05 July 2023
Terri Meyer Boake
Height is aspirational, and having the best view from that height has become a driver in contemporary tall building design. Likewise, observation decks are a...
03 April 2023
CTBUH Staff
This report shows that 147 buildings of 200 meters’ height or greater were completed in 2022, a 25 percent increase from 2021, when 118 such...
22 August 2022
S. Isaac Work & Shawn Ursini, Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat
Tall building design has diversified and adapted to accommodate increased demand for distinctive amenities at a range of heights. Swimming pools are a classic feature...
12 December 2018
CTBUH Research
The astronomical growth in tall building construction observed over the past decade continued in 2018, though the total number of completed buildings of 200 meters’...
05 February 2018
This 2017 Tall Building Year in Review / Tall Buildings in Numbers data analysis report shows that more buildings of 200 meters’ height or greater...
01 September 2017
Leo Chow & Mark P. Sarkisian, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
China’s rapid growth has created great opportunities for design and construction of projects that not only transform sites but cities. This work combines local, national,...
01 March 2017
Michael Kwok & Alexis Lee, Arup
The Guangzhou International Finance Centre (IFC) is a landmark building that symbolizes the emerging international strength of Guangzhou, China’s third largest city. It is also...
10 January 2017
Jason Gabel, Annan Shehadi, Shawn Ursini & Marshall Gerometta, CTBUH
CTBUH has determined that 128 buildings of 200 meters’ height or greater were completed around the world in 2016 – setting a new record for...
17 October 2016
Daniel Safarik, Shawn Ursini & Antony Wood; Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat
The rise of the megacity presents unprecedented opportunities to understand the human urbanization phenomenon, and to observe the effects of multicore, polycentric cities growing together...
17 October 2016
CTBUH 2016 Conference Speakers
The CTBUH 2016 International Conference is being held in the three cities of the Pearl River Delta, the world’s largest “megacity,” projected to have 120...
17 October 2016
Peter Kindel, Ellen Lou & Lingyue Anne Chen, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
With the world’s urban population expected to increase by roughly 2.5 billion people by 2050, developing an understanding of megalopolises is critical to understanding and...
17 October 2016
Peter Brannan, Arquitectonica
This paper investigates the integration of tall tower, mixed-use developments and how they connect with the city and the public when they meet the ground....
17 October 2016
Chris Wilkinson, Wilkinson Eyre Architects
Using four tower designs on four continents – the Guangzhou International Finance Center in China, the Crown Sydney Resort Hotel in Australia, 45 Bay Street...
17 October 2016
Keith Boswell & Michael Duncan, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
In this paper, three different solutions in three different regions of China illustrate best practices for the design and execution of optimized building enclosure systems....
17 October 2016
Allan Chung, Gensler; Ivan Mutis, Illinois Institute of Technology
There is a recent trend in the construction industry to implement “lean concepts,” a management strategy based upon the Toyota Production System philosophy. While the...
17 October 2016
Vincent Tse, Herbert Lam, Kenneth Li & Michael Sung, WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff
This paper will address the mechanical, electrical, plumbing and drainage, and vertical transportation system (MEP/VTS) design challenges encountered during the design development of three unique,...
17 October 2016
Travis Soberg, Goettsch Partners
The Greater Pearl River Delta region emerged as a result of China’s 1979 reform policies. Within the last 20 years, the GPRD has grown from...
17 October 2016
Huijing Huang, Guangzhou Design Institute
The scarcity of land in the downtown area, in addition to the deterioration of urban environments, has led to urban sprawl and a lack of...
17 October 2016
Stephan Reinke, Stephan Reinke Architects Limited
How does the 21st Century youth culture of social media integrate and merge with an ever increasing tech savvy senior population? As our cities and...
17 October 2016
David Ho, New World Development Company Limited
New World Development Company Limited (NWD) has been a listed property developer in Hong Kong for nearly half a century. With businesses encompassing property development,...
19 January 2016
Jason Gabel, Marty Carver & Marshall Gerometta, CTBUH
CTBUH has determined that 106 buildings of 200 meters’ height or greater were completed around the world in 2015 – setting a new record for...
26 October 2015
Samuel Luckino & Peter Brannan, Arquitectonica
For architecture and engineering firms serving development clients who build large-scale urban projects in various corners of the world, the effort is often facilitated by...
26 October 2015
Kelly Romano, Mead Rusert & Hayden Reeve, United Technologies Corporation
With the impact of urbanization, larger cities, operating pressures and the rise of megatall skyscrapers, today’s new and existing buildings are increasingly being engineered as...
01 September 2015
Ye Haowen, China State Construction Engineering Corporation
Experience on the construction of several 100-plus-story skyscrapers including Guangzhou West Tower, Guangzhou East Tower, and Shenzhen’s KK100 is described considering the increasingly strong development...
