Interesting skyscrapers of the world. The tallest skyscrapers in the world

Which building is the tallest in the world?
It is safe to say that the championship has returned to the Middle East and for a long time. Everyone famous pyramid Cheops with a height of 146.5 m for almost 3800 years (until 1311) was the tallest building in the world. Time will show how long the current favorite will hold on to first place.

1. Burj Khalifa- the tallest skyscraper in the world built in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The height with the spire is 829.8 m, the number of floors is 163. The grandiose construction of the century began in 2004 and ended in 2010. The total cost of the project was about 1.5 billion US dollars. The height of the Burj Khalifa tower is almost 1.5 times higher than the rest of the skyscrapers in the world.

The developer of the Burj Khalifa skyscraper project is the American architectural firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, which designed the legendary Willis Tower in Chicago back in 1973. The construction was carried out by the South Korean company Samsung Engineering & Construction, which also built the Petronas Twin Towers and Taipei 101. The design of the Burj Khalifa skyscraper combines Arab structural elements and futuristic fantasy scale. This giant tower has risen to the sky, and its scale is impossible to convey neither in words nor in photographs.

Shot from the movie "Mission Impossible 4: Secret Protocol". Remember how desperately Tom Cruise hit the glass facade of the Burj Khalifa skyscraper?

Upon completion of its construction, the Burj Khalifa skyscraper took first place in many technical criteria. One of them is the fastest elevator in the world. The third highest and second largest outdoor observation deck in the world on the 124th floor (452 ​​m). The second largest pool in the world on the seventy-sixth floor. The world's highest Nightclub on the 144th floor. The world's tallest restaurant on the 122nd floor. At the foot of the tower there is a fountain of record value (217 million US dollars): illuminated by 6600 lights and 50 colored spotlights, 275 m in length, the height of the fountain reaches 150 m. The tallest skyscraper Burj Khalifa in Dubai has become a world landmark and a miracle of modern construction.

2. Abraj Al Bait Towers, also known as Mecca Royal Tower Clock the hotel is building complex in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, which opened in 2012. Construction has been underway since 2004. The second tallest skyscraper in the world, Abraj Al-Bait Towers (601 m, 120 floors), was erected a few meters from the main shrine of Islam, Masjid al-Haram, the largest mosque in the world, mainly to modernize the service for pilgrims. However, the construction caused a great resonance in the world cultural community. Since the ancient Ottoman fortress of the 18th century, which stood on top of a hill overlooking the Grand Mosque, was demolished.

Abraj Al-Bait Towers contains 20 shopping centers, a hotel, apartments for permanent residence, a garage for more than 1000 cars, two heliports. In total, up to 100,000 people can be accommodated inside the tower. The Abraj Al-Bait Towers complex has several records: the most tall tower with the clock in the world, the largest clock face in the world and the building with the largest floor area in the world. Thus, in 2012, the list of the tallest skyscrapers in the world was replenished with another “pearl” of the east.

3. Taipei 101 (Taipei 101) - the third tallest skyscraper (509 m) is located on the island of Taiwan, in the central city of Taipei. Construction was carried out by Samsung C&T Corporation from 1999 to 2004. The opening took place on December 31, 2004 under the New Year's colorful fireworks from the tower. Until 2010, Taipei 101 was the tallest skyscraper in the world and the first to be built in the 21st century. Taipei 101 is 101 floors above ground and 5 floors below ground. The design of the building embodies the unity of the evolution of technology and Asian traditions, according to the philosophy of Feng Shui. It is no coincidence that the number 101 is a constant cycle of time, repeating from January 1, 1-01, it is the traditional number of perfection 100 more than 1, it is also a binary number system used in digital technologies. The tower has a series of eight segments, each with eight floors. In Chinese culture, the number eight is associated with abundance, prosperity and happiness. in digital technologies 8 bit. is the basic (minimal) unit of information. The original design of the tower is reminiscent of Asian pagodas (connection of earth and sky), or a bamboo stalk (a symbol of learning and rapid growth). On the pedestal of the tower on three sides above the entrance there are “old coins” as a symbol of wealth.

But not only symbols protect the tallest skyscraper located in the seismically unstable Asia-Pacific region. Developers CY Lee & partners claim that the building can withstand storm winds up to 60 m/s and strong earthquakes. High performance steel structures and a super strong tower base make the Taipei 101 skyscraper one of the most stable buildings ever built. In addition, in 2011, Taipei 101 was awarded the title of "World's Tallest Green Building" for its green energy-saving innovations.

