Top 7 Tallest Buildings On Every Continent
Top 7 Tallest Buildings On Every Continent

The world is full of architectural wonders, and the skylines of our cities provide iconic views of their distinctive structures, including skyscrapers. The world's tallest structures in the past were churches and pyramids, but in the present, architects have been competing to create skyscrapers that are higher than the ones that came before them. However, what is the relative height of the world's tallest buildings?

Because innovation and technology are developing so quickly, nations all over the world are engaged in an ego-driven competition to build the tallest skyscrapers. In addition to boosting tourism income, the tallest building serves as a status symbol for glory and governmental might. Countries rarely retain this title for long because skyscrapers are constantly being built all over the world.

Take a look at these top 7 tallest buildings on every continent:

What are the top 7 tallest buildings on every continent?

7. Antarctica - Long Duration Balloon (LDB) Payload Preparation Buildings

Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons

Antarctica isn't home to skyscrapers or enormous, opulent apartment complexes, but it does have the Long Duration Balloon Payload Preparation Buildings, which are the highest structures there at 49 feet (15 meters).

Antarctica's tallest structures are the Long Duration Balloon (LDB) Payload Preparation Buildings. These are two 49-foot-tall identical buildings. They are situated in Antarctica's McMurdo Station City, a research facility on the southernmost point of Ross Island. The buildings, which were finished in 2005, are a part of a National Science Foundation (NSF)-run research center in the United States. The movable LDB Payload Preparation Buildings are constructed on skis positioned atop a berm. These are the biggest movable structures in Antarctica as a result. Because they are movable, they are not covered in snow during the winter, which would require them to be dug out before they could be used again. There are no lifts in the buildings.

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6. Africa - Carlton Centre

 Structurae
Structurae

In the heart of Johannesburg, South Africa, stands the 50-story skyscraper and shopping center known as The Carlton Centre. It is the tallest office building and the second-tallest building in Africa, after The Leonardo, at 223 meters (732 feet). The two buildings in the complex have 5 m (16 ft) in diameter foundations that reach 15 m (49 ft) below street level, or 35 m (115 ft), to the bedrock. The building has more than 46% of its floor area below ground level and houses both shops and offices.

A subterranean retail center featuring more than 180 stores connects the Carlton Centre to the Carlton Hotel.

The transportation parastatal Transnet bought the building in 1999 from Anglo American Properties (Amprop), and it now serves as their head office. Maria Ramos, the then-chief executive of Transnet Group, announced the company's plan to put the building up for sale in June 2007. The Carlton Centre has been Transnet's headquarters since 2000. Prior to the city's urban decline, it housed AECI's headquarters in the 1980s and 1990s, when the parastatal bought it from Anglo American Properties for R33 million. As part of its restructuring plan, Transnet is selling off non-core assets, and this property sale is one of those initiatives. Owing to the 2008–2009 economic crisis, the parastatal declared it would not look for a buyer until the markets stabilized.

It is estimated that the building will cost R1.5 billion to replace, but Transnet has not disclosed the exact amount.

The center was nearly empty at one point, but now 93% of the office space is occupied, and 65% of the space is used for retail. The South African Revenue Service moved from Rissik Street to its 5,000 square meter location in the center, and Pick n Pay intends to occupy 3,000 square meters there as well. Although there have been suggestions to reopen the Carlton Hotel at some point, no formal announcements have been made in this regard.

Known as the "Top of Africa" informally, the Carlton Panorama, located on the 50th and highest floor of the Carlton Center, was once named. When the Carlton Centre first opened, the 30-story, five-star Carlton Hotel occupied the majority of the building's floor area, making it the tallest structure in the Southern Hemisphere. Through the years, the hotel hosted a number of well-known visitors and was well-liked by the wealthy and famous. The hotel's operations were terminated in 1998, following nearly 25 years of operation, due to the impact of urban decay in the inner city during the 1990s.

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5. South America - Gran Torre Santiago

 Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons

The Costanera Center Torre 2, formerly known as Torre Gran Costanera and now known as Gran Torre Santiago (Great Santiago Tower), is a 62-story tall skyscraper in Santiago, Chile, and the second-tallest building in Latin America (after T.Op Torre 1 in Mexico). In terms of highest architectural feature, it ranks fourth in the Southern Hemisphere behind Australia's Q1 Tower, New Zealand's Sky Tower, and Australia 108, and third in terms of highest occupied floor, following Australia's Australia 108 and Eureka Tower. It was created by Canadian firm Watt International, Chilean architects Alemparte Barreda & Asociados, and Argentine architect César Pelli.

