Top 10 Tallest Buildings in the World 

The Pyramids of Giza were the world’s tallest structures for over 4,000 years until the Lincoln Cathedral was built in London in 1300, when the competition for the world’s most towering edifice began.

Humans have been fascinated with creating gigantic structures from the beginning of time. However, many complicated and significant buildings are now possible thanks to engineering and technology, which blends the visual appeal of such designs with their structural integrity. Many complex and large formats are now possible because of advances in engineering and technology that combine the aesthetic appeal of such structures with their structural stability.

Take a look at the world’s top ten tallest structures.  

1. Burj Khalifa – 828 M (2,717 FT)]

Burj Khalifa is represented as a living miracle and an ascending city itself. Burj Khalifa, also known as Burj Dubai, is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, standing at 830 meters tall.

With an elevation of 828 meters, it is the world’s highest structure (2,716.5 feet). Burj Khalifa is not only the world’s tallest structure; it is also greater than anything humans have ever constructed from the ground up.

With 160 levels, the Burj Khalifa holds the record for the highest inhabited floor. In 2004, work on the structure began.

The structure was completed in 2010 and opened to the public as part of the Downtown Dubai development. Skidmore, Owings & Merill (SOM), an architectural, urban planning, and engineering company based in the United States, designed the structure.

Three hundred thirty thousand cubic meters of concrete, 39,000 metric tons of reinforced steel, and 103,000 square meters of glass were used to construct the Burj Khalifa. During the construction of the Burj Khalifa, it required 22 million person-hours at any one moment.

2. Shanghai Tower – 632 M (2,073 FT)

The Shanghai Tower is a massive skyscraper in Shanghai’s Lujiazui neighborhood. Shanghai Tower has a total development area of 576,000 square meters, including 380,000 square meters for the ground level.

It was built by a collaboration of Chinese state-owned firms and designed by Gensler (an American design and architectural firm). Pudong’s other two supertall buildings are the Jin Mao Tower and the Shanghai World Financial Center.  

It has a total of 128 floors. The elevators move at a speed of 20.5 meters per second. Offices, retail, and recreational activities are all housed within the tower.

The tower’s glass face twists 120 degrees as it rises, reducing wind loads by 24% and making it the world’s highest twisted skyscraper.

Daily, the tower can house up to 16,000 people.

3. Abraj Al-Bait Clock Tower – 601 M (1,971 FT)

In Saudi Arabia, the Abraj Al-Bait Clock Tower is the world’s third-highest structure. It was built for over $15 billion and is owned by the government. It’s one of seven towering hotels that encircle it.

The structure had a hotel, a retail mall, an observation tower for seeing the moon during Ramadan, an Islamic museum, and a meeting space.

The Saudi Bin Laden Group, the country’s largest construction firm, is responsible for the Abraj Al-Bait Clock Tower.

It’s the most visible sign of the ferocious structural explosion that has engulfed Saudi Arabia’s fortunate metropolis during the last decade. It is set up approximately 50 meters from Islam’s holiest location, the Kaaba, which the Masjid al-haram surrounds.

4. Ping An Finance Center – 599 M (1,965 FT)

Ping An International Finance Center (PIFC) is a skyscraper in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.

With 115 stories, it stands 1,965 feet tall. The structure has offices, a conference center, a high-end shopping mall, and a hotel and retail space. Ping An Insurance commissioned Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates to design the structure.

The building was finished in 2017 and is now open to the public. With a height of 562 meters, the structure also holds the record for the tallest observation deck in a system.

5. Lotte World Tower – 554.5 M (1,819 FT)

Lotte World Tower, a 123-story skyscraper in Sincheon-dong, Songpa District, Seoul, South Korea, is one of the world’s highest structures.

It is one of Korea’s royal engineering jewels. Lotte World Tower, which rises 555 meters into the air, includes everything needed for modern city living.

The building, which is the highest in South Korea and the fifth tallest globally, opened to the public on April 3, 2017. The building’s design took thirteen years to complete before construction began in 2011 and was finished in 2016.

The building’s roof is built to resist earthquakes of up to magnitude nine on the Richter scale, prevalent in South Korea. The skyscraper is located between the Han River and Lotte World Park.

6. One World Trade Center – 541.3 M (1,776 FT)

The Freedom Tower is commonly known as One World Trade Center. It is the primary structure of the reconstructed World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City.

 It remains the country’s tallest structure. The structure, which was finished in 2014, mostly holds office space.

The construction of the building cost around $4 billion. The facility employs about 8,000 people. David Childs, the founder of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), designed the Burj Khalifa and the Willis Tower did an excellent job on the structure.

The tower of One World Trade Center is 104 stories tall; however, it only contains 94 floors. 

7. Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre – 530 M (1,739 FT)

The Guangzhou Chow Tai Fook Finance Centre, popularly known as the East Tower, is one of the world’s highest structures, towering at 530 meters in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. In 2016, the building was completed. There are 111 levels above ground and five levels below the earth. A commercial mall, offices, residences, and a hotel are all located inside its walls.

The structure is designed to serve four functions: office to residential, residential to the hotel, hotel to the crown, and crown to the sky.

It has 1700 parking spaces, a hotel on the top 16 stories, and the world’s fastest elevators, which go 44 miles per hour. Chow Tai Fook Enterprises owns the building.

8. Tianjin CTF Finance Centre – 530 M (1,739 FT)

The Tianjin CTF Finance Center is 1,739 feet long in Tianjin, China. The project started in 2013 and will be completed in 2019. After Goldin Finance 117, Tianjin’s second-highest skyscraper is the world’s eighth tallest.

The structure is located in Tianjin’s Economic and Technological Development Area’s outer district. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, and Ronald Lu & Partners collaborated on the skyscraper’s design.

That is a polyline-shaped structure with a square base and tapering sides.

It’s also a city brand for Kaling, known for its cutting-edge development innovation and commercial importance. The center has taken on in-vogue and inventive designs from numerous use capacities as offices, hotels, administrative divisions, and retail malls, all expertly labeled inside the various floors. Tianjin believes that just having this building would boost the local economy.

9. China Zun – 528 M (1,732 FT)

CITIC Tower, commonly known as China Zun, is a supertall skyscraper in Beijing’s Central Business District. In 2018, it was completed.

The structure has 109 floors, which is 190 meters higher than the China World Trade Center Tower III. According to the developers, the skyscraper’s name is derived from the sun, an ancient Chinese wine jar that influenced the design.

On the top level, at 524 meters, it also has a rooftop garden. With a price tag of 3.8 billion dollars, it was astonishingly expensive. The structure comprises 60 levels of business space, 20 floors of luxury residences, and a hotel with 300 rooms on the top 20 stories.

10. Taipei 101 – 508 M (1,739 FT)

In Taipei, Taiwan, Taipei 101 is a supertall skyscraper. It was the world’s tallest tower until the Burj Khalifa in Dubai in 2009.  

The Taipei World Financial Center was its previous name in Taiwan. It was completed for 1.895 billion dollars and remained operational.

Since its opening, it has been a symbol of contemporary Taiwan. The tower’s height is 508 meters, including 448 meters for the roof and top floor.

C.Y. Lee & Partners of Taiwan designed it. The building’s overall floor area is 412,500 square meters (4,440,100 square feet), with a construction cost of around US$1.934 billion.

Taipei 101 is primarily influenced by Chinese culture, with blue-green glass curtain walls that are double-paned and glazed, providing heat and UV protection and blocking 50% of external heat.

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