List of tallest buildings
This list of tallest buildings includes skyscrapers with continuously occupiable floors and a height of at least . Non-building structures, such as towers, are not included in this list (see list of tallest buildings and structures).
Historically, the world's tallest man-made structure was the ancient tomb - the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, which held the position for over 3,800 years until the construction of Lincoln Cathedral in England in 1311. Until the completion of the Washington Monument in 1884 the world's tallest buildings were Christian churches and cathedrals in Europe. The early skyscraper was pioneered in Chicago with the Home Insurance Building in 1885, forming the basis for which the United States would hold the position of the world's tallest building throughout the 20th century until 1998, when the Petronas Towers were completed. Since then only two buildings have held the title: Taipei 101 in 2004 and Burj Khalifa in 2010.
Since the beginning of the 21st century, the US, the Middle East, China, and Southeast Asia have experienced booms in skyscraper construction.
Ranking criteria and alternatives
The international non-profit organization Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) was formed in 1969 and announces the title of "The World's Tallest Building" and sets the standards by which buildings are measured. It maintains a list of the 100 tallest completed buildings in the world. The organization currently ranks Burj Khalifa in Dubai as the tallest at . However, the CTBUH only recognizes buildings that are complete, and some buildings included within the lists in this article are not considered finished by the CTBUH.
In 1996, as a response to the dispute as to whether the Petronas Towers or the Sears Tower was taller, the council listed and ranked buildings in four categories:
height to structural or architectural top;
height to floor of highest occupied floor;
height to top of roof (removed as category in November 2009); and
height to top of any part of the building.
Spires are considered integral parts of the architectural design of buildings, changes to which would substantially change the appearance and design of the building, whereas antennas may be added or removed without such consequences. The Petronas Towers, with their spires, are thus ranked higher than the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) with its antennas, despite the Petronas Towers's lower roofs and lower highest point.
Until 1996, the world's tallest building was defined by the height to the top of the tallest architectural element, including spires but not antennae. This led to a rivalry between the Bank of Manhattan Building and the Chrysler Building. The Bank of Manhattan Building (i.e. 40 Wall Street) employed only a short spire and was tall and had a much higher top occupied floor (the second category in the 1996 criteria for tallest building). In contrast, the Chrysler Building employed a very large spire secretly assembled inside the building to claim the title of world's tallest building with a total height of , although it had a lower top occupied floor and a shorter height when both buildings' spires were excluded.
Upset by Chrysler's victory, Shreve & Lamb, the consulting architects of the Bank of Manhattan Building, wrote a newspaper article claiming that their building was actually the tallest, since it contained the world's highest usable floor, at . They pointed out that the observation deck in the Bank of Manhattan Building was nearly above the top floor in the Chrysler Building, whose surpassing spire was strictly ornamental and inaccessible.
At present, the Burj Khalifa tops the list by some margin, regardless of which criterion is applied.
Tallest buildings in the world
, this list includes all 75 buildings (completed and architecturally topped out) which reach a height of or more, as assessed by their highest architectural feature. Of these, 37 are in China. Six of the last seven buildings to have held the record as 'tallest building' are still found in the list, with the exception being the North Tower of the original World Trade Center at after its destruction in the September 11 attacks of 2001. If the twin towers had not been destroyed and One World Trade Center never built, the WTC towers would rank 34 and 35 on the list today.
Alternative measurements
Height to pinnacle (highest point)
This measurement disregards distinctions between architectural and non-architectural extensions, and simply measures to the highest point. This measurement is useful for air traffic obstacle determinations, and is also a wholly objective measure. However, this measurement includes extensions that are easily added, removed, and modified from a building and are independent of the overall structure.
This measurement only recently came into use, when the Petronas Towers passed the Sears Tower (now named Willis Tower) in height. The former was considered taller because its spires were considered architectural, while the latter's antennae were not. This led to the split of definitions, with the Sears Tower claiming the lead in this and the height-to-roof (now highest occupied floor) categories, and with the Petronas claiming the lead in the architectural height category.
If the World Trade Center towers were still standing today they would occupy numbers 12 (North Tower at ) and 37 on the list (or 11 and 36, for it can be assumed the rebuilt One World Trade Center would have never been built).
Height to occupied floor
This height is measured from the level of the lowest, significant, open-air, pedestrian entrance to the highest occupied floor within the building.
Buildings under construction
This is a list of buildings taller than that are currently under construction. On-hold buildings whose construction was interrupted after it had reached a significantly advanced state are also listed.
List by continent
The following list shows the tallest completed buildings located in each continent listed by greatest to least height (click on name of continent for continent-specific list):
Notes
References
Other websites
Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat
Emporis, international database and gallery of buildings
Structurae, international database and gallery of structures
BuildingHeights.org , alternative ranking of the world's 1000 tallest buildings