Top 10 Tallest Buildings in the World

A building whose height is 350 meters or more is considered to be a taller building. The building is also evaluated by its highest architectural feature for considering as the tallest building. There are 80 such buildings in the world whose height is equal to or above 350 meters and have the best architectural feature. The top 10 tallest man-made buildings in the world are described below.

Architects worldwide continually compete to design infrastructure marvels that will create records and mark their space as the tallest building in the world. Some of the buildings are just breathtakingly beautiful! From China to the US and the Middle East, several stunning structures are listed in the Top 10 tallest buildings in the world, and each of them is indeed a phenomenal tall skyscraper.

Today, we will discuss such striking skyscrapers that have a contemporary design and represent the evolution of technology and modernity. In this list of the tallest buildings in the world, the ranking includes only fully completed buildings. If we had included the topped-out ones, then the second tallest building in the world would be Merdeka 118 in Kuala Lumpur. However, this structure is still under construction and is expected to be completed soon; hence we haven't included this in our list of the top 10 tallest buildings in the world.

10. Burj Khalifa

It is the world's first tallest building. This building is in Dubai. Its architectural style is Neo-futurism. On January 4, 2010, the building was open, and its construction cost was the US $ 1.5 billion. Emaar Properties is the owner of the Burj Khalifa. The height of this building is 829.8 m, and its top floor is at the height of 585.4 m.

This building has 163 floors, and 1 floor is below the ground. Each floor area is 309,473 m², and the building has 57 lifts. The architect of this building was Adrian Smith, and the structural engineer was Bill Baker. Samsung C&T was the building's main contractor. The parking area is available at 2 subterranean levels in the building.

9. Merdeka 118

It is the world's second tallest building. This building is in Kuala Lumpur. Its architectural style is Neo-futurism. Its construction cost is $ 1.5 billion USD. PNB Merdeka Ventures SDN BHD is the owner of the Merdeka 118. The height of this building is 678.9 m.

This building has 118 floors, and 5 floors are below the ground. Each floor area is 292,000 m², and the building has 87 lifts. The architect for this building was Fender Katsalidis, while the Samsung C&T UEM group was the main contractor.

8. Shanghai Tower

Standing at the height of 2,073 ft, the Shanghai Tower located in China is the second tallest building in the world. The construction of this phenomenal skyscraper started in 1997, but it was put on hold several times due to funding issues.

The tower had the world's second-fastest elevators with a fantastic speed of 20.5 meters per second but was soon surpassed by the Guangzhou CTF Finance Center in 2017 with its speed of about 21 meters per second.

The second tallest building in the world – Shanghai Tower was designed by the international firm Gensler and is owned by the Shanghai Municipal Government and is one of the most magnificent buildings in the world.

The tower is located in the financial district of Pudong and has 128 floors and up to 270 wind turbines. Formed with nine cylindrical buildings, each of the nine buildings or zones features gorgeous gardens, cafes, and some retail spaces. All nine zones are encased in a glass façade and form one structure.

While Burj Khalifa has bagged the title of Tallest Building in the World, Shanghai Tower is the tallest building considering the height of usable floors.

7. Abraj Al Bait

With 120-storey and at 1,972 ft, the Abraj Al-Bait Clock Tower has earned the title of the third tallest building in the world after Shanghai Tower in China. The construction work of Abraj Al-Bait Clock Tower began in 2004 and took nearly six years to complete.

Designed by the Lebanese architecture firm – Dar Al-Handasah, this third tallest building in the world is also known for being the most expensive building in the world, considering its construction cost, which is a whopping $15 billion. Sprawling across a colossal area of 1,500,000 m2, the building is also the largest building on the planet in terms of its floor area.

Many people think of Big Ben as the largest clock; however, the clock on the London building is significantly smaller than the notable feature of the Abraj Al-Bait Clock Tower. It is the largest clock face in the world, with a dial on all four sides measuring 43 meters.

The world's third tallest building, Abraj Al-Bait, sits on an old Ottoman fortress destroyed land that overlooks some of the famous Islamic sites. The fortress destroyed to create new buildings was culturally significant to the Turkish people; thus, it created a minor diplomatic disturbance in 2002.

6. Ping An International Finance Centre

It is the world's fifth tallest building. This building is in Shenzhen. On March 28, 2017, the building was open, and its construction cost was $ 1.5 billion. The height of this building is 599.1 m, and its top floor is at the height of 555.1 m.

This building has 120 floors, and 5 floors are below the ground. Each floor area is 385,918 m², and the building has 80 lifts. The building's architect was Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, and China Construction First Building Group was the building's main contractor. The building's structural engineer was Thornton Tomasetti.