1. The Burj Dubai

Skyscraper Pictures: Burj Dubai, United Arab Emirates




















The Burj Dubai is now the tallest building in the world, according to its developer, Emaar Properties.
Information
Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Developer: Emaar Properties
Architect: Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill
Year: December 2009 (projected)
Height: 818 meters / 2,684 feet (includes spire)
Stories: 162

2.Taipei 101, Taipei, Taiwan

Information
The title of "world's tallest building" seems to change hands as frequently as the Miss Universe crown. The 1,644-foot-tall Taipei 101, inaugurated this past New Year's Eve and home to the Taiwan stock market, currently holds this distinction. Taipei 101 also boasts the world's fastest elevator, which whisks passengers from zero to the 89th-floor observation deck in only 37 seconds, moving at a speed that exceeds 36 miles per hour.

Super-tall buildings must be engineered for the static vertical loads caused by gravity and the dynamic lateral loads caused by wind. CY Lee solved the latter by installing a gigantic metal ball, weighing 606 metric tons, on the 92nd floor. In the high winds of a typhoon, the ball acts as a damper, swaying back and forth and reducing the tower's overall movement up to 40%. Rather than hiding this engineering element, the architects celebrated it, painting it gold and leaving it open for visitors to see.

Although Dubai's Burj building threatens to steal the title of world's tallest in 2008, Taipei 101's elegant Asian aesthetic and impressive technical aspects ensure its place on the global innovation skyline.

3.Shanghai World Financial Center

Information
Location : People's Republic of China Shanghai, China
Constructed: 1997 – 2008
Opening : 2008
Use : Office, hotel, museum, observation, parking garage, retail
Height
Antenna/Spire: 494.4 m (1,622.0 ft) / 492.0 m (1,614.2 ft)
Roof: 487.4 m (1,599.1 ft)[2]
Top floor: 474.0 m (1,555.1 ft)
Technical details
Floor count: 101
Floor area: 381,600 m2 (4,107,500 sq ft)
Elevator count: 91
Cost: USD $ 1.20 billion
Companies
Architec:t Kohn Pedersen Fox
Structural Engineer: Leslie E. Robertson Associates RLLP
Contractor: China State Construction Engineering Corp. and Shanghai Construction (Group) General Co.
Developer: Mori Building Co

4.Petronas Twin Towers

Information
Preceded by: Willis Tower
Surpassed by: Taipei 101
Information
Location : Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Status: Complete
Constructed: 1992–1998
Use: Office
Height
Antenna/Spire : 451.9 m (1,482.6 ft)[1]
Roof: 378.6 m (1,242.1 ft)
Top floor: 375.0 m (1,230.3 ft)
Technical details
Floor count: 88
Floor area: 395,000 m2 (4,252,000 sq ft) (1 & 2)
Elevator count: 78 (1 & 2)
Companies
Architect: Argentina Cesar Pelli
Structural Engineer: Thornton Tomasetti
Contractor: Tower1:Japan Hazama Corporation
Tower2: South Korea Samsung Engineering & Construction and Kukdong Engineering & Construction
KLCC: United States B.L. Harbert International

5.Nanjing Greenland Financial Center

Information
Location : Nanjing, China
Status: Topped-Out
Estimated completion: 2009
Use: Mixed use
Height
Antenna/Spire: 450 m (1,500 ft)
Roof: 381 m (1,250 ft)
Top floor: 339 m (1,110 ft)
Technical details
Floor count: 89
Companies
Architect: Skidmore, Owings and Merrill
Structural Engineer: Skidmore, Owings and Merrill

6.Sears Tower, Chicago

Sears Tower stands tall, over 1,700 feet aloft, overlooking the west side of Chicago's downtown Loop. Clad in bronze-tinted glass and stainless aluminum, rising with determination yet elegance from the depths of its grand foundations to the tips of its massive spires, luring tourists in daze, housing a workforce of thousands, the Big Store represents an era in Chicago of optimism and opportunity that will not be forgotten.The building was first acquired in 1989 by Boston's AEW Capital Management for the sum of $800 million.

In late 1997, the landmark tower was sold for $804 million to Toronto-based TrizecHahn, a REIT (real estate investment trust) firm. Downtown property markets subsequently began to show signs of recovery, and Sears Tower was again becoming one of Chicago's most prestigious high-rise properties. In fact, to honor Sears Tower's principal structural engineer, an adjacent street was, following a ceremony in the building, dedicated "Fazlur R. Khan Way" on July 7, 1998 by the City of Chicago.As of 2009, Sears Tower remains the tallest skyscraper in the western hemisphere and the largest commercial-use office building (in rentable square footage) in the United States. It also maintains the title of the world's tallest steel-framed building.

7.Guangzhou West Tower

Information
Name: Guangzhou West Tower
Location: Guangzhou,China
Complex: Guangzhou Twin Towers
District: Tianhe
City: Guangzhou
State: Guangdong
Country: China
Technical Data
Height (architectural): 437.51 m
Floors (above ground): 103
Structure in General
Construction type: skyscraper
Current status: under construction [topped out]
Structural material: composite structure
Facade system: curtain wall
Architectural style: modernism
Usages: hotel,office