4. Shanghai World Financial Center- an elegant modern skyscraper with a height of 492 m was built in Shanghai from 1997 to 2008. This is a multifunctional building, where offices, hotels, conference rooms, viewing platforms And shopping centers on the lower floors. The developer is the American architectural firm Kohn Pedersen Fox and the Japanese construction company Japanese Mori Building Company. The Shanghai World Financial Center skyscraper was the best completed skyscraper in 2008 for its beautiful building design.

A distinctive feature of the skyscraper is a trapezoidal hole at the peak, which helps to reduce wind pressure. The original design of the opening was round, as a symbol of the Earth and the circle of heaven (according to Chinese mythology) or the “Chinese Gate of the Moon” (a round opening in a garden wall). But to high-ranking officials, including the mayor of the city of Shanghai, it was more like the symbol of Japan - the rising sun. Therefore, the project was changed to an easier to implement and less expensive option. Now the building has received the informal name "bottle opener". So far, it is the tallest skyscraper in China, but the Shanghai Tower (632 m) is being built nearby, the completion of which is scheduled for 2014.

5. International Commerce Center (abbreviated ICC Tower) in Hong Kong. It is a 118-story skyscraper with a height of 484 m. The construction was carried out jointly by MTR Corporation Limited and Sun Hung Kai Properties from 2002 to 2010. Developer American architectural firm Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates. It is currently the fifth tallest skyscraper in the world and the third tallest building in terms of the number of floors. On the 118th floor there is an indoor pool and bar (OZONE), this is the world's record-breaking swimming pool.

The observation deck on the 100th floor is called Sky100. From here you have a beautiful panoramic view of the city.

6. Petronas Towers, also known as the Petronas Twin Towers, is located in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. The height of the skyscraper is 451.9 meters, 88 floors and 5 basements. The Petronas Twin Towers were the tallest skyscrapers from 1998 to 2004, until Taiwan's Taipei 101 skyscraper surpassed them. The grandiose construction, begun in 1992, was to be completed in six years. Such a short construction time required the involvement of two construction consortiums: a Japanese consortium led by Hazama Corporation and a South Korean consortium led by Samsung C&T Corporation. At the same time, three factories produced high-strength reinforced concrete, in case one of the batches of concrete did not meet the quality.

Argentine architect Cesar Pelli (the designer of the Petronas Towers) successfully reflected Islamic motifs in the postmodern design of the skyscraper. So the horizontal section of the tower resembles the Muslim symbol of Rub al-Hizb (the intersection of two squares). On the 41st and 42nd floors, the towers are connected by the Skybridge, the tallest double-deck bridge in the world. In addition to its technical purpose (reducing deviations from strong gusts of wind), the “heavenly bridge” symbolizes the “portal to heaven ... the door to infinity”.

One of the Petronas twin towers is fully occupied by the largest oil corporation Petronas and its subsidiaries. The other tower is rented out for offices.

7. zifeng tower- a skyscraper with a height of 450 m is located in China, the city of Nanjing. Just a little bit did not reach the twin towers. The 89-storey building was opened in 2010 (construction began in 2005). The developer is the American architectural firm Skidmore, Owings and Merril, led by Adrian Smith, who also designed the world's tallest skyscraper, the Burj Khalifa. The lower floors of the Zifeng tower house shopping malls and offices, while the upper floors have hotels, restaurants and an observatory near the top. The building of non-standard architecture has a completely different look depending on the viewing point. The facade of glass and steel, like armor, sparkles in the sun.

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8. Willis Tower– 108-storey building with a height of 442 m (without antenna) is located in Chicago. Construction began in 1970 and was completed in 1973. The chief architect is Bruce Graham, the chief designer (project engineer) is Fazlur Khan. Since its opening, the Willis Tower skyscraper has become the tallest skyscraper in the world for 25 years, slightly exceeding the twin towers World Trade Center in New York. In 1998, the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, with a height of 452 m, including decorative spiers, were declared the tallest buildings in the world. There was a dispute about this: do spiers and antennae count as architectural height? We agreed that the antennas are not included in the final height of the building, but the spiers are included.