24 August 2015
CTBUH Research
Perhaps no element of a tall building is more closely related to the pure pleasure of standing high in the sky and taking in the...
31 December 2014
Daniel Safarik, Antony Wood, Marty Carver & Marshall Gerometta, CTBUH
An All-Time Record 97 Buildings of 200 Meters or Higher Completed in 2014 and 2014 showed further shifts towards Asia, and also surprising developments in...
16 September 2014
Wing Ip (David) Ho, Chung (Eddie) Yuk Fai, Hung (Annie) Lo & De Ming (Derry) Yu, New World Development
This paper presents the thinking behind the design of the two supertall towers of Chow Tai Fook Enterprise– the Guangzhou CTF Finance Center and the...
16 September 2014
Kam Chuen (Vincent) Tse, Lung Wai (Herbert) Lam, Sheung Lai (Eddie) Leung & Leung Wing (Daniel) Ho, Parsons Brinckerhoff
This paper describes the MEP and VTS design challenges of the tallest buildings in three major cities in China; namely, Beijing, Suzhou and Guangzhou. The...
14 September 2014
Daniel Safarik, CTBUH
The survival of humanity on this planet relies on a radical repositioning of our cities. In the face of unprecedented global population growth, urbanization, pollution...
11 June 2014
CTBUH Research
In this installment of Tall Buildings in Numbers, CTBUH considers how helipads are used on skyscrapers, and which are the highest in the world. The...
01 June 2014
Richard Tomlinson II, William Baker, Luke Leung, et al. Skidmore Owings & Merrill
SOM’s design for the 71-story Pearl River Tower in Guangzhou, China, was selected in a 2005 competition. The 309-meter-tall high-performance building was designed with energy...
13 January 2013
The Guangzhou International Finance Center is not only recognised as the tallest building in Guangzhou, but one of the most beautiful. A triangular base supports...
13 January 2013
Acknowledged as the world’s most energyefficient ‘green’ building, the gently curved Pearl River Tower is constantly in the public spotlight and media. Architects Skidmore, Owings...
31 December 2012
Kevin Brass, Antony Wood & Marty Carver, CTBUH
For the first time in six years the number of tall buildings completed annually around the world declined as the effects of the global financial...
23 September 2012
CTBUH Research
With over 1.3 billion citizens and a rapidly urbanizing population, China is developing tall buildings more than any other country globally. Currently it has 239...
19 September 2012
Jeffrey Heller, Heller Manus Architects
Development in China has presented an opportunity for a new paradigm in the creation of large-scale, low-carbon /carbon-neutral high-rise, mixed-use urban centers. Two projects, one...
19 September 2012
Chris Wilkinson, Wilkinson Eyre Architects Ltd
The design for the Guangzhou International Finance Centre makes the case for a high rise aesthetic that aims for an elegant simplicity, but expresses the...
01 June 2012
CTBUH Research
With the recent completion of two megatall telecommunication/observation towers it is perhaps time to review these structures and also explain why they are distinguished from...
18 January 2012
Nathaniel Hollister & Antony Wood, CTBUH
Within this decade we will likely witness not only the world’s first kilometer-tall building, but also the completion of a significant number of buildings over...
01 February 2011
Mark Sarkisian & Neville Mathias, SOM; Dasui Wang, ECADI; Sam Lee, Guangzhou Scientific Computing Consultants
Because of its iconic slender form, a key design challenge was to develop an efficient lateral system capable of resisting wind and seismic lateral load;...
31 December 2010
CTBUH Research
In a year dominated by news coverage of the new “World’s Tallest Building” – Burj Khalifa, Dubai – one may be surprised to learn that,...
03 March 2008
Roger E. Frechette III & Russell Gilchrist, SOM
This paper will attempt to both define what is meant by ‘carbon neutral’ in the context of building design as well as using the case...
03 March 2008
Fang Li, James Antell & Martin Reiss, RJA
The Pearl River Tower in Guangzhou, China features numerous design strategies to reduce energy demand, which include among others vertical axis wind turbine and radiant...
31 December 2007
333 meters high with 72 stories and 480 suites, Rose Rotana Tower in Dubai leads the list of the 10 tallest buildings completed in 2007....
31 December 2006
Nina Tower 1 in Hong Kong, at 319 meters high, leads the list of the ten tallest buildings completed in 2006. The Sports City Tower/Aspire...
01 May 2006
Mark Sarkisian, Neville Mathias, Eric Long & Aaron Mazeika, SOM
The 56 story, 232 m tall Jinao Tower in Nanjing, China, is a next-generation tower which maximizes performance, efficiency, and occupant experience. Its faceted form...
