The Burj Khalifa in Dubai is the world's tallest man-made skyscraper, at 829.8 meters (2,722 feet). It has 51 floors above the ground floor.
It is estimated that it will cost $1 billion to build a house like this. The building itself is made of concrete and its exterior is covered with 8,848 square meters (98,918 sq ft) of glass.
People have been building tall buildings for over 500 years. The Eiffel Tower in Paris is 130 meters (427 feet) high and was built in 1889. It was designed by Gustave Eiffel and is famous as the work of one of France's most renowned engineers.
Buildings more than 50 stories high are now common in major cities around the world. Some of these buildings have mechanical rooms on each floor to supply air conditioners and other equipment, but many do not.
The Empire State Building in New York City is 1,454 feet tall with 49 floors. It was completed in 1931 and has become a symbol of New York City. The Chrysler Building in New York City is 740 feet tall with 24 floors. It was built in 1930 and is another famous building in New York City.
At 829.8 meters, the Burj Khalifa skyscraper is the world's tallest building (2,722 ft)... Structures (historical or current) of 600 m or more in height (1,969 ft)
Name | Burj Khalifa |
---|---|
Country | United Arab Emirates |
Town | Dubai |
Remarks | Tallest human-built structure in the world Height includes 244m spire |
Coordinates | 25°11′50.0″N 55°16′26.6″E |
The Burj Khalifa, at over 828 meters (2,716.5 ft) and more than 160 floors, holds the following records: The world's highest structure. The tallest free-standing building in the world. The largest reinforced concrete structure in the world.
Other notable buildings include the Abraj Al Rajhi Center, Arab World Institute, Bait Khalifa, Business Bay, Downtown Dubai, Emirates Towers, F1 Race Track, Heritage Tower, Hotel Erga Omacin, Jumeirah Lake Towers, Lagoa, Madinat Jumeirah, Marina Mall, Mohammed Bin Rashid Elevated Road, Mountain Project, The Oasis, Palm Deira, Palm Islands, Princess Tower, Qasr Al Hosn, Royal Dhow, Saadiyat Island, Shangri-La, Souk al Bahi, TEC Parks, The Torch, and Virgin Eiffel Tower.
All buildings over 4 stories high must be registered with the municipal government. Also, all construction projects exceeding 50 meters must submit a building permit application for review by an architectural commission. If approved, the license is issued to the contractor who will then be responsible for its completion. Violators can be fined up to $150,000.
The Burj Khalifa This skyscraper holds several world records, including the highest structure in the world at 2,716.5 feet. With a weight of almost 2.2 million tons, this massive building is also one of the heaviest! It's made of 848,000 square feet (79,829 m2) of floor space that contain 42 rooms and cost $840 million to build.
The Empire State Building This is another famous skyscraper that's part of the World Trade Center complex in New York City. It was built in 1931-1932 and stands 1,454 feet (442 meters) high. The Empire State Building is the tallest building in New York outside of the city center and its spire is the second highest point after Mount Everest. The building weighs nearly two billion pounds (907,000 kg), and it's made of steel and glass. It has 24 floors above the ground level and 734 apartments.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa This famous monument is located in Piazza del Duomo in Pisa. Built in 1370, it used to be one of the highest buildings in Europe. But now it's leaning about 3 inches (7 cm) towards the west due to being out of plumb.
The Monument Valley Grandstand is one of the largest wooden structures in the world. It is located near Monument Valley in Utah.
Since 2010, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai has held the title of world's tallest structure at 2,716 ft. The Vincom Landmark 81 tower in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, is the smallest structure on the list, standing at 1,513 feet.
The Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, are the second-highest building in the world at 1,483 feet, while the Shanghai World Financial Center rose to a height of 1,451 feet when it was completed in 2008. The CN Tower in Toronto is currently the highest building in Canada at 1,815 feet, while the Pinnacle at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport reaches 1,450 feet.
The record for the world's largest concrete structure belongs to the Zhongtian Plaza in China's Guizhou Province, which measures 265 feet by 65 feet by 145 feet (20 meters by 2.5 meters by 46 meters). It was built in 2003 and does not have interior walls or a roof. A smaller version of this type of building is found in Zhaoqing City, Guangdong Province, where the Sun Yat-sen University Faculty of Medicine was constructed in 1996-1999. This medical school had no more than five classrooms for lecture halls and eight examination rooms. It now holds over 1,000 students and has been expanded twice since its opening.
Dubai The world's current tallest structure, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, reaches 2,716 meters into the sky, and new skyscrapers are being built in Asia and the Middle East every year. It is expected that they will all be surpassed by another tower in Dubai within 10 years time.
The City Tower in Karachi, Pakistan, is the second-highest building in that country and the ninth-highest in the world. It is 695 meters high and has 52 floors.
The Shanghai World Financial Center, also known as The Shanghai Tower, is a supertall skyscraper in Pudong District, Shanghai.
Megatall structures are ones that stand higher than 1,968 feet. There are currently just three such structures: the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which rises at 2,717 ft. and was finished in 2010, the Shanghai Tower, which was completed in 2015 in Shanghai, China, and sits at 2,073 ft., and the Makkah Royal Clock Tower, which stands at 1,972 ft. and was built in 2008. The tallest existing structure in the world is also a megatall: the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It was built as a monument to the French Revolution and stands at 324 m or 1049 ft.
The reason megatalls are so rare is because they require enormous amounts of money and time to build. Also, many countries have laws in place that limit how high you can build in order not to disrupt the landscape. Finally, there is always going to be another building coming on line that will cause any current record holders to fall down eventually.
That being said, there are already plans for more megatalls to come online soon. In fact, a group of investors from Russia are planning to build a megatall that would be twice as tall as the current record holder. They plan to name it "The Giant" and say it will be ready for Christmas 2017. While this sounds crazy, it isn't the first time people have tried to build such a thing. The world's second-tallest free-standing tower is also located in Russia: the Federation Tower, which is 3 times as tall as the Eiffel Tower.