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Chicago and Sears tower is still standing tall but for how long? Projects in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Busan, of which some of them already under construction are challenging.
Fordham spire, Chicago Photo
courtesy to the Fordham Company
Check out the new projects, charts and the Sears tower facts here
But for how long? To be and to stay, nr 1 in the world of skyscrapers are not the easiest of tasks but there is always short cuts...
...adding a communication mast for example. Sears tower keept it's title over the World Trade Center by adding the 283 ft tall western antenna during major renovations in year 2000.
Ranking the tallest buildings in the world is a term of
definition, some use the structural height (including antenna) while
some stops measuring at the roof-top. The
Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat's
height definition says "The height of a building is measured from the
sidewalk level of the main entrance to the structural top of the
building. This includes spires, but does not include television
antennas, radio antennas, or flag poles"
However the council also list other forms of measurements:
To Structural Top: Height to structural top of the building.
To Highest Occupied Floor: Height to the floor of the highest occupied floor of the building.
To Top of Roof: Height to the top of the roof.
To Tip of Spire/Antenna: Height to the tip of spire, pinnacle, antenna, mast, or flag pole."
According to this the Sears tower could still claim the "tip of spire" title with it's 1729 ft:s (527 m) but still would would fall on structural, tallest to the roof, and highest occupied floor heights held by the Taipei 101 since 2004.
Taipei 101, Taiwan standing out in the sea of low-rise architecture,
Shin Kong Life Tower at 803 ft (245 m) scoring second place.
With it's 1470 ft (448 m) the Taipei beats the Sears 1454 ft (443 m) in roof top height but this has actually been the case since the Petronas tower were finished in 1998
Tower chart, including the WTC for comparising
Update: 16 th Mars 2007.
Petronas Tower located in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, consists of two towers connected with a skybridge. They towers at 1,483 ft (452 m) and beats the Sears in roof-top/structural height.
Photo courtesy to
MTPB
New Yorks Empire state building hold it's tallest of the world title from 1931 to 1972, all categories, and for the Sears tower, no matter how you count the fact is Sears tower still holds the "tip of the spire title" and for a 33 year old building that is truely spectacular!