In 1931 the Empire State Building finished construction towering over the
streets of Manhattan and not only stood as the tallest building on the island
but in all the world a feat of engineering and willpower it maintained
its crown for another four decades until it was finally overtaken by the one
World Trade Center in 1972 since then four new buildings have taken up the
mantle with the Burj Khalifa in Dubai holding the current title since 2010 who
is nearly a decade in the spotlight many have started questioning the point of
ever increasing towers for God's sake look at the Burj Khalifa it's more than
twice the height of any other building in the city
is there really a point to building these mega structures and is it really
worth the enormous costs for thousands of years following its construction the
Great Pyramid of Giza stood as the world's tallest man-made
object from 2500 BC until it was finally overtaken in the 13th century by st.
Paul's Cathedral in London for the next seven hundred years the tallest building
remained various churches and cathedrals spread throughout Western Europe mostly
in France England and Germany each just a few percent taller than the last
literally between the nine buildings that overtook the mantle as the world's
tallest in those 700 years the total height only moved up 41 feet averaging
four and a half feet per new building and not even an inch per year this all
changed in the early 1900's as a wave of technological advancements such as new
milling techniques that allowed for stronger steel reinforcements the newly
patented sprinkler head which allowed buildings to escape the strict 23 meter
height limit meant to control the risks of fire and probably most importantly
the invention of the electric elevator allowed for an explosive growth in early
skyscrapers for the first few decades of the 1900s the mantra of the world's
tallest building passed around six towers in New York City before being
topped off by the Empire State Building the rapid rise of these skyscrapers in
New York City made a lot of sense the city was densely populated and Manhattan
was an island so there wasn't much room to
go outwards and so the population growth was pushed upwards the race upward was
almost comical as New York's economy boomed like never before
builders were in a mad dash to wreck the world's tallest skyscraper the main
competition was between the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building and
both towers were constantly trying to best each other by adding more force to
their design upon learning that the Empire State Building will be a thousand
feet tall Chrysler changes plans a final time and
fixed a stainless steel spire to the top of his skyscraper that new addition so
the building soared to a record 1048 feet but unfortunately for Chrysler the
developers of the Empire State Building returned with an even taller design when
completed in 1931 it towered 1250 feet above the streets of midtown Manhattan
and it would remain the world's tallest building for nearly 40 years until the
completion of the One World Trade Center in 1970 but what brought this roaring
building race to a halt well it was the economics for a long time the Empire
State Building was considered a financial flop it was primarily designed
to house corporate offices but its opening was underscored by the stock
market crash of 1929 and the onset of the Great Depression at the building's
opening less than a quarter of the building's retail space was occupied
earning it the nickname the empty State Building it wasn't until a world war two
more than a decade after opening that the building finally became profitable
the extreme risk of the Empire State Building highlighted in building these
mega towers kept most of the world's daring engineers or at least the bankers
who financed them at bay for 40 years before America built the One World Trade
Center followed by the Sears Tower then not wanting to miss out on all the fun
developing countries jumped into the ring first with Kuala Lumpur's petronas
tower then Taipei's 101 and most recently the Burj Khalifa in Dubai the
first building to top over 2,000 feet these latest additions weren't spurred
by population pressures like in the United States so much as these recently
poor countries trying to propel themselves onto the global stage and
they've been largely successful the Burj Kalifa cause developers one and
a half million dollars to construct over the course of five years but now makes
more than that in pure profit every year between its 37th floors of
office space 900 luxury apartments and it's nearly 2 million tourists it
attracts annually but building these mega structures isn't easy if you've
ever driven by a construction site you know most multi-story buildings use
cranes to lift supplies as the building is constructed but the world's tallest
crane isn't even a fit the height of the Burj
Khalifa even relatively simple tasks like pumping cement to the construction
floors gets exponentially more difficult when you think about the sheer forces
required to pump it up thousands of feet in the air then we have to come up with
materials that can support the immense weight of the building and perform
extensive Windtunnel testing to make sure the world's tallest building won't
come toppling over with a strong gust of wind or four the Burj Khalifa during one
of the country's tens of sandstorms it sees every year but if these mega
structures are so profitable why has the Burj Khalifa stood unrivaled
for more than a decade well it comes out to complication cost and risk the Burj
Khalifa took five years and an enormous up for an investment so as a developer
you have to hope not only is there not a market downturn in the years you spend
building but also for years after as you work to fill the building and
historically a decade without a market downturn isn't the safest bet for a
multi-billion dollar project and not just anywhere can build a world's
tallest building first there needs to be a large unfulfilled demand for office
space in the city then the location needs to be able to support the
logistics of intrusive construction for years something that New York City or
London city centers might not want to deal with and you need someplace with
strong bedrock without much in the way of extreme weather for natural disasters
that can threaten the building all of these logistical and geographical
problems keep most of Europe North America and Asia from joining the
competition still one of Dubai's neighbors appears to be challenging
their title the jetta tower in saudi arabia is planned to top out at just
over one kilometer above the streets of Jeddah I know what a creative name
the designer of the building who also designed the Burj Khalifa plans to
finish the building by 2024 but construction was halted back in 2018
surrounded questions that the ground wasn't strong enough to support the
immense weight of the building and construction hasn't continued since
despite all the potential profit and publicity as it stands no other country
has concrete plans to attempt to steal this record and as buildings push even
higher and the technical hurdles grow the justification for these super
structures has all but disappeared so it may be a long time before we see an even
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