Take a closer look at the symbolic design of the Willis Tower skyscraper - these are 9 square pipes, as if growing from a single base. All 9 pipes are one until the 50th floor, then 7 pipes rise to the 66th floor, 5 rise to the 90th and only 2 reach the 110th floor. There are two television antennas on the roof. Black aluminum and dark glass cladding stands out from other skyscrapers. Despite its advanced age, Willis Tower remains the most beautiful skyscraper in the world.

On the 103rd floor of the skyscraper is a unique observation deck. After a recent renovation, it has become completely transparent. Not everyone dares to step on such a “fragile” balcony at a height of 412 meters, but there are still those who want to tickle their nerves and get a historical picture against the backdrop of Chicago.

9 Kingkey 100- a skyscraper with a height of 441.8 m is located in China, the city of Shenzhen (construction from 2007 to 2011). 100 floors of the skyscraper are occupied by the KK Mall shopping center, office space (68 floors), St. Regis Hotel (22 floors) and four floors of the top of the dome are occupied by a “heavenly garden” and restaurants. The futuristic streamlined skyscraper was designed by British architect Terry Farrell. The interior design of the building also impresses with smooth lines, plenty of light and a fantastic sense of the future. Today, Kingkey 100 is the 4th tallest skyscraper in China and the 9th tallest skyscraper in the world.

10. Guangzhou International Finance Center(better known as West Tower Guangzhou) - a skyscraper with a height of 438.6 m has 103 floors and 4 basements. It is located in Guangzhou, which is the largest commercial port and the third largest (12,780 thousand) city in China. Construction went on from 2005 to 2010. The developer of the project is the international architectural firm Wilkinson Eyre Architects, based in London. (Another well-known project of hers is the Gateshead Millennium Bridge.) 66 floors are used as offices, 67 and 68 are technical floors, from 69 to 98 - the Four Hotel Seasons Hotel, and the 99th and 100th floors are used as an observation deck. This is the western tower of the Guangzhou Twin Towers project. The eastern twin tower “Guangzhou East Tower” is still under construction.

Burj Khalifa is the best high building in Dubai and the tallest skyscraper in the world. The shape of the building resembles a stalagmite, which rushes up to 828 meters. The building has 163 floors, on which there are 9 hotels and a system of fountains. The total cost of the construction is estimated at $4.1 billion. And that's for the most amazing facts about the Burj Khalifa.

1. The tallest building in the world

It is common knowledge that the Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the entire world. However, how tall is it compared to other monstrous structures? The height of the Burj Khalifa is 828 meters, and the height of the second tallest building in the world (Shanghai Tower) is 632 meters. The difference is more than obvious. The Burj Khalifa is also three times taller than the Eiffel Tower.

2. Inside the building

Those who think that the Burj Khalifa is very impressive from the outside, simply have not been inside a skyscraper. The highest observation deck is located at an altitude of 452 meters. In total, the building has 164 floors, 1 of which is underground, and as many as 58 elevators that travel at a speed of 10 meters per second (these are one of the fastest elevators in the world). Also in the Burj Khalifa there are 2957 parking spaces, 304 hotels and 904 apartments. Interestingly, the Burj Khalifa has a special elevator system designed for evacuation during a fire.

3. The skyscraper was designed by the Americans and built by a South Korean company.

While the Burj Khalifa is located in Dubai (the original name of the skyscraper is Burj Dubai), the building was designed by the American firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. Chicago engineers helped develop a special support structure that resembles a three-pointed star. The construction of the building was entrusted to the South Korean company Samsung Engineering and Construction.

4. Multiple records

Everyone knows that the Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world. In fact, the Dubai skyscraper holds not only this record. It is the tallest free-standing building, the building with the highest residential floor, the building with the most floors, the building with the highest elevators, and the second highest observation deck (the highest observation deck is located in the Canton Tower).

5. What was needed for the construction

In order to build such a titanic building of almost a kilometer, it took a lot of time and effort (namely, 6 years and 22 million man-hours). On especially busy days, more than 12,000 workers were at the construction site at a time.

6. Huge weight

To build a huge building, a huge amount of materials was needed. One aluminum went so much that it would be enough to create 5 A380 Airbuses. 55,000 tons of reinforcing steel and 110,000 tons of concrete were also spent. This is approximately equal to the weight of 100,000 elephants. And if you take and fold the reinforcement from the building in a row, then it would stretch for a quarter of the Earth.

