of the building is 450 meters, the number of storeys is 66. It was put into operation in 2010. Mixed-use tower - the building contains office space, the lower floors are equipped with shops, shopping centers and restaurants, and there is also a public observatory.
The first place in our Top 10 skyscrapers in the world has been held for more than 7 years by the Burj Khalifa, the amazing and tallest skyscraper in the world for 2017, which is located in the United States United Arab Emirates. Burj Khalifa, originally known as Burj Dubai, dominates the skyline of the city of Dubai. Skyscraperhas 163 floors and a height of 828 meters, and has been the tallest building in the world since 2010, when it was designed by a design firm from Chicago, and the construction was carried out bySouth Korean company Samsung C & T. The building was built by order of the government of the United Arab Emirates.
2. Shanghai Tower, China, 632 meters
Shanghai Tower is a 632-meter, 128-story megatoll skyscraper in Shanghai. This skyscraper has the world's highest observation deck inside a building or structure and the world's fastest elevators with a maximum speed of 20.5 m/s (74 km/h). It is the second tallest building in the world and the third tallest structure in the world, after the Tokyo Tower, whose height is 634 meters, exactly 2 meters higher than the Shanghai Tower.
The megatoll project was designed by international design firm Gensler and is owned by the Shanghai city government. Its multi-level design is designed to accommodate nine separate zones, divided into office, retail and residential sectors.
Construction work on the tower began in November 2008 and ended in September 2015.
3. Abraj al-Beit, Saudi Arabia, 601 meters
Abraj al-Bayt is the third tallest building in the world, its top is located at an altitude of 601 meters. It is located in Saudi Arabia in Mecca and is government property. The hotel has 120 floors and was built by the Bin Laden group, which is the largest construction company in Saudi Arabia and yes, that same terrorist Bin Laden comes from this family. The design of the skyscraper belongs to the German architectural firm SL Rasch GmbH. Abraj al-Bayt is famous not primarily for its height, but for its largest clock in the world.
In addition to hotel rooms, the tower houses a conference center, an Islamic museum, a prayer room that can accommodate more than 10,000 people at a time to pray, and a five-story shopping mall.
4. Pin'an International Financial Center, China, 600 meters
The International Financial Center in Shenzhen is one of the newest skyscrapers in the world; its construction was completed at the end of 2016 with a height of exactly 600 meters, which allowed it to take 4th place in our ranking - Top 10 skyscrapers in the world. The building includes a conference center, hotel and retail space within a high-end shopping center.
5. Lotte World Tower, South Korea, 555 meters
Lotte World Tower built in South Korea, is one of the newest skyscrapers in the world, it joined the list of megatolls in 2016, its construction was recently completed in March 2016, giving it the status of the fifth tallest building in the world.13 years of planning and preparation culminated in the start of construction in March 2011, the building has 123 floors, six of which are underground. This amazing megatoll can withstandearthquakes with a magnitude of up to 9 on the Richter scale.
6. 1 World Trade Center, USA, 541 meters
One World Trade Center is not only the tallest building in the city of New - York andUnited States of America, but also the entire Western Hemisphere.It was completed in 2014 and built as a replacement and memory towersthe original World Trade Center.
7. CTF financial center, China, 530 meters
Located in Guangzhou city in the southChina, The International Financial Center is a multifunctional skyscraper,which is a new addition to this list, it was built in late 20016. With its height of 530 meters, it accommodates111 floors in total.
8. Taipei 101, Taiwan, 509 meters
The 101-story Taipei 101 is located in the city of Taipei and occupies an honorable 8th place in our ranking. And when this megatoll was built in 2004, it was the tallest skyscraper in the world, but in 13 years it slipped to 8th place. This skyscraper real example postmodern architecture.
9. Shanghai World Financial Center, China, 492 meters
The Shanghai World Financial Center was commissioned to the state in 2008, and has a height of 492 meters and 101 floors.It is located in the center of Shanghai's financial district on the Pudong waterfront and serves as an international financial and commercial center.It houses hotel rooms, offices, conference rooms, observation decks and shopping centers. BThe ashnya has a trapezoidal opening at the top for better aerodynamics.
10. International Commerce Centre, Hong Kong, 484 meters
This amazing skyscraper rose in Hong Kong in 2010 and at that time it took 4th place in the ranking of the tallest buildings in the world, and in 2017 dropped with its 484 meters and 118 floors to 10th place in the Top ranking 10 skyscrapers of the world. The International Commerce Center in Hong Kong boasts the world's tallest swimming pool and bar on the 108th floor, and Hong Kong's tallest skyscraper has a stunning observation deck andand five-star restaurants.
Exactly 130 years ago (May 1, 1884), construction began on the very first skyscraper in the world - the Chicago 10-story Home Insurance Building. The existence of this “giant” ended in 1931. But real story skyscrapers have just begun...
Strictly speaking, the history of the construction of houses, even before the first officially recognized skyscraper in the world, knows cases of the construction of multi-story, including narrow, houses and the construction of entire cities from such buildings, such as, for example, Shibam in Yemen.
Or, for example, the Italian towers of Bologna (12th century AD) -
The first generally recognized skyscraper (Home Insurance Building) was not very tall by today's standards - it had only 10 floors according to the original design, the total height of the building was 42 meters.
