Top 10 Tallest Buildings in the World
It’s not as easy as you might think to list the tallest buildings in the world. For example, some people say that the tallest building in the world is the CN Tower in Toronto, Canada–it’s height is 1,821 feet! It is a telecommunications tower and an entertainment complex visited by about 2 million tourists each year. The revolving restaurant on top turns 360 degrees every hour, and has a deck from where you can have a really top-of-the-world view of Toronto. But many people don’t consider the CN tower to be a building, since it does not contains occupied floors throughout its full height.
People disagree on whether things like telecom towers, flagpoles, antennas, and spires should be included when measuring a building’s height. They say that buildings are used for offices and apartments, but structures are not–they do not have residential or office space. Are observation towers buildings or structures? What do you think?
The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat has defined 4 categories for measuring tall buildings: Height to the structural or architectural , (2) Height to the highest occupied floor, (3) Height to the top of the roof (4) Height to the top of the antenna.
Top 10 Tallest Buildings
Tallest top 10 tallest buildings are listed below, with the year built, and the height in meters and feet. Note that this list is for buildings and does not include towers or other structures such as antennas. A building specifically is a structure designed for residential, business, or manufacturing use, and it has floors.
- Taipei 101, Taipei, Taiwan (2004, 509m, 1,670 ft.)
- Petronas Tower 1, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (1998, 452 m, 1,483 ft.)
- Petronas Tower 2, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (1998, 452m, 1,483 ft.)
- Sears Tower, Chicago, IL USA (1974, 442m, 1,450 ft.)
- Jin Mao Building, Shanghai, China (1999, 421m, 1,380 ft.)
- Two International Finance Centre, Hong Kong (2003, 415m, 1,362 ft.)
- CITIC Plaza, Guangzhou, China (1996, 391m, 1,283 ft.)
- Shun Hing Square, Shenzhen, China (1996, 384m, 1,260 ft.)
- Empire State Building, New York (1931, 381m, 1,250 ft.)
- Central Plaza, Hong Kong (1992, 374m, 1,227 ft.)
New York City’s World Trade Center, which was destroyed September 11, 2001, used to hold the record in the forth category at a height of 1,758 feet, including the antenna. But the tallest building in the world will be the new World Trade Center in New York City planned to be about 1,776 feet tall, including its enormous spire. Do you ever wonder how tall the tallest buildings can get?
