Rather than an era of architectural modesty, the decade since 9/11 has seen a flowering of skyscraper construction. In the 70 years before 9/11, the record for the tallest building grew 230 feet. Since then, it has shot up 1,234 feet. And it’s poised to rise much higher over the next decade. Today’s tallest skyscrapers are new in every respect: new structures, new materials, designed and tested with new methods. The result isn’t just taller buildings but an entirely new category of building: the supertall skyscraper.
CHICAGO - For the first time in six years the number of tall buildings completed annually around the world declined in 2012, as the consequential effects of the 2008/2009 global financial crisis became evident in tall building construction in many Western countries. Sixty-six buildings taller than 200 meters were completed during 2012, the third most in history, but down from the 82 finished in 2011. This number of completions was slightly lower than expected, with some projects under construction delayed or stalled. However, several of the projects forecast to finish in 2012 are now expected to complete in 2013 and 2014, with global completion numbers expected to rise again next year.
The BD Bacatá in downtown Bogotá is a proposed $240 million, 66-story skyscraper. Instead of relying on one developer, the project is being funded through a sale of shares in the building. More than 3,000 people have invested, raising more than $145 million. When completed in 2014, it will be the tallest building in Colombia.
(via Crowdfunding a Skyscraper - Neighborhoods - The Atlantic Cities)
In June, a Chinese design firm announced it would need only 90 days to complete Sky City Tower, which, at 838 meters high (about 2,749 feet), would make it the tallest building on Earth. Now Broad Sustainable Building (BSB) has renegged on the three-month thing—the construction will actually take six months, those slowpokes—but yes, apparently the project is proceeding as planned and will break ground in the middle of a field in Hunan Province in November.
(via China to Break Ground on ‘World’s Tallest Building’ in Nov. - Globe Trotting - Curbed National)
So, it’s just in the middle of a field somewhere? Puzzling.
Theoretically, then, a building could be built at least as tall as 8,849 meters, one meter taller than Mount Everest. The base of that mountain, according to these theoretical calculations, is about 4,100 square kilometers – a huge footprint for a building, even one with a hollow core. But given structural systems like the buttressed core, the base probably wouldn’t need to be nearly as large as that of a mountain.
(via Is There a Limit to How Tall Buildings Can Get? - Design - The Atlantic Cities)
Conceived in the mid-1990s for a site in downtown Tokyo, the ‘Seed is an eyeball-sucking ogre of a building (or “hyperbuilding,” as these freakishly tall structures are sometimes called). At 800 stories tall, you could practically read a book cover to cover on the elevator ride to the X-Seed’s penthouse. The company that planned to build it, Taisei Construction Corporation, never got around to erecting it; however, maybe they didn’t want to. An Architectural Record investigation into the current state of the X-Seed quoted one building expert as saying, “It was never meant to be built. The purpose of the plan was to earn some recognition for the firm, and it worked.”
jstn:
NINE SUPERTALL STRUCTURES I FIND INTERESTING
Illustrations from the amazing SkyscraperPage.com. 1 pixel == 1 meter.
Burj Khalifa — 830 m — Dubai, 2010
Currently the tallest structure in the world of any type. Total cost: $1.5 billion.Warsaw Radio Mast — 646 m — Poland, 1974
The tallest structure in the world until its catastrophic collapse in 1991, so far only surpassed by the Burj Khalifa.Tokyo Skytree — 634 m — Japan, 2012
The second tallest structure in the world, capable of broadcasting a TV signal over the entirety of Japan.Shanghai Tower — 632 m — China, 2014
For my money this is the coolest, most futuristic building on the immediate horizon and the closest thing yet to a SimCity arcology. It’s composed of nine cylindrical “neighborhoods” stacked on top of each other and wrapped in a double-walled glass curtain that spirals asymmetrically around the entire structure, with the interior space forming massive public atriums. More pictures and info here. Total cost: $2.2 billion.Canton Tower — 600 m — China, 2010
Another super modern TV tower, based on a hyperboloid structure patented in 1899. Of the 124 skyscrapers currently under construction in the world, over half are in China, with the number set to double by 2018.One World Trade Center — 541 m (spire) / 417 m (roof) — USA, 2013
The new WTC has the exact same roof height as the original, but its spire will actually make it 15 meters taller overall. Upon completion it will be the tallest building in the western hemisphere.Wills Tower — 527 m (spire) / 442 m (roof) — USA, 1973
Higher top floor than the WTC, but shorter overall. Has a terrifying glass-bottomed skydeck. Forever the Sears Tower to me.Empire State Building — 443 m (spire) / 381 m (roof) — USA, 1931
Ultimate all-time classic skyscraper, tallest building in the world for over 40 years (surpassed by WTC). A B-25 bomber crashed into the 80th floor in 1945.432 Park Avenue — 420 m — USA, 2015
My favorite upcoming building in New York that few seem to have heard about yet, especially considering how dramatically it might alter the skyline. The foundation has already been laid on the site of the former Drake Hotel on east 56th street, and when finished will have the highest roof in the city.
Proposals for “Wembley Tower” an English tower designed to rival France’s Eiffel Tower.
Many of the proposals appeared as apparitions of Constructivism or the futurism of 80 years later, such as a concrete ‘tree’, a series of stacked iron domes up a central core, and several ethereal, light metal structures, along with some spectacularly Jules Verne-esque proposals, such as a globe on a spike, which contained within itself several exhibition floors.To cut a long story short, this entailed a skyscraping edifice to rival the Eiffel Tower, which got as far as the first few storeys, by which time investors got cold feet. The unfinished framework lay rusting for years before Wembley Stadium eventually replaced it.(via sit down man, you’re a bloody tragedy: The Almost-Skyscrapers of Britain, 1829-1944)
