2. Top 10 Tallest Buildings in the
World
• Building name 1.
• Burj Khalifa
• Dubai, UAE
• 828
• 2717
• 160
• 2010
• Location
• Height (metres)
• Height (feet)
• Floors
• Year built
3. Taipei 101
• Building name
• Location
• Height (metres)
• Height (feet)
• Floors
• Year built
• 2.
• Taipei 101
• Taipei, Taiwan
• 509
• 1671
• 101
• 2004
4. Shanghai World Financial Center
• Building name
• Location
• Height (metres)
• Height (feet)
• Floors
• Year built
• 3.
• Shanghai World Financial Center
• Shanghai, China
• 492
• 1614
• 101
• 2008
5. International Commerce Centre
• Building name
• Location
• Height (metres)
• Height (feet)
• Floors
• Year built
• 4.
• International Commerce Centre
• Kowloon, Hong Kong
• 483
• 1584
• 118
• 2009
6. Petronas Towers
• Building name
• Location
• Height (metres)
• Height (feet)
• Floors
• Year built
• 5 Petronas Towers
• Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• 452
• 1483
• 88
• 1998
7. Nanjing Greenland Financial
Center
• Building name
• Location
• Height (metres)
• Height (feet)
• Floors
• Year built
• 6.
• Nanjing Greenland Financial Center
• Nanjing, China
• 450
• 1476
• 89
• 2009
8. Willis Tower
• Building name
• Location
• Height (metres)
• Height (feet)
• Floors
• Year built
• 7.
• Willis Tower
• Chicago, USA
• 442
• 1451
• 108
• 1973
9. Guangzhou West Tower
• Building name
• Location
• Height (metres)
• Height (feet)
• Floors
• Year built
• 8.
• Guangzhou West Tower
• Guangzhou, China
• 440
• 1444
• 103
• 2009
10. Trump International Hotel and
Tower
• Building name
• Location
• Height (metres)
• Height (feet)
• Floors
• Year built
• 9.
• Trump International Hotel and Tower
• Chicago, USA
• 423
• 1389
• 96
• 2009
11. Jin Mao Tower
• Building name
• Location
• Height (metres)
• Height (feet)
• Floors
• Year built
• 10.
• Jin Mao Tower
• Shanghai, China
• 421
• 1380
• 88
• 1998
12. 10 Blockbuster Buildings From
Around the World
• HARPA CONCERT HALL
AND CONFERENCE
CENTER
• ReykjavÍk, Iceland
13. GARDENS BY THE BAY
Singapore
Wilkinson Eyre Architects, Grant Associates, 2012
• Side-by-side parabolic
conservatories of glass and
steel anchor this cutting-edge
botanical garden in
Singapore’s booming Marina
Bay district. Named the 2012
building of the year by the
World Architecture Festival,
the Wilkinson Eyre–designed
structures replicate distinct
climates—one dry, the other
humid—allowing for diverse
attractions like a flower
meadow and a misty
mountain forest.
14. LINKED HYBRID
Beijing
Steven Holl Architects, 2009
• Composed of eight connected
towers, this mixed-use
complex represents a
compelling vision for 21st-century
urban development.
To combat the isolation often
associated with luxury
residential buildings and
gated communities, the
architects placed wide, open
passages at ground level,
ushering pedestrians into a
series of public spaces that
include gardens, shops,
restaurants, and schools.
15. THE SHARD
London
Renzo Piano Building Workshop, 2012
• Familiar to watchers of last
summer’s Olympic Games, this 72-
story skyscraper—the tallest in
Western Europe—has transformed
the British capital’s skyline, rising
arrestingly on the southern banks of
the Thames. Inspired by church
steeples, the structure comprises
eight angled glass façades that
variously reflect the surrounding city
and sky and offer crystal-clear
glimpses inside. Intended by Piano
to act as a vertical village, the
multifunctional building includes
offices, apartments, restaurants, and
a hotel—all crowned by a recently
opened observation platform, which
affords stunning views up to 40
miles in every direction.
16. PEROT MUSEUM OF NATURE AND SCIENCE
Dallas
Morphosis Architects, 2012
• Architect Thom Mayne, the
Pritzker Prize–winning founder
of Morphosis, is famous for
breaking the mold, and his
latest building is no exception.
Sheathed in panels of textured
concrete, it consists of a five-story
cube, fractured at one
corner and set atop a sweeping
plinth planted with Texas
grasses. Slashed across the
cube’s exterior is a dramatic
glass-enclosed escalator, which
whisks visitors to the top-floor
entrance to the exhibits.
17. PARRISH ART MUSEUM
Water Mill, New York
Herzog & de Meuron, 2012
• Topped by a double-gable
roof of white corrugated
metal, the Parrish’s
strikingly horizontal new
home melds brilliantly with
its setting, nodding in form
to both the traditional
barns and the cottage like
artist studios that have
long been associated with
Long Island’s East End.
Another exterior view of the 615-
feet-long museum.
18. GUANGZHOU OPERA HOUSE
Guangzhou, China
Zaha Hadid Architects, 2010
• China’s building boom has
produced some audacious
projects, and few are as
eye-popping as Hadid’s
performance center for the
southern industrial city of
Guangzhou. The venue
consists of two dynamic
fluid-form structures, the
larger housing an
undulating, gilded 1,800-
seat hall and the smaller
home to a more intimate
400-seat space.
19. METROPOL PARASOL
Seville, Spain
J. Mayer H. Architects, 2011
• When excavation for a
parking garage
unearthed Roman
artifacts in Seville’s Plaza
de la Encarnación, city
officials opted to
commission this
welcoming landmark
instead.
20. • METROPOL PARASOL
• Some 90 feet high and nearly 500 feet long, the billowing timber
pavilion is part pergola, part urban parlor. Viewing platforms are
perched atop the organic forms, which also shelter restaurants and an
archaeological museum.
21. ABSOLUTE WORLD
Mississauga, Ontario
MAD Architects, 2012
• These residential high-rises
strike a voluptuous
profile in Toronto’s
largest suburb. With
continuous balconies
and elliptical floor plans,
the 50- and 56-story
skyscrapers appear to
shimmy and twist, each
around its own axis.
23. • The State Hermitage
Museum, St. Petersburg,
Russia. Founded by
Catherine the Great in
1794
24. • The Nelson-Atkins
Museum of Art, Kansas
City, MO. Original
limestone building from
the 1930s, modern
extension designed by
Steven Holl. Photos by
Roland Halbe via The
New York Times.
25. • The Hanoi Museum,
Vietnam. Designed by
GMP Architects.