While we have been preoccupied with other global problems, the world has gone crazy building very tall buildings. This was dramatically brought to my attention when a couple in Florida, actually my son-in-law’s parents, sent me a Film Core listing of historically tall structures. It is fascinating! Because they are an avidly French couple, the source video was surely in the French language.
This video begins with the a cartoon-naked strongman demonstrating the tallness trend. He begins with the Philadelphia City Hall. When it was constructed in 1901, it was the tallest building in the world with 7 floors and soaring 548 feet into the sky. Now it’s a minor and not-very-tall building. The video goes on to document what has happened. Many of the world’s first really tall buildings were in New York City, including the destroyed World Trade Center buildings that are featured along with the Chrysler and the Empire State Buildings.
According to other sources, the 3 tallest buildings the world today are The Burj Khalifa, at 2,722 feet the world’s tallest structure and featured in the Film Core video, The Merdeka 118 that is 1,972 feet tall, and the Shanghai Tower that Ruth and I have seen and is 2,073 feet of soaring majesty. This tallest building assessment may no longer already be true.
The video sent to me by Stan’s parents includes The Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia that is currently on hold. With 167 floors and a height of 3,281 feet, this impressive high rise has been under construction for 7 years now and, when finished will become the tallest tower ever built that only Muslims will see. Its future remains uncertain.
Many of the world’s currently tallest buildings are in Asia. Its building boom began with the twin Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, continued with the Taipei 101 in Taiwan that will surely be at risk if China invades this island, and the Ping An International Finance Centre in Shenzhen, China, near Hong Kong, already a city of high rise buildings. Completed in 2017, Ping An is Shenzhen’s tallest building and the 4th tallest building in the world. It is 115 stories and 1,965 feet tall.
The Emirate called Dubai is something of a tall building champ. The Burj Khalifa is, of course, there; but there are also already 72 other structures over 656 feet tall in this Emirate including the world’s 2nd tallest hotel. This is the Emirates largest city and the construction boom continues with the Dubai Creek Tower and other construction projects. Unfortunately, this Tower’s construction has been halted since foundation preparations were completed in 2018. Destined to be the tallest building in the world if completed, its future is very much in doubt.
Hank
Security Conscious 