Each year, high-rise building experts from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) release their predictions for the worldwide skyscraper industry. They also recap the top tall-building news from the previous year (see "2013: The year of the super-tall skyscraper").
Looking ahead to 2014, CTBUH's Daniel Safarik and Antony Wood predict that between 65 and 90 buildings of 200 meters or more will completed by the end of the year, with as many as 13 projects exceeding the 300-meter barrier. If they're right, 2014 will be a record-setting year for skyscraper construction.
In their report, Safarik and Wood highlight eight major trends and developments in 2014:
1. The Torre Costanera, at 300 meters, will be South America’s tallest building and its first in the 'supertall' category (300 to 399 meters)
More on the Torre Costanera project via CTBUH
2. Twisting towers will continue to enter the vanguard of tall in 2014.
The KKR2 Tower of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (pictired), and the Spine Tower of Istanbul, Turkey, lead the list of new twisting towers.
3. A typically curvaceous Zaha Hadid-designed tower, the Wangjing SOHO T1, will open in Beijing this year.
This building was the subject of piracy rumors early last year when a highly similar tower group, the Meiquan 22nd Century in Chongqing, was revealed. The race is on in earnest to see if the original finishes before the “copy.”
4. The Shanghai Tower finished its concrete core in 2013.
The 632-meter tower, originally set to complete in 2014, will boast the world’s fastest elevators, as well as innovative use of double skins and sky lobbies. Its construction has been and will continue to be one of the most closely watched spectacles in the tall-building universe. Even if the completion date slips into 2015, as now seems likely, Shanghai Tower will likely be China’s tallest building for at least a period of time, depending on the progress of rivals Ping An Finance Center (660 meters), Wuhan Greenland Center (636 meters), and possibly Sky City J220.
5. The China Broad Group’s Sky City J220, an 828-meter, 220-story building to be constructed entirely of prefabricated modules, may or may not have gotten underway, according to conflicting reports, and may or may not complete in 2014.
Either way, the world will be watching. Unshaken by skeptical peers and media and bureaucratic hurdles, Broad Group Chairman Zhang Yue has vowed the project – aiming to become the world’s tallest before Kingdom Tower takes the title – will continue.
6. Kingdom Tower, set to become the world’s next-tallest building at 1,000 meters, broke ground in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in 2013.
The industry will be closely watching its out-of-ground progress in 2014. Intended to evoke a bundle of leaves shooting up from the ground, the faceted three-wing tower will cost $1.2 billion to construct and contain 167 floors.
7. When completed in 2014 at its intended, symbolic 1,776 feet (541 meters), One World Trade Center in New York will gain status as North America’s tallest building.
The announcement of CTBUH’s ratification of this height in 2013 drew commentary from the global press, Chicago mayor Rahm Emmanuel, and television comedian Jon Stewart—so a little more buzz when we “make it official” in 2014 can be expected.
8. The first of the crop of “superslim” towers in Midtown Manhattan, the 306-meter One57, will be completed, upping the ante for its even-slimmer rivals along 57th Street.
More on the One57 project via CTBUH
Read CTBUH's full report: "Year in Review: Tall Trends of 2013"
Related Stories
| Dec 12, 2014
SOM names winner of One World Trade Center photo contest
Gerry Padden's winning photo offers a striking juxtaposition of the Brooklyn Bridge with the sparkling One World Trade Center tower.
| Dec 11, 2014
2015 Architecture Firm Award goes to Ehrlich Architects
The AIA Architecture Firm Award, given annually, is the highest honor the AIA bestows on an architecture firm and recognizes a practice that consistently has produced distinguished architecture for at least 10 years.
| Dec 11, 2014
Moshe Safdie awarded 2015 AIA Gold Medal
The AIA Gold Medal, voted on annually, honors an individual whose significant body of work has had a lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture.
| Dec 10, 2014
International Olympic Committee releases first images of new HQ in Switzerland
Designed by 3XN, the new headquarters is located within a park on the shores of Lake Geneva and adjacent to historic Château de Vidy, which has been the iconic home of the IOC.
| Dec 10, 2014
CannonDesign acquires Astorino, forms design-led design-build division
The merger also extends CannonDesign’s presence in the markets Astorino currently serves, namely Pittsburgh and Abu Dhabi.
| Dec 10, 2014
Must see: Babina's latest illustrations cast famous architecture quotes as colorful road signs
Babina has adapted quotes from famous names such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Alvar Aalto, and Mies Van Der Rohe.
| Dec 9, 2014
Steven Holl wins Mumbai City Museum competition with 'solar water' scheme
Steven Holl's design for the new wing features a reflective pool that will generate energy.
| Dec 9, 2014
ABC economist predicts continued construction industry growth in 2015
In his latest report, ABC's Chief Economist Anirban Basu forecasts nonresidential construction spending to expand by roughly 7.5% next year, led by the power, lodging, office, and manufacturing sectors.
| Dec 8, 2014
How brick and mortar enables online retail
According to a shopping preferences study conducted by A.T. Kearney, as many as two-thirds of shoppers go to a physical store before or after making an online purchase, writes Gensler's Jill Nickels.
| Dec 8, 2014
The year’s boldest BIM/VDC themes
High-speed rendering software, custom APIs, virtual reality tools, and BIM workflow tips were among the hottest BIM/VDC topics in 2014.