![]() |
At more than 2,600 feet high, the Burj Dubai (right) can still lay claim to the title of world's tallest building—although like all other super-tall buildings, its exact height will have to be recalculated now that the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) announced a change to its height criteria.
CTBUH is the international body that arbitrates on tall building height and determines the title of “The World's Tallest Building.” The organization announced that its old rule of measuring height from the sidewalk outside the main entrance does not sufficiently recognize multiuse tall buildings that often have several different entrances at different levels. The new criteria calls for measuring building height from the level of the lowest significant, open-air pedestrian entrance.
“Beginning in 2007, with the knowledge that Burj Dubai would be significantly taller than any structure ever built, the CTBUH Height Committee met to review the criteria by which we recognize and rank the height of buildings,” said Peter Weismantle, chair of the CTBUH Height Committee and director of supertall building technology at Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture in Chicago. “As one might guess, with the committee being made up of architects, engineers, contractors, developers, building owners, and academics, a variety of opinions and views were expressed. The resulting revisions two years later reflect a general consensus of the committee in recognizing the most recent trends in tall building development around the world.”
In response to the changing designs and forms of tall buildings, the Height Committee also elected to discard its previous “Height to Roof” category. “The roof category just doesn't make sense anymore,” said CTBUH executive director Antony Wood. “In the era of the flat-topped modernist tower, a clearly defined roof could usually be identified, but in today's tall building world—which is increasingly adopting elaborate forms, spires, parapets, and other features at the top of the building—it is becoming difficult to determine a 'roof' at all, even less so to measure to it.”
The new rules haven't dramatically altered the ranking of the world's tallest buildings, although the Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai (1,381 feet high) dropped to seventh tallest, having been bumped by the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago (1,389 feet high), which is now the world's sixth-tallest building.
Related Stories
| Apr 11, 2013
American Folk Art Museum, opened in 2001, to be demolished
Just 12 years old, the museum designed by Tod Williams and Billie Tsien will be taken down to make way for MoMA expansion.
| Apr 5, 2013
Snøhetta design creates groundbreaking high-tech library for NCSU
The new Hunt Library at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, incorporates advanced building features, including a five-story robotic bookBot automatic retrieval system that holds 2 million volumes in reduced space.
| Apr 2, 2013
6 lobby design tips
If you do hotels, schools, student unions, office buildings, performing arts centers, transportation facilities, or any structure with a lobby, here are six principles from healthcare lobby design that make for happier users—and more satisfied owners.
| Mar 29, 2013
PBS broadcast to highlight '10 Buildings That Changed America'
WTTW Chicago, in partnership with the Society of Architectural Historians, has produced "10 Builidngs That Changed America," a TV show set to air May 12 on PBS.
| Mar 27, 2013
Small but mighty: Berkeley public library’s net-zero gem
The Building Team for Berkeley, Calif.’s new 9,500-sf West Branch library aims to achieve net-zero—and possibly net-positive—energy performance with the help of clever passive design techniques.
| Mar 22, 2013
8 cool cultural projects in the works
A soaring opera center in Hong Kong and a multi-tower music center in Calgary are among the latest cultural projects.
| Mar 15, 2013
7 most endangered buildings in Chicago
The Chicago Preservation Society released its annual list of the buildings at high risk for demolition.
| Feb 25, 2013
10 U.S. cities with the best urban forests
Charlotte, Denver, and Milwaukee are among 10 U.S. cities ranked recently by the conservation organization American Forests for having quality urban forest programs.
| Feb 22, 2013
Detroit project would bring 'fairytale forest' to riverfront
A proposal by atelierWHY to create a heavily wooded park on the downtown riverfront has taken first place in the juried Detroit By Design competition.