A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least 100 meters (330 ft) or 150 meters (490 ft) in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise buildings. Historically, the term first referred to buildings with between 10 and 20 stories when these types of buildings began to be constructed in the 1880s. Skyscrapers may host offices, hotels, residential spaces, and retail spaces.
The Petronas Towers, also known as the Petronas Twin Towers and colloquially the KLCC Twin Towers, are an interlinked pair of 88-story supertall skyscrapers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, standing at 451.9 metres. From 1998 to 2004, they were officially designated as the tallest buildings in the world until they were surpassed by the completion of Taipei 101. The Petronas Towers are the world's tallest twin skyscrapers and remained the tallest buildings in Malaysia until 2019, when they were surpassed by The Exchange 106. The Petronas Towers are a major landmark of Kuala Lumpur, along with the nearby Kuala Lumpur Tower and Merdeka 118, and are visible in many places across the city.
Taipei 101, formerly known as the Taipei World Financial Center, is a skyscraper in Taipei, Taiwan. It is owned by Taipei Financial Center Corporation. The building was officially classified as the world's tallest from its opening on 31 December 2004. However, the Burj Khalifa surpassed Taipei 101 in 2010. Upon completion, it became the world's first skyscraper to exceed a height of half a kilometer. As of 2023, Taipei 101 is the tallest building in Taiwan and the eleventh tallest building in the world.
Alain Robert is a French rock climber and urban climber. Nicknamed "the French Spider-Man" or "the Human Spider", Robert carries out free solo climbs of skyscrapers using no climbing equipment except for a small bag of chalk and a pair of climbing shoes.
The Jin Mao Tower, also known as the Jinmao Building or Jinmao Tower, is a 420.5-meter-tall (1,380 ft), 88-story landmark skyscraper in Lujiazui, Pudong, Shanghai, China. It contains a shopping mall, offices and the Grand Hyatt Shanghai hotel which starts from the 53rd floor, which at the time of completion was the highest hotel in the world. Along with the Oriental Pearl Tower, the Shanghai World Financial Center and the Shanghai Tower it is part of the Lujiazui skyline seen from the Bund. It was the tallest building in China from its completion in 1999 until 2007, when it was surpassed by the Shanghai World Financial Center which is located close by. The Shanghai Tower, a 128-story building located next to these two buildings, surpassed the height of both these buildings in 2015, creating the world's first trio of adjacent supertall skyscrapers.
The Burj Khalifa is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is the world's tallest structure. With a total height of 829.8 m and a roof height of 828 m (2,717 ft), the Burj Khalifa has been the tallest structure and building in the world since its topping out in 2009, surpassing Taipei 101, the previous holder of that status.
A mechanical floor, mechanical penthouse, mechanical layer or mechanical level is a story of a high-rise building that is dedicated to mechanical and electronics equipment. "Mechanical" is the most commonly used term, but words such as utility, technical, service, and plant are also used. They are present in all tall buildings, including the world's tallest skyscrapers, with significant structural, mechanical and aesthetics concerns.
The Philippine Bank of Communications Tower, more commonly known as PBCom Tower, is an office skyscraper ranked officially as the second tallest building in the Philippines. It was previously the tallest building in the Philippines, a title it held starting year 2000 until the completion of Federal Land Tower in early 2017. It has a total ground to architectural top height of 259 metres (850 ft), with 52 storeys including an 8-level radio tower. It is a joint development of Filinvest Asia Corporation (FAC) and the Philippine Bank of Communications (PBCom). The building is the home of PBCom, one of the oldest Philippine banks. The bank occupies the building's first ten floors, with a food court on the seventh floor.
