Tallest Building in the World

As we trace our history back in time, monuments of height have served as universal symbols to mark the places we claim. From Stonehenge to Burj Khalifa, structures have been erected in order to demand recognition of taken territory. Humans have become trained to associate height and mass with prestige, intelligence and wealth.

In Paris, the Exposition Universelle of 1889 was to celebrate the 100^th Anniversary of the French Revolution. The Central Dome, The Gallery of Machines and the Eiffel Tower were all designed to show the world France’s dominance as a colonial and technological super power.

Architecture has been used as a way for people to compete in engineering, wealth and tourism, as exemplified in Chartres Cathedral in France, St. Peter’s Basilica, the Empire State Building and the CN Tower in Toronto. Most recently, we can observe mankind’s latest architectural triumph in India with the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. This structure stands at 2,720 feet from ground level as the world’s tallest building, surpassing the previous record of Taiwan’s 1,667 foot Taipei 101. Burj Khalifa has 56 of the fastest elevators in the world (traveling at 40 miles per hour), a 37-floor hotel and 700 apartments and commercial offices.

As technology progresses these engineering feats are barely holding their titles for more than a few years. Moscow has proposed the Crystal Island, which is intended to be the tallest tower in the world with seven times the floor area of the 80,000 square foot Burj Khalifa.

The Burj Khalifa is estimated at a total cost of $1.5 billion. With this said, the average skilled carpenter was making US$7.60 a day, that in turn lead to a worker's riot in 2006, ending with a compromise of a 20% increase (Architectura, Elements of Architectural Style, 2008). Additionally, due to the completion in this economic crisis, the building is projected to continue to have an extremely high vacancy.

Looking at other projects, it is estimated that somewhere between two and three million Chinese died in the construction of the Great Wall of China and King Louis 14^th of France nearly bankrupted the royal treasury in the building of Versailles. These examples show that at any and all sacrifices, humanity cannot restrain itself from the competition that architecture has made possible.