5 Tallest Buildings in the World

Tall buildings seems to be becoming a tradition, 500ft to 800ft buildings are now common these days. Architects always push their limits to construct astounding skyscrapers, and gazing upon these wonders of the world is a special feeling itself.

If you are interested in beautiful and tall buildings, then you are in luck as we are going to list down the 5 tallest buildings in the whole wide world.

5. Taipei 101, Taiwan (509m / 1671 fr)

Taipei 101 ranks 5th in the world when it comes to tallest buildings. Although, CTF Finance Center has already broken Taipei 101’s record with the height of 1,739 ft, but it is still under construction so it cannot be added in the list. The building has been constructed to be strong enough to easily withstand the strong winds and earthquakes for Taipei.

It has been awarded as the tallest and largest green building in the whole world by LEED. It structure has a stacked pagoda look with 8 segments and each segment contains 8 floors.

4. One World Trade Center

Location: New York City, USA

Height: 541.33 m/1,776 ft

One World Trade Center is 4th tallest building in the world and 1st tallest building in the USA. It has total 104 stories and consist of offices, restaurants, broadcast centers, transportation hub and a museum.

Some of its features include, life-safety systems, renewable energy system, better fireproofing, rainwater recycle system, interior daylight, pressurized stairs and recycled material for construction. Although, the actually building in 1300ft tall, but the spire is also considered in the height, leading to 1,776 ft total height.

3. Makkah Royal Clock Tower Hotel

Location: Mecca, Saudi Arabia

Height: 601.00 m/1,971 ft

Makkah Royal Clock Tower Hotel (Abraj Al Bait) is a government owned hotel constructed for accommodating muslims who come for performing Hajj (only the wealthy can afford it, though). The building has a big clock on the top with 141 x 141 ft dimensions, making it the biggest clock in the world. Furthermore, It’s broad base is said to be reason why it can stand so firmly even with  such a height.

It consists of luxurious rooms for permanent residents and visitors along with a conference center and huge prayer room that is large enough to fit above 10,000 people. 5 times a day 21,000 green and white lights blink to signal the time for prayer and on special occasions, huge 16 vertical lights on top of it shoot up to 10 km and lit up the sky.

2. Shanghai Tower

Location: Shanghai, China

Height: 632.11 m/2,073 ft

Shanghai Tower is actually quite new and has just been completed on 6 september 2015. It is not open to the public yet, and planned to be opened this November 2015. The building has a total 121 floors and it is designed to be a hotel mixed with office space.

The building is part of 3 tallest buildings in Shanghai with two others being Jin Mao Tower and Shanghai World Financial Center (the 6th tallest building in the world). It has total 320 hotel rooms and a huge parking space of 1,100.

1. Burj Khalifa

Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Height: 828 m/2,717 ft

Burj Khalifa stands at the 1st position since 2009, being the tallest building in the world with 2,717 ft of height. The building consists of 162 floors, 30,000 residences along with 9 hotels and a huge shopping mall. The building is constructed to give Dubai international recognition and present it as a place for tourism, and not only an oil-based country.

It has a tripedal design with edges cut in a projecting shape to avoid wind turbulence, and it has a cladding system strong enough to survive Dubai’s hot temperature. There are total 57 elevators and 8 escalators, and the elevators are big enough to take in 12-14 people. Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) are its designers, who are also responsible for the design of One World Trade Center.

We can’t argue with the “tallest” part, but which building design did you like? Let us know in the comments below.

Karar Haider
Categories: General
Tags: facts, urban