Burj Khalifa

Skyscraper-mania in Asia and the Eternal Competition for the World’s Tallest Building

Aug 2011

By Sarah Edwards — Filed under: Articles ,Skyscrapers , Asia, Burj Khalifa, China, Dubai, Hong Kong, Kingdom Tower, Saudi Arabia

Photo by Flickr user: nelson ebelt - http://www.flickr.com/photos/nelsonebelt/

Recent years have seen an influx of skyscrapers completed, nearing construction, or proposed in Asia. Stimulated by an exponentially growing population and, therefore, thriving economy, Asia has contributed more soaring buildings to the world’s Supertall list than any other continents combined. With the completion of the world’s tallest building at 828 meters tall, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, comes the proposition of progressively more structures which aim to surpass the prior and ascend to the number one status.

More on skyscraper-mania in Asia after the break.

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Burj Khalifa (formerly Burj Dubai) opens: the tallest building in the world

Jan 2010

By David Basulto — Filed under: Architecture News ,Featured ,Skyscrapers , Burj Dubai, Burj Khalifa, Dubai, SOM

With its final height kept as a secret until the last minute, we witnessed the incredible opening of the tallest building in the world.

The Burj Dubai, an engineering masterpiece designed by Skidmore Owings & Merrill (SOM), was finally renamed Burj Khalifa in honor to Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the ruling sheik of Abu Dhabi who helped Dubai during the financial crisis with over US $25 billion.

The 828m tall structure established quite a distance from the Taipei 101, which used to hold the title for the tallest building in the world with 509m, that’s almost an extra 320m… almost like putting another skyscraper on top of the Taipei 101. This will secure its title for at least a few years.

For more on how the tallest building in the world is structured, you can read this interview with Bill Baker, engineer at SOM.

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