Skyscrapers are rising faster and higher than ever before, with a huge number of impressive
towers now being built in cities around the world.
Here we look at the five tallest skyscrapers currently under construction and set to complete
by 2021.
We begin our countdown in China, where an unprecedented boom in skyscraper construction
is taking place.
One of the most prominent structures of this new breed of super-tall buildings is Goldin
Finance 117, the centre piece of a new Central Business District in Tianjin.
Named after the number of storeys within the building, the skyscraper will stand 597 metres
(or 1,959 feet) tall when it completes in 2018.
The extremely slender tower has a height-to-width ratio of 9.5 to 1 and is topped with a diamond
shaped atrium, giving the building the appearance of a bejewelled walking stick.
While the tower will contain office space on the lower floors, and a luxury hotel in
the upper storeys, the jewel will contain a rotating observation deck and restaurant.
Rising even higher, is a building that will tower above everything else in Bangkok, Thailand.
Standing 616 metres or 2,018 feet high, the Grand Rama 9 Tower will be almost double the
height of the country’s current tallest building; the recently completed MahaNakhon.
Construction began in 2017 and when the skyscraper completes in 2021 it will become the sixth
tallest building in the world.
Staying in south-east Asia, we come to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, where an even taller skyscraper is under construction.
Merdeka PNB 118 will stand 630 metres (or 2,070 feet) tall when it completes in 2021,
rising almost 180 metres higher than the city’s Petronas Towers – which once held the title
of the world’s tallest building.
Around 60 floors of the 118-storey skyscraper are set to become offices for the building’s
developer, PNB, while the remaining levels will be divided between further office space
and a luxury hotel.
The second of two skyscrapers in China to make our list, the Wuhan Greenland Center
will rise to an incredible 636 metres (or 2,087 feet).
Designed by mega-tall building experts Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture for the Greenland
Group – a real estate developer owned by the Shanghai city government – the building
will become the tallest building in China when it completes in 2018.
The record breaking tower will also become the world's second tallest structure after
Dubai's Burj Khalifa, and the world's tallest building by occupiable floor height.
And the records don’t stop there. The building will also include the world's highest man-made
observation deck on the 126th floor, over 2000 feet (or 610 meters) above ground – and
the world's highest hotel, overtaking the Ritz-Carlton in Hong Kong.
Unfortunately, the building may not hold these accolades for long, as a tower that is set
to break all records has taken our top spot.
In first place is a skyscraper that will rise higher than anything that has ever been built
before.
Although the exact height is being kept under-wraps while the building is in development, the
Jeddah Tower will reportedly rise to a height of at least 1 kilometre – that’s over
3,200 feet.
The structure will become the tallest in the world by far when it completes in 2020, rising
an incredible 172 metres higher than the Burj Khalifa.
When it completes Adrian Smith will have been responsible for the design
of the world’s three tallest buildings, as he was also the designer of the Burj Khalifa
while working at architectural practice SOM.
Although these impressive buildings are already pushing engineering to the limits, with an
unprecedented demand for mega-tall skyscrapers, we may be seeing even taller buildings in
the very near future.
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