World’s
tallest buildings
Number
1. Burj Khalifa
Burj
Khalifa has been the tallest building since year 2010. This building’s height
measures up to 829.8 m (2722 feet). It is located in 1 Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Boulevard, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Its construction started at the 6th of January 2004, ends at the 30th
of December 2009, and its opening date was the 4th of January 2010. Its construction has
cost about USD $ 1.5 billion. This building has 153 floors, plus additional 46 maintenance
levels in the spire and 2 parking levels in the basement. Burj Khalifa also has
58 elevators. Its design architect is Adrian Smith. Burj Khalifa’s building concept
was to be the centerpiece of a large-scale,
mixed-use development that would include 30,000 homes, nine hotels (including The Address Downtown
Dubai), 3 hectares (7.4 acres) of parkland, at least 19
residential towers, the Dubai Mall, and the 12-hectare (30-acre) man-made Burj
Khalifa Lake.
Number 2. Taipei 101
Taipei
101 (Chinese: θΊε101 / ε°ε101), was the tallest building in
year 2004 until year 2010, the year of which Burj Khalifa was opened. This
building has the height of 508 m (1667 feet). It is located in Xinyi District, Taipei,
Taiwan. The construction started in 1999 and ended at 2004. The cost of its
construction is US$ 1.934 billion. The tower has served as an icon of modern
Taiwan ever since it’s opening. Taipei 101 comprises 101 floors above ground
and 5 floors underground. It also has 61 elevators including double-deck
shutters and 2 high speed observatory elevators. The building was created
as a symbol of the evolution of technology and Asian tradition. Taipei 101 was designed by C.Y. Lee and partners.
Taipei 101 is
designed to withstand the typhoon winds and earthquake tremors common in its area of the
Asia-Pacific. Planners aimed for a structure that could withstand gale winds of
60 m/s (197 ft/s, 216 km/h or 134 mph) and the strongest
earthquakes likely to occur in a 2,500 year cycle.
Number
3. Petronas Towers
The Petronas
Towers, also known as the Petronas Twin Towers (Malay: Menara Petronas, or Menara
Berkembar Petronas), are twin skyscrapers in Jalan
Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. They were the tallest building in the
world from 1998 to 2004 and remain the tallest twin towers in the world. The
buildings are a landmark of Kuala Lumpur, along with nearby Kuala Lumpur Tower.
Their height is 451.9 m (1483 feet). The construction started at the 1st
of March in 1996 and ended at the 1st of January in 1997, costing
US$ 1.6 billion. It was officially opened later at the 1st of August
in 1999 by the prime minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad. They
have 88 floors plus 5 more levels in the basement. This building was designed
by Argentine American architect Cesar Pelli. They
chose a distinctive epost modern style to create a 21st-century icon for Kuala Lumpur.
Number
4. Willis Tower
Willis
Tower or Sears Tower is located in Chichago, Illinois, United States. Its
height is 442 m (1451 foot). Its construction started at 1970 and ended at
1973, 42 years ago. It has 108 floors, plus 2 extra basement levels. It also
has 104 elevators with 16 double-decker elevators. This building was designed
by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. The Willis Tower was the
first building to use Khan's bundled
tube structure. This innovative design was structurally efficient and
economic. At 1,450 feet, it provided more space and rose higher than the Empire
State Building, yet cost much less per unit area. This structural system would prove highly influential
in skyscraper construction. It has been used in most super tall buildings since then, including the world's tallest
building, the Burj Khalifa. To
honor Khan's contributions, the Structural Engineers Association of Illinois commissioned
a sculpture of him for the lobby of the Willis Tower.
Number 5. World
Trade Center
World
Trade Center is located in is a partially
completed complex of buildings, under construction, in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States,
replacing an earlier complex of seven buildings with the same name on the same
site. The original World Trade Center featured landmark twin towers, which
opened on April 4, 1973, and were destroyed in the September 11 attacks of 2001, along
with 7
World Trade Center. Its height is 417 m (1368 feet). The World Trade
Center experienced a fire on February 13, 1975, a bombing on February 26, 1993, and a robbery on January
14, 1998. In 1998, the Port Authority decided to
privatize the World Trade Center, leasing the buildings to a private company to
manage, and awarded the lease to Silverstein Properties in July 2001.
