The tallest buildings in the world

Burj Khalifa is a skyscraper in Dubai, the tallest building in the world. The height of the building is 828 meters. Its construction began in 2004, and the grand opening ceremony took place on January 4, 2010.

The skyscraper was designed by the American architectural firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, which also designed the Willis Tower in Chicago, World Trade Center 1 in New York and many other famous buildings. The author of the project is the American architect Adrian Smith.

The Burj Khalifa was originally planned to be the tallest building in the world. When the skyscraper was still under construction, its design height was kept secret. If during the construction of the tower a skyscraper of a higher height had been designed somewhere, then adjustments could have been made to the project.

Inside the complex there is a hotel, apartments, offices and shopping centers. The building has 3 separate entrances: the entrance to the hotel, the entrance to the apartments and the entrance to the office premises. The Armani hotel and offices occupy floors 1 to 39. 900 apartments occupy floors 44 to 72 and 77 to 108. The 100th floor is wholly owned by Indian billionaire Shetty. Office premises occupy floors from 111 to 121, from 125 to 135 and from 139 to 154. On the 43rd and 76th floors there are gyms, swimming pools, observation decks. The highest observation deck is located on the 124th floor at an altitude of 472 meters. On the 122nd floor is the Atmosfera Restaurant, a restaurant located at the highest altitude in the world.

The construction of the skyscraper began in 2004 and proceeded at a rate of 1-2 floors per week. Especially for the Burj Khalifa, a special brand of concrete was developed that can withstand temperatures up to +50 degrees Celsius. Concrete work was completed after the construction of the 160th floor, followed by the assembly of a 180-meter spire from metal structures.

The Burj Khalifa has special equipment that cools and flavors the air inside the building. At the same time, the building is finished with tinted glass thermal panels, which reduce the heating of the premises inside, which reduces the need for air conditioning.

2 Tokyo Sky Tree

Tokyo Sky Tree is a television tower in Tokyo, the tallest among the television towers in the world and the second tallest building in the world after the Burj Khalifa. The height of the TV tower together with the antenna is 634 meters.

In July 2011, all television in Japan was supposed to go digital, but the Tokyo TV Tower was not tall enough to transmit to the upper floors of some skyscrapers, so a taller tower was built. Construction began in July 2008 and was completed on February 29, 2012. The opening took place on May 22.

During the construction of the tower, a special system was created that compensates, according to the architects, up to 50% of the force of tremors during earthquakes.

The tower is mainly used for digital TV and radio broadcasting, mobile telephony and navigation systems. In addition, it is a popular tourist attraction. In the TV tower you can visit 2 observation decks: one is located at an altitude of 350 meters, the other is at an altitude of 450 m. There are also a large number of boutiques and several restaurants, and at the foot of the tower there is a mini-complex with a shopping area, an aquarium and a planetarium.

3 Shanghai Tower

The Shanghai Tower is the tallest skyscraper in China and the third tallest building in the world. Its height is 632 meters.

The spirally curved tower was designed by the large American company Gensler. In June 2009, a foundation pit was dug, and the construction of the first floors of the tower began. In August 2013, a solemn ceremony was held in Shanghai to erect the last beam at a height of 632 meters, that is, the skyscraper was brought to roof level. The façade cladding was completed in September 2014 and all interior work completed in 2015.

In 2016, the Shanghai Tower was supposed to overtake the Pingan International Financial Center under construction in Shenzhen, but at the last moment its height was reduced from 660 to 600 m.

The lowest floor of the Shanghai Tower is dedicated to the historical museum of the city. Each area of ​​the tower contains shops and galleries. There is a hotel in the middle of the building. Also inside there is a restaurant, the peculiarity of which is that it rotates around its axis, a concert hall and a club. The skyscraper attracts about 2.8 million travelers annually. The tower has several viewing platforms.

High-speed elevators are installed in the Shanghai Tower, rising up at a speed of eighteen meters per second. The building is equipped with 106 Mitsubishi Electric elevators, three of which are high-speed and reach a record height of 578 meters, breaking the Burj Khalifa record of 504 meters.

4 Abraj al-Bayt

Abraj al-Bayt is a complex of high-rise buildings built in Mecca. It is the largest structure in the world by mass, and it is also the tallest structure in Saudi Arabia. The height of the building is 601 meters. Its construction began in 2004 and was completed in 2012.

Abraj al-Bayt stands opposite the entrance to the al-Haram mosque, in the courtyard of which is the Kaaba, the main shrine of Islam. The tallest tower in the complex, which serves as a hotel, houses about 100,000 of the more than five million pilgrims who visit Mecca each year for the Hajj.

The Abraj al-Beit towers house a four-story shopping arcade and a parking garage with space for more than 800 vehicles. In residential towers there are apartments for permanent residents of the city.

At the top of the highest Royal Tower, there is a huge clock with a diameter of 43 meters (the length of the hour hand is 17 meters, the minute hand is 22), located at a height of more than 400 meters above the ground. Four of their dials are set on the four cardinal points. The clock is visible from anywhere in the city and is the largest and highest clock in the world.

The Royal Tower is crowned with a 45-meter spire with a gilded crescent. There are 160 powerful loudspeakers on the spire in eight rows, capable of broadcasting the call to prayer over a distance of more than seven kilometers. The crescent is the largest ever built. Inside, it is divided into several service rooms, among which a small prayer room is the highest in the world. The diameter of the crescent is 23 meters. It is covered with golden mosaic.

5 Guangzhou TV Tower

Guangzhou TV Tower is the second tallest TV tower in the world. Built in 2005-2010 by ARUP for the 2010 Asian Games. The height of the TV tower is 600 meters. Up to a height of 450 meters, the tower was erected in the form of a combination of a hyperboloid bearing mesh shell and a central core.

The mesh shell of the tower is made of steel pipes of large diameter. The tower is crowned with a steel spire 160 meters high. The tower is designed to broadcast TV and radio signals, as well as to view the panorama of Guangzhou and is designed to receive 10,000 tourists a day.

Glazed observation platforms are located at heights of 33, 116, 168 and 449 meters, and an open observation platform is located at a height of 488 meters. Revolving restaurants are located at 418 and 428 meters.