The taller the building, the more prestigious it appears. At least, that’s how the thinking goes. Recently, cities around the world are beginning to use tall buildings to show off their wealth and prosperity in the same way professional athletes use garages filled with Ferraris, Aston Martins, and Lamborghinis.
Sure, tall buildings provide a way of maximizing space in crowded cities, but a report from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) points to the fact that many supertalls around the world have hundreds of feet of non-occupiable space. This “vanity height” as it is referred to, exists purely as a design element and to make the building taller.
In fact, if you eliminate vanity height, 44 of the world’s 72 supertalls (the number at the time of the report using July 2013 data) would measure less than 300 meters, losing their supertall status. The tallest of these building’s is Guangzhou’s 390-meter CITIC Plaza. Seeing these tall buildings only to realize so much of it is purely for aesthetics is like buying a large bag of chips only to discover a third of it is filled with air.
In terms of sheer height, the Burj Khalifa is the most egregious vanity height offender. 244 meters at the top of the world’s tallest tower is non-occupiable, that’s a whopping 800 feet. In other terms, if the Burj Khalifa’s vanity height were a building in its own right, it would be Europe’s 11th-tallest building.
In terms of percentage, another Dubai building is the worst offender. 39% of the Burj Al Arab’s height is non-occupiable space. However, at the opposite end of the spectrum, Dubai is also home to The Index, which has a vanity height of only four meters, or 1% of the buildings overall height.
New York has three of the worst offenders with the Bank of America Tower (131 meters, 36%), New York Times Tower (99 meters, 31%), and One World Trade Center (134 meters, 25%). The Empire State Building, however, plays the role of New York’s Index, as it loses just 1% of its height to non-occupiable space.
Measuring building height has been a fairly subjective practice over the years. Spires are counted toward height (which some view as counterproductive and rewarding vanity height) while antennae are not. In 1998, the then Sears Tower lost its title of tallest building in the world to Petronas Towers despite being almost 250 feet taller when its antennae were included and also having a higher occupiable top floor. The Petronas Towers’ spires, which are included in the building’s height, reach 1,483 feet in the air while the Sears Tower without its antennae, which are not included in its overall height, only reaches 1,454 feet. With the antennae the Sears Tower is 1,707 feet.
The now Willis Tower lost out again to vanity height in determining the tallest building in the United States. The Willis Tower’s roof is 442.1 meters high while One World Trade Center’s roof is 417 meters high. Again, however, One World Trade Center’s spire counts towards its height, bringing it up to 1,776 feet and giving it the distinction of being the tallest building in the U.S.
So what does all of this mean? Well, not much, except the list of the tallest buildings in the world would be shuffled around a bit if spires, masts, and antennae were counted toward a building’s overall height or, conversely, if buildings were just measured to their top floors.
But there really isn’t a simple solution: completely occupiable or not, the Burj Khalifa is still the tallest structure ever created (to this point. Jeddah Tower will take the title when it is completed, most likely with quite a bit of non-occupiable space of its own). But if you allow spires, antennae, or other non-occupiable components to count, then some architects and developers could add comically large elements to their structures just to get the accolade of tallest structure in the world.
Regardless, whichever way you measure it, architects are continuing to push the boundaries of what is possible in terms of building height as more tall buildings than ever are popping up in cities around the world.
Related Stories
| Dec 17, 2010
Condominium and retail building offers luxury and elegance
The 58-story Austonian in Austin, Texas, is the tallest residential building in the western U.S. Benchmark Development, along with Ziegler Cooper Architects and Balfour Beatty (GC), created the 850,000-sf tower with 178 residences, retail space, a 6,000-sf fitness center, and a 10th-floor outdoor area with a 75-foot saltwater lap pool and spa, private cabanas, outdoor kitchens, and pet exercise and grooming areas.
| Dec 17, 2010
Luxury condos built for privacy
A new luxury condominium tower in Los Angeles, The Carlyle has 24 floors with 78 units. Each of the four units on each floor has a private elevator foyer. The top three floors house six 5,000-sf penthouses that offer residents both indoor and outdoor living space. KMD Architects designed the 310,000-sf structure, and Elad Properties was project developer.
| Dec 17, 2010
Vietnam business center will combine office and residential space
The 300,000-sm VietinBank Business Center in Hanoi, Vietnam, designed by Foster + Partners, will have two commercial towers: the first, a 68-story, 362-meter office tower for the international headquarters of VietinBank; the second, a five-star hotel, spa, and serviced apartments. A seven-story podium with conference facilities, retail space, restaurants, and rooftop garden will connect the two towers. Eco-friendly features include using recycled heat from the center’s power plant to provide hot water, and installing water features and plants to improve indoor air quality. Turner Construction Co. is the general contractor.
| Nov 16, 2010
CityCenter’s new Harmon Hotel targeted for demolition
MGM Resorts officials want to demolish the unopened 27-story Harmon Hotel—one of the main components of its brand new $8.5 billion CityCenter development in Las Vegas. In 2008, inspectors found structural work on the Harmon didn’t match building plans submitted to the county, with construction issues focused on improperly placed steel reinforcing bar. In January 2009, MGM scrapped the building’s 200 condo units on the upper floors and stopped the tower at 27 stories, focusing on the Harmon having just 400 hotel rooms. With the Lord Norman Foster-designed building mired in litigation, construction has since been halted on the interior, and the blue-glass tower is essentially a 27-story empty shell.
| Nov 3, 2010
Rotating atriums give Riyadh’s first Hilton an unusual twist
Goettsch Partners, in collaboration with Omrania & Associates (architect of record) and David Wrenn Interiors (interior designer), is serving as design architect for the five-star, 900-key Hilton Riyadh.
| Oct 13, 2010
Modern office design accentuates skyline views
Intercontinental|Exchange, a Chicago-based financial firm, hired design/engineering firm Epstein to create a modern, new 31st-floor headquarters.
| Oct 13, 2010
HQ renovations aim for modern look
Gerner Kronick + Valcarcel Architects’ renovations to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s New York City headquarters will feature a reworked reception lobby with back-painted glass, silk-screened logos, and a video wall.
| Oct 12, 2010
Guardian Building, Detroit, Mich.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Special Recognition. The relocation and consolidation of hundreds of employees from seven departments of Wayne County, Mich., into the historic Guardian Building in downtown Detroit is a refreshing tale of smart government planning and clever financial management that will benefit taxpayers in the economically distressed region for years to come.
| Oct 8, 2010
Union Bank’S San Diego HQ awarded LEED Gold
Union Bank’s San Diego headquarters building located at 530 B Street has been awarded LEED Gold certification from the Green Building Certification Institute under the standards established by the U.S. Green Building Council. Gold status was awarded to six buildings across the United States in the most recent certification and Union Bank’s San Diego headquarters building is one of only two in California.