05 July 2023
Terri Meyer Boake
Height is aspirational, and having the best view from that height has become a driver in contemporary tall building design. Likewise, observation decks are a...
03 April 2023
CTBUH Staff
This report shows that 147 buildings of 200 meters’ height or greater were completed in 2022, a 25 percent increase from 2021, when 118 such...
22 August 2022
S. Isaac Work & Shawn Ursini, Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat
Tall building design has diversified and adapted to accommodate increased demand for distinctive amenities at a range of heights. Swimming pools are a classic feature...
12 December 2018
CTBUH Research
The astronomical growth in tall building construction observed over the past decade continued in 2018, though the total number of completed buildings of 200 meters’...
05 February 2018
This 2017 Tall Building Year in Review / Tall Buildings in Numbers data analysis report shows that more buildings of 200 meters’ height or greater...
01 September 2017
Leo Chow & Mark P. Sarkisian, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
China’s rapid growth has created great opportunities for design and construction of projects that not only transform sites but cities. This work combines local, national,...
01 March 2017
Michael Kwok & Alexis Lee, Arup
The Guangzhou International Finance Centre (IFC) is a landmark building that symbolizes the emerging international strength of Guangzhou, China’s third largest city. It is also...
10 January 2017
Jason Gabel, Annan Shehadi, Shawn Ursini & Marshall Gerometta, CTBUH
CTBUH has determined that 128 buildings of 200 meters’ height or greater were completed around the world in 2016 – setting a new record for...
17 October 2016
Daniel Safarik, Shawn Ursini & Antony Wood; Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat
The rise of the megacity presents unprecedented opportunities to understand the human urbanization phenomenon, and to observe the effects of multicore, polycentric cities growing together...
17 October 2016
CTBUH 2016 Conference Speakers
The CTBUH 2016 International Conference is being held in the three cities of the Pearl River Delta, the world’s largest “megacity,” projected to have 120...
17 October 2016
Peter Kindel, Ellen Lou & Lingyue Anne Chen, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
With the world’s urban population expected to increase by roughly 2.5 billion people by 2050, developing an understanding of megalopolises is critical to understanding and...
17 October 2016
Peter Brannan, Arquitectonica
This paper investigates the integration of tall tower, mixed-use developments and how they connect with the city and the public when they meet the ground....
17 October 2016
Chris Wilkinson, Wilkinson Eyre Architects
Using four tower designs on four continents – the Guangzhou International Finance Center in China, the Crown Sydney Resort Hotel in Australia, 45 Bay Street...
17 October 2016
Keith Boswell & Michael Duncan, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
In this paper, three different solutions in three different regions of China illustrate best practices for the design and execution of optimized building enclosure systems....
17 October 2016
Allan Chung, Gensler; Ivan Mutis, Illinois Institute of Technology
There is a recent trend in the construction industry to implement “lean concepts,” a management strategy based upon the Toyota Production System philosophy. While the...
17 October 2016
Vincent Tse, Herbert Lam, Kenneth Li & Michael Sung, WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff
This paper will address the mechanical, electrical, plumbing and drainage, and vertical transportation system (MEP/VTS) design challenges encountered during the design development of three unique,...
17 October 2016
Travis Soberg, Goettsch Partners
The Greater Pearl River Delta region emerged as a result of China’s 1979 reform policies. Within the last 20 years, the GPRD has grown from...
17 October 2016
Huijing Huang, Guangzhou Design Institute
The scarcity of land in the downtown area, in addition to the deterioration of urban environments, has led to urban sprawl and a lack of...
17 October 2016
Stephan Reinke, Stephan Reinke Architects Limited
How does the 21st Century youth culture of social media integrate and merge with an ever increasing tech savvy senior population? As our cities and...
17 October 2016
David Ho, New World Development Company Limited
New World Development Company Limited (NWD) has been a listed property developer in Hong Kong for nearly half a century. With businesses encompassing property development,...
19 January 2016
Jason Gabel, Marty Carver & Marshall Gerometta, CTBUH
CTBUH has determined that 106 buildings of 200 meters’ height or greater were completed around the world in 2015 – setting a new record for...
26 October 2015
Samuel Luckino & Peter Brannan, Arquitectonica
For architecture and engineering firms serving development clients who build large-scale urban projects in various corners of the world, the effort is often facilitated by...
26 October 2015
Kelly Romano, Mead Rusert & Hayden Reeve, United Technologies Corporation
With the impact of urbanization, larger cities, operating pressures and the rise of megatall skyscrapers, today’s new and existing buildings are increasingly being engineered as...
01 September 2015
Ye Haowen, China State Construction Engineering Corporation
Experience on the construction of several 100-plus-story skyscrapers including Guangzhou West Tower, Guangzhou East Tower, and Shenzhen’s KK100 is described considering the increasingly strong development...
