Top 10 Skyscrapers

A nice change in attitude for this article, which is all part of my newly positive approach to blogging after I was threatened with a court case. Here we will objectively take a look at skyscrapers in an adult fashion that reflects my interest in architecture rather than an emphasis on sarcastic and cheap jokes that will at no stage lead me to call anyone a vile human being.

#10 Ryugyong Hotel (Pyongyang, Incomplete)

Despite not being completed the Ryugyong hotel is the second tallest hotel in the world and the tallest incomplete building in the world. It's taken those not so industrious little Koreans since 1987 to top out the building at 330m, which is only just shy of its estimated 1989 completion date. The original plan is that this would bring in Western investors into North Korea, but mainly it was a middle finger to the investors of Singapore who had previously built the world's tallest hotel. That ship has long sailed though, and the most recent reports still suggest that this project is far from completion. Construction originally stopped in 1992 and didn't start again until 2008, leaving a huge concrete block in Pyongyang, which accompanies the existing skyline just brilliantly.

The project is now being run by Egyptians, which is always a byword for quality in engineering, and not surprisingly their shoddy job once again missed the revised estimated completion date of 2012. However this building makes the list because it is proof that North Korea does actually have some economic might when they're not in a time of crisis, which isn't often, and this menacing building is an ambitious project that actually looks well designed. Unsurprisingly the Ryugyong Hotel has been given the nickname 'The Hotel of Doom', but then it does look like something a Bond villain would build. Still, credit where credit's due, North Korea has designed and almost finished a fine looking building. Although when I look at North Korea the one thing the country really doesn't need is a hotel to support its always bustling tourist industry. I doubt the 3,700 hotel rooms will ever be at full capacity.


#9 Heron Tower (London, 2011)

The Heron Tower is one of the newest skyscrapers to grace London's skyline, and in my opinion looks damn fine. As someone who travels through London regularly it's not surprising that I have a biased view of this relatively minor creation on the global scale, but to me it's aesthetically pleasing enough to warrant a mention. The Heron Tower is the tallest skyscraper in the CITY of London, standing at 230m tall, and yes I know that doesn't make it the tallest building in the metropolitan area of London, just the inner city.

It may never win awards for being the tallest building in the world, but I think it looks great. The facade in particular makes it look like something you would find in the IKEA catalogue, and that's because the individual areas in the design are referred to as 'villages', of which there are ten, each having their own unique environment and contributing to make the building look like flat pack furniture. The star of the show is the huge aquarium that complements the modern looks and sleek design perfectly. The huge fish tank is the largest privately owned aquarium in Europe.and houses over 1200 fish. The building just like the tank is self sustaining and epitomises the economic growth of London, adding something to the London skyline with its practical design.


#8 Taipei 101 (Taipei, 2004)

At 509.2 m this building was the tallest in the world from its opening in 2004 until 2010, becoming the first building in history to break the 500m barrier. Even today this is still the tallest building considered 'green' on the planet and seen as a big milestone in engineering. The way this whole project was engineered is the reason why this building makes the list. It sort of needed to be; Taipei 101 is located just meters from a fault line and also in an area where the chances of a typhoon occurring are very high. I know it's Chinese and so is bound to have boundless resources poured into it, but this is a building that can withstand winds of 134mph and the strongest Earthquakes recorded by man. There's even a 660 tonne counterweight that suspends from the top that effectively sways to counterbalance a building under huge stress.

Even looking past the features that make this an engineers wet dream you still have a building that's still as sustainable as you can possibly get. It has an LEED platinum rating for energy efficiency, making it the only supertall skyscraper with that distinction. The building even acts as a huge sundial to Taiwan, and is even listed as the largest in the world. This is such a revolutionary construction that it's even considered by some publications to be one of the seven modern wonders of the world, and it's easy to see why when you consider the detail that's gone into it. Even minor features such as the elevators are engineered to perfection. To climb 84 floors just takes 37 seconds, making the lifts in this building the fastest in the world. But the thing I love about it the most is just how much it fits into the Taiwanese skyline. It's sort of like a big Chinese pagoda and incorporated just about every rule of Feng shui there is to follow, creating a masterpiece with a staggering amount of detail.


#7 The Shard (London, 2012)

Named because it quite literally looks like a shard of glass, this is in my opinion the nicest building by far in the London Skyline, and one easily recognisable to any Londoner. It also has the distinction of being the tallest building in the EU, although that's because Russia isn't a part of the European Union, which is a bit of luck considering they're quite good at this skyscraper business. However what hey haven't done is made one as aesthetically pleasing as this British beauty that for me is one of the most attractive ways to kick off the regeneration scheme on the London Southbank. This building is the perfect cornerstone for London based developments, although it's actually jointed owned by Qatar for whatever reason. But fair play to them, this conglomeration of oil money and architecture helped create what I think is a mildly arousing iconic landmark for London that in time will become synonymous with the city.


#6 Bank of China Tower (Hong Kong, 1990)

Look at that. I know very little about architecture, but even I can tell that this building is something special. It's record setting as well, and was actually the first of many buildings outside the USA to break the 305m mark, standing at an impressive 367.4m. That iconic triangular structure that gives this building such a breathtaking and unique look is meant to resemble the growing of bamboo shoots, which although sounding symbolic is actually ignoring feng shui principles that govern the majority of oriental buildings. And I for one am glad they told the feng shui guys to fuck off, because this building looks fucking brilliant. The disorder in the design is perfect, with sharp and angular edges that give it that character that a sleeker look wouldn't have given it. This building will undoubtedly have that lasting impression on the Hong Kong skyline that the designers were aiming for and it's a great symbol of complex architecture and engineering, being both striking to look at and practical on an everyday basis. At least it is if you haven't watched Battleship. In that film it was obliterated into an attractive pile of rubble.