7. Heat resistance

It's very hot in Dubai in summer average temperature here is 41 degrees. In July 2002, the highest temperature ever recorded in Dubai was 52 degrees. Naturally, a building built in this country must withstand extreme temperature fluctuations. That is why over 300 Chinese cladding experts were hired to develop a cladding system that can protect against local temperatures.

8. Power consumption

Naturally, for a normal life in such a huge building, a monstrous amount of resources is required. For example, the Burj Khalifa requires about 950,000 liters of water every day (while Dubai uses an average of about 200-300 liters of water per day). Also, the building consumes a huge amount of electricity (about as much as "eat" 360,000 hundred-watt light bulbs).

9. Washing a skyscraper

How they clean and wash 26,000 glass panels that always look perfectly smooth. Responsible for this are 12 machines, which weigh about 13 tons each, moving along special rails on the outside of the building. The cars are serviced by 36 people.

10. Floral design

The design of the Burj Khalifa was inspired by the hymenocallis, a flower that has long petals radiating from the center. The three wings of the Burj Khalifa diverge to the sides like these petals.

People are strange creatures. We always want to surpass each other, to do something better than others, to improve. We are constantly testing the limits of our abilities, the limits of the laws of physics, the limits of human nature itself. When it comes to architecture, a person always tries to surpass the achieved heights. New building materials, new designs allow us to reach more and more new heights, and in the literal sense. It is no coincidence that buildings are getting taller and taller, and the most indescribably tall skyscrapers on the planet have been built within the last twenty-five years. We bring to your attention a list of the fourteen tallest skyscrapers in the world.

14. Jin Mao Tower - Shanghai, China: 420.62 m

Reaching a height of 421 meters, the Jin Mao Tower skyscraper was built in 1999. The building includes office space, hotel, shopping mall, restaurants, night club and an observation deck. Its largest tenant, the Hyatt, spans 30 floors and offers visitors a relaxing piano bar, coffee shop, upscale restaurants and bars, fitness center services, pool access and a private express elevator.

13. Trump International Skyscraper Hotel - Chicago, USA: 423.3 m

Completed in 2009, this building includes a residential building and a luxury hotel. The skyscraper reaches 423 meters in height and cost its owners 847 million dollars. The building was built on the site of the old Chicago Sun Times building, near the local river, in downtown Chicago. In addition to the hotel, on the sixteenth floor there is a restaurant and spa, as well as an outdoor area that will give you unforgettable views of the city.

12. Guangzhou International Financial Center - Guangzhou, China: 438.9 m

The 103-story skyscraper was completed in 2010 at a cost of $280 million. This is first of all office building, the upper floors of which serve as the location of the Four Seasons hotel and the observation deck. This building was originally known as the Guangzhou West Tower. In addition, its owners had plans to rebuild an even taller building, but they were not successful.

11. KK100 - Shenzhen, China: 441.6 m

Formerly known as Kingkey 100, this skyscraper reaches a height of almost 442 meters. This mixed-use building is home to office space and a six-star business hotel. It also has a garden, many restaurants, luxury shops, supermarkets and an IMAX cinema. This building was completed in 2011.

10. Willis Tower - Chicago, USA: 441.96 m

Formerly known as the Sears Tower, the Willis Tower reaches a height of 442 meters. This is the only building on our list built before 1998. The skyscraper was built in 1973 at a cost of $150 million. It was the first building in the world to use the tubular construction method. This is what made it possible to build a skyscraper to such a height. And although it is now only tenth on our list, there was a time when it was considered the tallest skyscraper in the world.

9. Zifeng Tower - Nanjing, China: 451.1 m

This 450-meter 89-storey skyscraper was opened in 2010. There is a huge amount of retail and office space, a hotel, restaurants and an open observation deck. It took five years to rebuild this building. For its maintenance, 54 lifts and elevators are used.

8. Petronas Tower 1&2 - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: 452 m


From 1998 to 2004, the Twin Petronas Towers were considered the tallest buildings in the world. The premises in them were rented by such large companies as Reuters, Microsoft, AVEVA. The construction of these two giants took about 1.6 billion dollars. Their height was 452 meters. Petronas Tower 1 is wholly owned by Petronas and its subsidiaries. It connects to the second skyscraper via an overpass located on the 41st and 42nd floors. The first few floors of skyscrapers are occupied by retail businesses. In addition, here you can find an art gallery, an aquarium and a research center.