The Emirates Towers is a building complex in Dubai that contains the Emirates Office Tower and Jumeirah Emirates Towers Hotel, which are connected by a 9,000 m2 (96,875 sq ft) two-story retail complex known as "The Boulevard". The building is owned by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The two towers, which rise to 354.6 m (1,163 ft) tall to the tip and 241.4 m (792 ft) high of occupied space, respectively, stand as the 51st tallest buildings in the world and 11th tallest in Dubai. The Emirates Towers complex is located on the Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and is a symbol of the city of Dubai. The Emirates Office Tower was constructed by the construction wing of Al Ghurair Investment group and the Emirates Hotel Tower was built by Ssangyong and BESIX subsidiary Six Construct. The hotel has 400 rooms. A curiosity of the design is that the towers have a similar number of floors; the taller office tower actually contains 56 floors above ground, while the hotel tower contains 54 floors. This is because the individual floor heights of the office tower are greater than that of the hotel. The building also contains 17 elevators inside.
The Mile-High Illinois, or simply The Illinois, is an unbuilt conceptual design by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright for a one mile-high skyscraper to be built in Chicago, Illinois. Wright described the project in his 1957 book, A Testament. The design included 528 stories, later revised to 365 stories, with a gross area of 18,460,000 square feet (1,715,000 m2). Wright stated that there would be parking for 15,000 cars and 100 helicopters.
The Federation Tower is a complex of two skyscrapers built on the 13th lot of the Moscow International Business Center in Moscow, Russia. The two skyscrapers are named Tower East or Vostok and Tower West or Zapad.
Chu-yuanLee is a Taiwanese architect born in Guangdong, Republic of China. He received his bachelor's degree from National Cheng Kung University (Tainan) and his master's from Princeton University in the US. He directed the design of Taipei 101, the world's tallest skyscraper at the time of completion, in 2004.
The design and construction of skyscrapers involves creating safe, habitable spaces in very high buildings. The buildings must support their weight, resist wind and earthquakes, and protect occupants from fire. Yet they must also be conveniently accessible, even on the upper floors, and provide utilities and a comfortable climate for the occupants. The problems posed in skyscraper design are considered among the most complex encountered given the balances required between economics, engineering, and construction management.
Shin Kong Life Tower, at 51 stories and a height of 245 meters (803.8 ft), is one of Taiwan's earliest skyscrapers. The rose-colored tower topped by a pyramid stands in Zhongzheng District, Taipei, and dates from 1993. Its first twelve floors and two underground floors house a Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store; the remaining floors provide office space and serve as headquarters for the Shin Kong Life insurance company. The building stands across Zhongxiao Road from Taipei Main Station near the Asiaworld Department Store.
Shanghai Tower is a 128-story, 632-meter-tall (2,073 ft) megatall skyscraper located in Lujiazui, Pudong, Shanghai. It is the tallest building in China and the world's third-tallest building by height to architectural top. It is the tallest and largest LEED Platinum certified building in the world since 2015. It had the world's fastest elevators at a top speed of 20.5 meters per second until 2017, when it was surpassed by the Guangzhou CTF Finance Center, with its top speed of 21 meters per second. Designed by the international design firm Gensler and owned by the Shanghai Municipal Government, it is the tallest of the world's first triple-adjacent supertall buildings in Pudong, the other two being the Jin Mao Tower and the Shanghai World Financial Center. Its tiered construction, designed for high energy efficiency, provides nine separate zones divided between office, retail and leisure use. The US-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat cites it as "one of the most sustainably advanced tall buildings in the world."
The tallest building in the world, as of 2024, is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The title of "world's tallest building" has been held by various buildings in modern times, including the Lincoln Cathedral in Lincoln, England, and the Empire State Building and the original World Trade Center, both in New York City.
The Evolution Tower is a skyscraper located on plots 2 and 3 of the MIBC in Moscow, Russia. The 55-story office building has a height of 246 metres (807 ft) and a total area of 169,000 square metres (1,820,000 sq ft). Noted in Moscow for its futuristic DNA-like shape, the building was designed by British architect Tony Kettle in collaboration with University of Edinburgh's Professor of Art Karen Forbes. Construction of the tower began in 2011 and was completed in late 2014. In 2016, Transneft bought the Evolution Tower for US$1 billion to establish its headquarters. The skyscraper is the twelfth-tallest building in Russia, and the 20th-tallest building in Europe.