Gran Torre Santiago is a component of the Costanera Center complex, which also has two hotels, two more office towers, and the biggest mall in Latin America. With a floor pitch of 4.1 meters (13 feet) and an area of 107.125 square meters, Gran Torre Santiago is 300 meters (980 feet) tall, 64 stories high, and includes six basement floors.

Built on 47,000 square meters of land, the tower offers approximately 700,000 square meters of building space. An estimated 240,000 people would travel to and from the location every day, according to planners. The tower was created by Chilean architects Alemparte Barreda & Asociados, Canadian firm Watt International, and Argentine architect Cesar Pelli of Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects. René Lagos y Asociados Ing. Civiles Ltda, a Chilean company, does structural engineering. Salfa Corp. was in charge of building it.

The building was supposed to be finished in 2010, but due to the 2008–2009 global financial crisis, construction was halted in January 2009. The building's construction started in June 2006. On December 17, 2009, the project's construction got underway again.

At 205 meters above sea level, it surpassed the nearby Titanium La Portada to take the title of Chile's tallest structure at the beginning of November 2010. At 226 meters tall, the tower surpassed the Twin Towers in Caracas to become the highest structure in South America, according to a February 2011 La Segunda daily report. A February 2012 La Tercera newspaper report stated that the tower had accomplished this feat on April 12, 2011.

The tower's structural work was finished in July 2011, and on February 14, 2012, it reached its maximum height of 300 meters, making it the highest structure in Latin America. The tower was finished in 2013.

4. Oceania - Q1

 Wikipedia
Wikipedia

Queensland Number One, or Q1 Tower for short, is a 322.5-meter (1,058-foot) supertall skyscraper located in Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia. From 2005 until 2011, the tallest residential building in the world was a residential tower located on the Gold Coast. It is currently the tallest building in Australia, the second tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere, and the third tallest free-standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere, behind the Sky Tower in Auckland, New Zealand, and the Autograph Tower in Jakarta, Indonesia, as of 2021. It is currently the eleventh tallest residential tower in the world. November 2005 marked the official opening of the Q1.

During the 150th anniversary celebrations of the state of Queensland, the iconic building was acknowledged as one of its symbols.

When measured to the top of its structural point (spire), Q1 stands at 322.5 meters (1,058 feet) and has a roof height of 245 meters (804 feet), making it the eleventh-tallest all-residential building in the world. However, when measured to its roof height and highest inhabitable floor, it falls short of other buildings, such as Melbourne's Australia 108, which has a roof height of 316.7 meters (1,039 feet), and the Eureka Tower, which has a roof height of 297.3 meters (975 feet). However, the primary criterion used to rank buildings in the U.S.-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat's ranking system is the height of the spire's peak, making Q1 the taller building.

Upon completion, the Q1 surpassed the 21st Century Tower located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to hold the title of tallest residential tower globally. When measured to its structural point, it is among the top 50 tallest buildings in the world as of December 2011, dwarfing the Gold Coast skyline. The two closest buildings to Q1's height are the 243-meter (797-foot) Soul building and the 220-meter (720-foot) North Tower of Circle on Cavill.

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3. Europe - Lakhta Center

 | AGC Yourglass
| AGC Yourglass

The 87-story Lakhta Center skyscraper was constructed in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on the edge of the Lakhta neighborhood. The Lakhta Center, at 462 meters high, is the world's northernmost skyscraper and the highest highrise in Europe. The Lakhta Center was completed on January 29, 2018, having begun construction on October 30, 2012. The center is intended to house offices and public spaces in a large-scale mixed-use development. Lakhta Center received LEED Platinum certification on December 24, 2018, based on ecological efficiency standards. Guinness World Records recognized the concrete pouring of the bottom slab of the Lakhta Center's foundation as the largest continuous concrete pour, utilizing 19,624 m³ of concrete. The curtain wall of the tower has the largest cold-bent facade by area in the whole globe.