7. International Commerce Center - Hong Kong: 484 m


This 118-story skyscraper reaches 484 meters in height. It was built in 2010, eight long years after construction began. On the this moment it is the tallest building in Hong Kong and the fourth tallest in China. The building houses a five-star Ritz Carlton hotel, an outdoor observation deck and a swimming pool located on the 118th floor.

6. Shanghai World Financial Center - Shanghai, China: 491.95 m

This skyscraper cost its owners $1.2 billion. This is a multifunctional building that includes office space, a hotel, a museum, a parking lot, shops and several observation decks. It opened in 2008 and at that time was considered the tallest building in the world.

5. Taipei 101 - Taipei, Taiwan: 508.7 m


Built in 2004, this skyscraper consists of 101 floors containing office space, shopping malls, eateries and observation decks. The building was designed by LEEDS Platinum Certified and has a number of interesting features, including the world's fastest elevator, the world's largest countdown clock, the world's tallest sundial, and the world's largest damper pendulum. The skyscraper reaches 509 meters in height and costs about 1.8 billion dollars.

4. One World Trade Center - New York, USA: 541.3 m


This skyscraper is planned to be completed before the end of this year on the site of the former buildings of the World Trade Center. The building will reach a height of 540 meters and will be intended primarily for office space. The total cost of its construction was 3.9 billion dollars. When completed, it will be one of the tallest buildings in the US.

3. Makkah Royal Clock Tower - Mecca, Saudi Arabia: 601m


Officially known as Abraj Al-Bait, the Makkah Royal Clock Tower rises 601 meters above the ground. It was built in 2012 after eight years of continuous construction. At the top of the building is a four-sided clock, considered the tallest clock in the world. They can be seen from a distance of 26 kilometers. During the construction of the skyscraper, there were two fires, but, fortunately, no one was injured.

2. Shanghai Tower - Shanghai, China: 631.8 m


The Shanghai Tower is the tallest building in Asia and cost $4.2 billion to build. Upon completion of construction work, the skyscraper will reach a height of 632 meters and have 121 floors. The project of the building was developed back in 1993, but later it was planned to introduce a number of environmental features, which slowed down the start of its construction. The building will be commissioned in 2015.

1. Burj Khalifa - Dubai, United Arab Emirates: 828.1 m


Since 2010, this building has been considered the tallest building in the world. The 163-storey skyscraper reaches a height of 828 meters. The construction of the building cost $1.5 billion. Here you can find apartments, office space, hotels, corporate suites and restaurants. The building has received countless awards for its special design.

World's tallest skyscraper under construction April 18th, 2013

A couple of years ago, they wrote on the Internet about two kilometer-high skyscraper projects - the Nakheel tower in Dubai and the Mubarak al Kabir tower in Kuwait. However, the Dubai project was canceled due to the crisis of the Nakheel group, and the Kuwait project was stuck at the stage of coordination with the government.

However, a kilometer-high building will be erected on our planet in the near future. Back in 2011, it became known that Kingdom Holding, owned by Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, had signed a contract for the construction of Saudi Arabia Skyscraper Kingdom Tower, whose height will exceed 1000 meters.

The tallest skyscraper in the world - Kingdom Tower will rise more than 1 km. over the city of Jeddah, off the coast of the Red Sea. The tower will include hotels, residential apartments, offices and the world's highest observation deck. Adrian Smith was appointed the chief architect of the project, he also designed the Burj Khalifa, as well as a number of other skyscrapers in the USA, China and the UAE (see his website). The sum of the prisoner Kingdom Holding The contract is valued at $1.2 billion. Kingdom Tower will become the central and first stage of the construction of the district kingdom city, in the construction of which the Saudi prince is ready to invest a total of $ 20 billion.

Upon completion of construction, which will take 5 years, Kingdom Tower by at least 173 meters will surpass the Burj Khalifa tower, the current record holder. Unique design feature Kingdom Tower will become a heavenly terrace with a diameter of 30 meters, located at the level of the 157th floor. In total, the tallest skyscraper in the world will have more than 200 floors. The start of construction is scheduled for March 2012.

It is known that the main problem of such grandiose projects is their payback. At a press conference in Riyadh Prince Alwaleed assured that “this project will provide sustainable returns Kingdom Holding and its shareholders. We have been in discussions for four years to make it economically viable… This project is quite real, and everyone is happy with its potential profitability.”

From the top of the tower, a territory within a radius of about 140 km will be visible. It is assumed that the satellite city will consist mainly of luxury housing, hotels and business centers.

