Dive Brief:
- 2016 is set to see some record-breaking skyscrapers completed around the world, Dezeen Magazine reported, including the world's tallest office tower, a building topped by a giant diamond and a tower designed to resemble a ship’s sails.
- The Ping An Finance Center in Shenzhen, China, at 1,965 feet, will be the tallest office building in the world when complete, knocking the One World Trade Center in New York out of the top spot, according to Dezeen. The building, which saw construction delays after it was discovered its concrete had been made with unprocessed sea sand, will also be the fourth tallest building in the world. The tower also made headlines last year when Russian-Ukrainian daredevil Vitaliy Raskalov and his friend Vadim Makhorov climbed to the top.
- The 1,959-foot Goldin Finance 117 in Tianjin, China, will feature a diamond-like topper, and the 1,820-foott Lotte World Tower in Seoul, South Korea, is set to become the tallest building on the Korean peninsula. The fourth-tallest building scheduled for completion in 2016 is the 1,738-foot CTF Finance Center in Guangzhou, China, followed by the 1,437-foot Wuhan Center Tower in Wuhan, China, designed to resemble a ship’s sails.
Dive Insight:
There appears to be a fight for the sky being waged by the world’s architects and developers. Rankings of "tallest" are fleeting, as it seems the current rankings are always in danger of a major shift due to a rapidly expanding pool of challengers.
The world's tallest building today is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, but if Iraq has its way, the Bride of the Gulf will dwarf it by nearly 1,000 feet, at 3,780-feet tall. The planned building in the Basra Province includes four conjoined towers with a glazed canopy on its south facade — a "veil" designed to provide shade to the other areas of the complex. The other towers will be 2,375-feet-tall, 1,588-feet-tall and 200-feet-tall.
The Bride falls into the category of "mega tall," over the 1,968-foot mark. Towers over 984 feet are considered "super tall."
On Dezeen's list, the sixth-tallest skyscraper to be completed in 2016 is the 1,399-foot Marina 101 in Dubai. In the United Arab Emirates, it will be second in height only to the Burj Khalifa and will house the first Hard Rock Hotel in the Middle East. Next is the Eton Place Dalian Tower 1 in Dalian, China. At 1,250 feet, it is Dalian’s 12th skyscraper over 656 feet in height.
Number eight is Moscow’s Vostok Tower. At 1,223 feet, it will be the tallest building in Europe, replacing the Mercury City tower, also in Moscow. Finally, the ninth-tallest skyscraper scheduled for completion in 2016 is the 1,213-foot Dalian International Trade Center in Dalian, China.