24 August 2015
CTBUH Research
Perhaps no element of a tall building is more closely related to the pure pleasure of standing high in the sky and taking in the...
31 December 2014
Daniel Safarik, Antony Wood, Marty Carver & Marshall Gerometta, CTBUH
An All-Time Record 97 Buildings of 200 Meters or Higher Completed in 2014 and 2014 showed further shifts towards Asia, and also surprising developments in...
16 September 2014
Wing Ip (David) Ho, Chung (Eddie) Yuk Fai, Hung (Annie) Lo & De Ming (Derry) Yu, New World Development
This paper presents the thinking behind the design of the two supertall towers of Chow Tai Fook Enterprise– the Guangzhou CTF Finance Center and the...
16 September 2014
Kam Chuen (Vincent) Tse, Lung Wai (Herbert) Lam, Sheung Lai (Eddie) Leung & Leung Wing (Daniel) Ho, Parsons Brinckerhoff
This paper describes the MEP and VTS design challenges of the tallest buildings in three major cities in China; namely, Beijing, Suzhou and Guangzhou. The...
14 September 2014
Daniel Safarik, CTBUH
The survival of humanity on this planet relies on a radical repositioning of our cities. In the face of unprecedented global population growth, urbanization, pollution...
11 June 2014
CTBUH Research
In this installment of Tall Buildings in Numbers, CTBUH considers how helipads are used on skyscrapers, and which are the highest in the world. The...
01 June 2014
Richard Tomlinson II, William Baker, Luke Leung, et al. Skidmore Owings & Merrill
SOM’s design for the 71-story Pearl River Tower in Guangzhou, China, was selected in a 2005 competition. The 309-meter-tall high-performance building was designed with energy...
13 January 2013
The Guangzhou International Finance Center is not only recognised as the tallest building in Guangzhou, but one of the most beautiful. A triangular base supports...
13 January 2013
Acknowledged as the world’s most energyefficient ‘green’ building, the gently curved Pearl River Tower is constantly in the public spotlight and media. Architects Skidmore, Owings...
31 December 2012
Kevin Brass, Antony Wood & Marty Carver, CTBUH
For the first time in six years the number of tall buildings completed annually around the world declined as the effects of the global financial...
23 September 2012
CTBUH Research
With over 1.3 billion citizens and a rapidly urbanizing population, China is developing tall buildings more than any other country globally. Currently it has 239...
19 September 2012
Jeffrey Heller, Heller Manus Architects
Development in China has presented an opportunity for a new paradigm in the creation of large-scale, low-carbon /carbon-neutral high-rise, mixed-use urban centers. Two projects, one...
19 September 2012
Chris Wilkinson, Wilkinson Eyre Architects Ltd
The design for the Guangzhou International Finance Centre makes the case for a high rise aesthetic that aims for an elegant simplicity, but expresses the...
01 June 2012
CTBUH Research
With the recent completion of two megatall telecommunication/observation towers it is perhaps time to review these structures and also explain why they are distinguished from...
18 January 2012
Nathaniel Hollister & Antony Wood, CTBUH
Within this decade we will likely witness not only the world’s first kilometer-tall building, but also the completion of a significant number of buildings over...
01 February 2011
Mark Sarkisian & Neville Mathias, SOM; Dasui Wang, ECADI; Sam Lee, Guangzhou Scientific Computing Consultants
Because of its iconic slender form, a key design challenge was to develop an efficient lateral system capable of resisting wind and seismic lateral load;...
31 December 2010
CTBUH Research
In a year dominated by news coverage of the new “World’s Tallest Building” – Burj Khalifa, Dubai – one may be surprised to learn that,...
03 March 2008
Roger E. Frechette III & Russell Gilchrist, SOM
This paper will attempt to both define what is meant by ‘carbon neutral’ in the context of building design as well as using the case...
03 March 2008
Fang Li, James Antell & Martin Reiss, RJA
The Pearl River Tower in Guangzhou, China features numerous design strategies to reduce energy demand, which include among others vertical axis wind turbine and radiant...
31 December 2007
333 meters high with 72 stories and 480 suites, Rose Rotana Tower in Dubai leads the list of the 10 tallest buildings completed in 2007....
31 December 2006
Nina Tower 1 in Hong Kong, at 319 meters high, leads the list of the ten tallest buildings completed in 2006. The Sports City Tower/Aspire...
01 May 2006
Mark Sarkisian, Neville Mathias, Eric Long & Aaron Mazeika, SOM
The 56 story, 232 m tall Jinao Tower in Nanjing, China, is a next-generation tower which maximizes performance, efficiency, and occupant experience. Its faceted form...
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