The foundation of the Lakhta skyscraper was constructed in a record-breaking 49 hours during which 19,624 cubic meters of concrete were poured nonstop. 9.2 thousand tons of iron were used in the reinforced concrete foundation's construction. Only the metals utilized in this portion of the project would be needed to erect a Parisian replica of the Eiffel Tower.

20,000 workers from 18 different nations put in 65 million man hours on the project; there were no fatalities. The last piece of rough construction at Lakhta Center, the tower spire, was installed without the use of helicopters by means of the tallest crane in Europe.

The tower, which rises to 87 stories, has an observation deck in addition to its office levels. At an altitude of approximately 370 meters, the observation deck provides an amazing vista that was previously only visible through airplane windows.

Thanks to its cutting edge technology, Lakhta Center is also listed among the most significant architectural projects in the world. There are thirty-four high-speed elevators in the skyscraper, with a top speed of eight meters per second. Even at peak hours, elevator wait times in the skyscraper are kept under 30 seconds thanks to these elevators and the vertical transportation concept used in the project.

An estimated 5,000 people are housed in the skyscraper section, with an average of 100 to 140 people per floor. The "suspended floor" approach, the next-generation fire system, and the clever façade design all contribute to improved energy efficiency and overall safety while providing excellent sound insulation.

2. North America - One World Trade Center

 GetYourGuide
GetYourGuide

The centerpiece of the renovated World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City, is One World Trade Center. Standing at the top of the Western Hemisphere, the United States, and ranking sixth globally, One WTC is the tallest skyscraper. The North Tower of the original World Trade Center, which was destroyed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, shared the same name as the incredibly tall building. On the location of the original 6 World Trade Center, the new skyscraper is situated in the northwest corner of the 16-acre (6.5 ha) World Trade Center complex. Washington Street is to the east, Fulton Street is to the south, Vesey Street is to the north, and West Street is to the west of the building.

David Childs is the building's architect; his company, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), is also responsible for the Willis Tower and the Burj Khalifa's design. On April 27, 2006, work on the new building's foundation, footings, and underground utility relocations got underway. On April 30, 2012, One World Trade Center overtook the Empire State Building to become the highest building in New York City. On August 30, 2012, the steel structure of the tower was completed. The last part of the skyscraper's spire was installed on May 10, 2013, bringing the building's total height—including the spire—to 1,776 feet (541 meters). Its elevation in feet alludes purposefully to the year that the US Declaration of Independence was ratified. The One World Observatory opened on May 29, 2015, while the building opened on November 3, 2014.

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum is situated immediately south of One World Trade Center, the site of the original Twin Towers, and will eventually be part of the new World Trade Center complex, which will also include five high-rise office buildings constructed along Greenwich Street. The new building's construction is a component of the endeavor to rebuild and pay tribute to the World Trade Center complex after it was destroyed.

What is the Tallest Building in USA: Facts about One World Trade Center What is the Tallest Building in USA: Facts about One World Trade Center

1. Asia - Burj Khalifa

Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons

All three of the primary standards used to evaluate such structures point to the Burj Khalifa, also known as Khalīfah, a mixed-use skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, as the tallest structure in the world (refer to Researcher's Note: Heights of Buildings). Originally dubbed Burj Dubai while under construction, Burj Khalifa (also known as "Khalifa Tower") was formally named in honor of Sheikh Khalifa ibn Zayed Al Nahyan, the ruler of the neighboring emirate of Abu Dhabi. The interior of the tower was not finished when it was officially opened on January 4, 2010. Constructed to accommodate an assortment of business, residential, and hospitality endeavors, the tower—whose precise height remained a closely guarded secret during its building—was completed at 162 stories and 2,717 feet (828 meters) in the air. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, a Chicago-based architectural firm, created the design. The structural engineer was William F. Baker, and the architect was Adrian Smith.

When the Burj Khalifa opened in January 2010, it easily overtook Taipei 101 (Taipei Financial Center), a building located in Taipei, Taiwan, which stood at 1,667 feet (508 meters) as the highest structure in the world. The world's tallest freestanding building, the highest occupied floor, and the highest outdoor observation deck were all broken by the Burj Khalifa at the same time.

Read more: Fun Facts About Burj Khalifa - Tallest Building In The World

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