A few years later, this very first skyscraper in the world had 2 more floors, and then its height was already 54.9 m. William Le Baron Jenney, an American architect, when designing the first skyscraper, implemented an innovative construction technology, which consisted in the use of a load-bearing frame. Before him, external walls were used as a load-bearing structure. The architect made a calculation based on the strength characteristics of the materials, taking into account the specific strength of steel, which is 10 times higher than the specific strength of the highest quality concrete, not to mention stone or brickwork. By using a metal frame as a supporting structure, it was possible to reduce the total weight of the structure by almost a third. But the creator of the project still could not decide to completely abandon other load-bearing structures, because of this, the very first skyscraper in the world also had granite columns and a load-bearing rear wall.
The transition to a load-bearing steel frame was realized in 1891, when the 11-story Wainwright Tower in St. Louis was built, designed by Architect Louis Sullivan. So this building can rightfully challenge the title of “the very first skyscraper in the world” from the Chicago building.
No skyscraper can function fully without such an architectural element as an elevator. In the history of skyscrapers, the very first office building to use elevators was the Equitable Life Building, built in New York in 1870.
The first elevators operated on a hydraulic drive, which imposed a limitation on the height of the building - it could not be higher than 20 floors. But in 1903, Otis developed a new elevator design with an electric drive. It used the idea of balancing the weight of a cabin going up with the weight of a second cabin moving down. These innovations made it possible to remove lifting height restrictions. An interesting solution for removing restrictions on the height of the building was the use of lifting with transfers.
The tallest skyscrapers in the world. Photo.
As soon as the very first skyscrapers appeared in the world, a real race began in their construction to erect the tallest building. The most intense years in the history of skyscrapers can be considered the 20s of the last century, when in New York, one after another, several high-rise buildings shot up, claiming to be the “tallest building in the world.”
In New York in 1913, the 57-story Woolworth Building, 241 meters high, was built in the neo-Gothic style, which is characterized by a combination of the latest achievements of science and traditional architecture. For 17 years, this skyscraper held the title of the tallest building in the world, the tallest skyscraper in the world (photo below), and the townspeople still have a special love for it.
Photo of the Woolworth Building in 1913 –
... and today -
The pace of this race slows down noticeably in the early 30s. This decade can be characterized by the construction of two skyscrapers. The first was built in 1930 with funds from Walter Percy Chrysler, who located his company's offices in it. It is called the Chrysler Building, it has 77 floors and a roof height of 282 meters, and together with the spire - 320 meters.
But it was surpassed by the Empire State Building, which was inaugurated on May 1, 1931. It was this building that became the world symbol of skyscraper construction for almost half a century.
It has 102 floors, the roof height is 381 meters, and with the antenna - 443 meters. Built in just 13 months, the structure did not break the height record until 1972.
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History of skyscrapersin the USSR.
In 1937, the Soviet Union began construction of the world's tallest skyscraper, which should be 495 meters high. However, the Great Patriotic War did not allow me to finish this project, and after its completion they did not return to the project.
However, skyscrapers were built in Moscow, the famous seven Stalinist skyscrapers became them. Among them, the tallest building is Moscow State University, which has a height of 240 meters. It was this building that was included in all world ratings of skyscrapers. However, they were not the first skyscrapers erected in Moscow.
At the beginning of the century, in 1912, the Nirnzee House of Cheap Apartments, 40 meters high, was erected. At the dawn of the history of skyscrapers in the USSR, in Moscow such structures were called “cloud cutters.”
But the tallest pre-revolutionary civil building was the Telephone Station building, erected on Milyutinsky Lane in 1908 and having a height of 78 meters. The technologies used by Russian engineers already in those days made it possible to erect buildings 100 and even 150 meters high, but the construction of cloud cutters was limited by both aesthetic and religious considerations. Therefore, until the mid-50s, the proud title of the tallest building in Moscow was borne by a medieval building - the bell tower of Ivan the Great, dominating architectural structures capitals. The height of the bell tower is 81 meters.
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The last third of the 20th century was marked by a new race in the construction of skyscrapers. The difficulty in determining the tallest skyscrapers in the world (photos of which we are considering in this article) has become the difficulty architectural forms. Therefore, these titles are constantly being disputed, based on measurements taken both on the roof and with additional spiers and antennas. Considered the tallest 110-story Chicago tower, the Sears Tower, now named Willis Tower and having a height of 442 meters...
...this title was taken over in 1998 by the Petronas Towers, located in Kuala Lumper and having the following criteria - 88 floors, 452 meters in height.
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Then the Taipei 101 skyscraper appeared in 2004, with a height of 509 meters and 101 floors. But even then, Willis Tower competed for the title of the tallest skyscraper in the world (photo below), if you take into account the antenna located on the roof of the building.
The controversy was stopped by the construction of the Dubai Burj Khalifa Tower, which exceeded all records. This tower has a roof height of 643 meters, a spire height of 828 meters, and has 150 floors.
The photographs of this record holder are simply amazing -
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In 2013, China announced the construction of the 220-story Sky City skyscraper, which has a height of 838 meters, in Changsha. At the same time, with the construction of this building they intended to break another record, having built it in a record short time - 90 days.
True, these 3 months did not include preparatory work. However, the construction start date was constantly postponed, and now grand opening The buildings are planned for May 2014.
But this height is not the limit; the builders want to reach a height of more than a kilometer. Skyscrapers of this height have been built in several countries - in Bahrain - 1022 meters, 1400 meters (by spire) in Dubai (“Al Burj” or “Nakheel”)
— 1007-meter tower in Saudi Arabia (“Kingdom Tower”) —