The architectural highlight will be a saucer balcony:

In whatever country this building is erected, the construction of a man-made structure, more than 1 kilometer in height, is an important achievement, which speaks of the considerable technical progress of all mankind.

Data project as well will be handled by a joint organization of EC Harris and Mace. The Guardian newspaper reports that this team was involved in the construction of the tallest building Western Europe— The Shard. This is the Shard Tower in London.

Directly by yourself construction will be handled by the Bin Laden Group, which is owned by the Osama bin Laden family. Invest Kingdom Tower construction there will be Jeddah Economic, which is under the control of Al Waleed bin Talalu (Prince of Saudi Arabia). according to plan construction of the skyscraper Kingdom Tower should start in the middle of the current year and end in five years.

The British company Hyder Consulting is the developer of the project, the architectural project will be carried out by Omrania & Associates from Saudi Arabia.

In April 2011, several news outlets reported that the construction plan had been approved and the total cost of the facility would be about $30 billion.

The total cost of the project, including the satellite city, is estimated to be $20 billion (for comparison: the cost of building the tallest skyscraper at the moment, the Burj Khalifa, is $1.5 billion), but the amount was originally planned to be no more than $10 billion.

ivansychev February 13, 2017 at 11:42 am

The tallest skyscrapers in the world

• Urbanism

In a previous article, we discussed . Unfortunately, now none of the skyscrapers erected in the country is among the ten tallest buildings in the world. Therefore, until the completion of the construction of the Lakhta Center (hello to the commentators of the previous article), we will talk about skyscrapers in the United United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, China, USA, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

willis tower

Just think: in forty years, only nine skyscrapers in the world have surpassed the 108-story Willis Tower in Chicago, and in the United States, only the Freedom Tower, opened in 2014, beat this result.

The skyscraper was designed by the architectural bureau Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, which later erected both the Freedom Tower and the tallest building at the moment, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The building was originally called the Sears Tower, and the Willis name was given in 2009. The foundation of the Willis Tower rests on concrete piles driven into solid rock. The frame consists of nine square "tubes" forming one large square at the base. Each such "pipe" consists of 20 vertical beams and many horizontal ones. All nine "pipes" are welded up to the 50th floor, then seven pipes go up to 66, five remain to the 90th floor, and the remaining two "pipes" rise another 20 floors. What exactly it looks like is clear from a 1971 photograph.

The worker stands on the spire of the tower.

Willis Tower is on the right in this photo, with two spiers.

Zifeng Tower

The construction of the 450-meter Zifeng high-rise building was completed in 2009. It is the business center of the city. It houses offices, shops, shopping centers, restaurants and an observatory. In total - 89 floors.

Work on the construction of the tower lasted only four years. In the process, the project was changed: the tower could have a height of 300 meters. For China, where the population density is extremely high, the efficient use of land is essential. The triangular site for construction was used to the maximum: the skyscraper has a triangular base.

The idea of ​​the architects was to interweave the motifs of Chinese dragons, the Yangtze River and green gardens. The river is the vertical and horizontal seams separating the glass surfaces. These surfaces themselves, according to architectural thought, are a reference to dancing dragons. Vegetation and pools were placed inside the building.

View of the city from the spire on a skyscraper.

petronas towers

The skyscraper was built in the "Islamic" style, each building is an eight-pointed star with semicircular ledges for stability. The construction site was changed after geological surveys. Initially, one skyscraper was supposed to stand on limestone, the other on rock, so one of the buildings could sag. The site was moved 60 meters. The foundation of the towers is currently the deepest concrete foundation: the piles are driven 100 meters into the soft ground.

Construction was complicated by an important condition: only domestically produced materials could be used. Especially for the building, they developed durable elastic concrete, reinforced with quartz and comparable in strength to steel. The mass of the skyscraper turned out to be twice that of similar steel buildings.

The bridge between the twin towers is fixed with ball bearings. Rigid fastening is impossible, as the towers sway.

The elevators in the building are two-story models designed by Otis. One cabin stops only on odd floors, the second - on even ones. This allowed to save space inside the skyscrapers.

International Commerce Center

Construction was completed in 2010, but there was no official opening: tenants were already using the building with might and main. From floors 102 to 118, it is the highest above ground hotel operated by the Ritz-Carlton. On the last, 118th floor, there is the highest swimming pool in the world.