#5 Shanghai World Financial Center (Shanghai, 2008)

That monumental construction in the foreground of the picture above is the eighth tallest building in the world. It's 492m tall, contains 101 floors, and cost 1.2 billion dollars in total. That 164 foot wide gap in the top by the way not only looks nice but serves as an observation deck and a nifty way to stop the immense wind pressure at that high altitude. Yeah, you read that correctly, an observation deck 474m off of ground level. The design does look a bit like a bottle opener, but a fucking attractive one at that. In theory this is almost the ultimate skyscraper. It looks brilliant, it cost a tonne to build and finance, and it has just about every single purpose known to man. It even contains the world's highest hotel.You have to give it to the Chinese, when they want to make a statement they do a damn fine job of it.


#4 Willis Tower (Chicago, 1973)

Most famously known as the Sears Tower before 2009, this skyscraper upon completion broke just about every single record possible for a building. At 442m it held the record for the world's tallest building for 25 years, although if you count the antenna this building retained that claim until 2008. To this day the Willis Tower is still the fourteenth tallest building in the world, and as such is till one of the most famous landmarks worldwide. It's well designed too, and despite looking a bit blocky is actually very economical in terms of cost. This gargantuan construction totals 416,000 square meters of floor space, which only cost the developers 800 million dollars in today's money, which for a skyscraper of this size is a bargain. In fact this building is sort of genesis for the styling and engineering of supertall structures that are now cropping up everywhere with this now universally used technique of minimising costs.

The Willis Tower has become an iconic landmark of Chicago, mainly because of how awesome it looks in black. That wasn't always the case as during the first decade half of the space was left vacant inside this revolutionary building. Now however over 1 million people a year visit the observation deck which actually sways due to the high winds of Chicago, and contains glass boxes that give uninterrupted views on the pavement 412m below. From the top of the building you can see four US states in the distance, although whether you would want to is another matter considering the glass actually cracked on one occasion, which is the stuff of nightmares.

#3 Burj Khalifa (Dubai, 2009)

The rule book on skyscraper design was thrown out of the window after this jaw-dropping construction was completed in 2009. It's barely believable that this creation even exists after reading the stats about this surreal building, but it's such a positive symbol for what can be achieved in engineering that you have to praise everyone involved with this outstanding project. This isn't just the tallest building in the world, it's the tallest structure in the world by a good 200m, and the nearest building in terms of height isn't even designed to be functional to humans. This however is, and it's a staggering 828m tall, has a world record 163 floors, has an elevator that travels 504m, has the world's highest observation deck at 545m in which you can see the shores of Iran, and that's without getting into the records set by all the technical details.

Somehow despite all these records this building only contains half the amount of steel used to build the Empire State Building despite being twice the size. The clever engineering means that the Y shaped configuration saves raw materials and also allows a maximum amount of potential sunlight to be harvested by the windows, although the 120,000m squared of windows require 4500kg of water to wash, and takes four months to complete. The spiralling pattern too means that wind is not so much a factor, which is very important to consider when you're over 800m in height. The weight of the concrete alone is 110,000 tonnes, so to minimise wind resistance is key to this building's design. It's no surprise then that this cost 1.5 billion dollars to complete, but then you really do get what you pay for. The Burj Khalifa is a building that shifted the boundaries of what is possible with architecture; a symbol of what humanity can achieve if you get Koreans to do the building for you, working with rubbish pay and conditions.


#2 One World Trade Center (New York, 2013)

I'll give you one thing America, you certainly know how to pull off a skyscraper. What's even more intriguing about this building is that it was built next to the site of the 9/11 attacks, which is presumably why this was given the symbolic name of the Freedom Tower during construction. It's an impressive statement in the face of terrorism, and in my opinion far more attractive than the previous Twin Towers that this new construction exists in the very large shadow of. Those towers never had a beautiful glass reflection or striking appearance, and so in some way their destruction could be seen as a blessing in disguise. When you look at the statistics it becomes even more impressive when compared to the original. The building is 541.3m, or 1776 feet, and I bet you can't guess why the freedom centre is that exact height? Fair play to America though, that's one way to stick it to the British. Maybe the next British Skyscraper should encompass a quarter of the Earth, because that's a respectable achievement to brag about.

Jokes aside this is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. Although that title comes with controversy as many believe the spire is actually an antenna and therefore excluded from the total height. No, seriously this is a huge ongoing argument. Really is one of life's biggest issues. What isn't up for debate is that this building has a grand total of 104 floors despite actually only having 94, which makes no sense, but I doubt many Americans can count that high anyway so it doesn't really matter. Officially this is the world's most expensive skyscraper at an estimated cost of 3.9 billion dollars. But you know what? It looks like a 4 billion dollar building. In the same way that the Empire State Building once became the iconic landmark of New York, I feel this new building over time will become the same, putting not just New York, but America at the forefront of engineering greatness.


#1 2 International Finance Center (Hong Kong, 2003)

Oh yeah, in my opinion this is the greatest skyscraper in the world. For me it's the one that gets it just right. It's not to sleek, not to pretentious, just a huge and practical block of concrete that naturally accompanies the skyline without dominating it or just showing off, yet still leaving a large impression. Okay it's not built to break records, just operate like a normal building, but it fits into the surroundings perfectly and looks absolutely epic. As well as being an impressive structure and looking a bit like a dildo, the 2IFC doubles up as a multi-story underground mall as well as containing thousands of offices and public amenities. Currently the 2IFC is the eighth largest office building in the world, measuring 412m exactly, which is an impressive statistic, although the building is now probably most famous for being one which Batman jumped off in the Dark Knight. Probably wanted a better look at that gorgeous structure.