The building can withstand earthquakes up to seven points, has fire-protected floors. After the attack on the Twin Towers in New York, the design of the building was finalized so that it could withstand a direct hit by an aircraft.

Due to its silhouette, the skyscraper got the name "opener". The trapezoidal opening at the top was supposed to be spherical, but the Chinese government forced the design to be changed so that the building did not resemble rising Sun on the flag of Japan. Such changes made it possible to reduce the cost and simplify the design. This was the plan for the upper part of the building:

Here is the result:

Taipei 101

Taipei 101 for some time was also distinguished by the fastest elevators in the world: they rise at a speed of more than 60 kilometers per hour, or 16.83 meters per second. From the fifth to the eighty-ninth floor, people rise in 39 seconds. Now the new record belongs to the Shanghai Tower.

On the 87th and 88th floors there is a 660-ton steel pendulum ball. This architectural solution made not only to decorate the interior. The pendulum allows the building to compensate for gusts of wind. A strong, but not rigid steel frame can withstand the strongest earthquakes. These solutions, together with a foundation of piles one and a half meters in diameter, driven 80 meters into the ground, made the building one of the safest in the world. On March 31, 2002, a 6.8 magnitude earthquake destroyed two cranes on the building and killed five people. The tower itself was not damaged. But there is a theory that it was the skyscraper that activated the seismic activity.

Freedom Tower

The building stands on the site that was occupied by the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, which were destroyed as a result of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. The design of WTC1 took into account the experience of the past, and the lower 57 meters are made using concrete instead of the steel structure that has become the standard.

The building officially opened on November 3, 2014. It is occupied by offices, marketplaces, restaurants and the City Television Alliance.

Royal clock tower

On the tower at a height of 400 meters there are four dials with a diameter of 43 meters. They are visible from any part of the city. This is the highest altitude clock in the world at the moment.

The length of the spire at the top of the hotel is 45 meters. The spire has 160 loudspeakers for the call to prayer. The 107-ton crescent at the very top of the building has several rooms, one of which is a prayer room.

The tower has 21,000 flashing lights and 2.2 million LEDs.

shanghai tower

The elevators in the building were developed by Mitsubishi Electric. Their speed is 18 meters per second, or 69 kilometers per hour. At the moment, these are the fastest elevators in the world. There are three such elevators in the building, four more two-story elevators develop a speed of 10 meters per second.

beautiful view you should not expect from the windows of a skyscraper. The building has double walls and a second shell designed to keep the temperature in.

The tower has a twisted design, which adds stability to fight the wind.

This view shows a spiral trough for collecting rainwater used for heating and air conditioning.

Burj Khalifa

The tower was designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, the architects behind the Willis Tower and 1 World Trade Center we talked about earlier. The construction of the Dubai Tower was carried out by Samsung, which also participated in the construction of the Petronas Towers. There are 57 elevators in the building, you need to use them with transfers - only one service elevator can go up to the last floor.

The tower houses the Armani Hotel, which was designed by Giorgio Armani himself, apartments, offices, shopping centers, fitness centers and observation decks with jacuzzis. Indian billionaire B.R. Shetty purchased two floors in their entirety, including the 100th floor, at a cost of over US$12 million each.

As with the Petronas Towers, the world's tallest skyscraper has its own special kind of concrete. It can withstand temperatures up to 48 degrees Celsius. During construction, concrete was laid at night, adding ice to the solution. The builders did not have the opportunity to fix the foundation in the rocky soil, and they used two hundred piles 45 meters long and 1.5 meters in diameter.

If the Shanghai Tower has a gutter for collecting rainwater, then in the case of the Burj Khalifa tower, this approach is not needed: there is little rainfall in the desert. Instead, the building has a condensate collection system that collects up to 40 million liters of water per year for watering plants.

During the filming of Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Tom Cruise decided to climb the tower to write Katie Holmes's name on it and get a great shot.

Planned buildings

At 828 meters high, the Burj Khalifa doesn't seem as impressive compared to the Dubai Creek Harbor Tower project. Its height on the roof will be 928 meters - that is, it will already beat the current record by 100 meters. And the height along the spire will completely exceed one kilometer - it will reach 1014 meters. But this is not certain - the parameters of the building are kept secret. Like the Eiffel Tower, the Dubai Creek Harbor Tower will be open world exhibition Expo 2020, if everything goes according to plan. The foundation was laid on October 10, 2016.