Burj Khalifa, the Dubai Tower

The United Arab Emirates broke world records for building height with the Burj Khalifa, also known as Burj Dubai or Dubai Tower.
Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Developer: Emaar Properties
Architect: Adrian Smith, Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill (SOM)
Year: Officially opened January 4, 2010
Height: 828 meters / 2,717 feet (including the spire)
Stories: 162
About the Burj Khalifa
The soaring skyscraper is now named after Khalifa Bin Zayed, the president of the United Arab Emirates.
Dubai has been a showplace for innovative, modern building, and the Burj Khalifa shatters world records. The skyscraper is much taller than Taiwan's Taipei 101, which rises 508 metres (1,667 feet). During a time of economic slowdown, the Dubai Tower has become an icon for wealth and progress in this city on the Persian Gulf. No expense was spared for the building's opening ceremonies on January 4, 2010.

Skyscraper Safety

The extreme height of the Burj Khalifa raises safety concerns. Could occupants be evacuated quickly in the event of an extreme fire or explosion? How well would a skyscraper this tall withstand a fierce storm or earthquake? Engineers for the Burj Kahalifa claim that the building design incorporates multiple safety features.
Hexagonal core with Y-shaped buttresses for structural support
Capacity withstand 7.0 magnitude

earthquakes
Concrete reinforcement around stairways
World's fastest elevators
38 fire- and smoke-resistant evacuation lifts
Critical Response
Dubai's new skyscraper has received both praise and condemnation. Although the building's structural system is innovative, the Burj Kahalifa is expensive and impractical to maintain. For critical reviews, see: 

Taipei 101

Designers and Builders:
C.Y. Lee and Partner, Architects, and Turner International Industries, Inc., project and construction management
Year Completed: 2004
Vital Statistics:
With a massive 60-foot spire inspired by Twaiwan's native bamboo plant, Taipei 101 Tower is one of the tallest buildings in the world. At 508 meters (1,667 feet) high, the tower and its spire outrank the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Taipei Tower has:
198,347 m2 (2,336,000 sq. ft.) of office space,
77,033 m2 (796,000 sq. ft.) of retail space,and 83,000 m2 (893,000 sq. ft.) of parking space for more than 1,800 vehicles.

Earthquake Safety:
Designing a building this large presented unique challenges because Twaiwan is subject to typhoons and earthquakes. To counter movement, a tuned mass damper system has been incorporated into the structure. The 800-metric ton (1,764,000 lbs.), spherical steel mass is located on level 88 and is visible from the restaurant and observation decks. The system transfers the energy from the building to the swinging sphere, providing a stabilizing force.Special Design Features:

The design of Taipei 101 borrows heavily from Chinese culture. Both the building's interior and exterior incorporate the Chinese pagoda form and the shape of bamboo flowers. The lucky number eight, which means blooming or success, is represented by the eight clearly delineated exterior sections of the building.

Observation Decks:
Located on floors 89 and 91, the observation decks include the highest restaurant in Taiwan. Two high-speed elevators reach a maximum speed of 1,010 meters/minute (55 ft./second) when traveling to the 89th floor.
Is Taipei Tower the World's Tallest Building?:
For several years, Taipei Tower was widely considered the tallest building in the world. It is now outranked by the Burj Dubai in Dubai.

Shanghai World Financial Center

 Introduction:
Currently the tallest building in Shanghai, the Shanghai World Financial Center or SWFC, is the one that looks like a huge bottle opener. Standing in Lujiazui, Shanghai’s financial center in Pudong (that’s the east side of the Huang Pu River), the SWFC towers above other Shanghai skyline icons, the Oriental Pearl Tower and the Jin Mao Tower. On a clear day, you can see the building from downtown Puxi (that’s the west side of the river) but is best viewed with a sundowner in hand somewhere on the Bund.
Building Overview:
Address: No.100, Century Avenue,Pudong New Area, Shanghai China 200120
Number of Floors: 101 floors above ground, 3 floors below ground
Building Height: 492 meters
Project Architect & Engineer: Mori Building Co., Ltd.
Design Architect & Engineer: Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates P.C. (KPF)
Completion Date: 2008

Building Features:
B3-B1F – Parking
B2-B1F & 2-3F – Shopping & Dining
3-5F – Forum
7-77F – Offices
28-29F – Media Office & Sky Lobby
52-53F – Sky Lobby
79-93F – Park Hyatt Hotel
94F – Sky Arena
94, 97, 100F – Observatory
Tips for Visiting - Dining:

New restaurants are opening every month in the SWFC, quickly filling up the restaurant space. Favorites such as Din Tai Fung and South Beauty can be found on the 3F (check the directory) but lots of options from snacks and deserts to full meals. My favorite is the upscale food court on the B2 level. Dining options vary from Western (including Italian gourmet sandwiches, pizzas and pastas) to good Chinese including a Crystal Jade kitchen where you can order fresh dumplings.
Tips for Visiting - Shopping:
Shopping options aren’t very exciting but the SWFC Design Shop on 3F is worth a stop, especially for SWFC-themed souvenirs. Choose from a number of items with funky designs of the SWFC on the front or my favorite – an SWFC bottle opener.
Note on Shopping & Dining: Follow well-placed signs to the shopping and dining floors. The entrance to these floors is separate from the observatory.

International Commerce Center

 The ICC building in West Kowloon is the tallest building in Hong Kong and one of the world's tallest skyscrapers.
International Commerce Centre (ICC)
Also Known As: Union Square Phase 7
Location: West Kowloon, Hong Kong
Architect: Wong & Ouyang (HK) Ltd.
Design Architect: Kohn Pedersen Fox Association
Construction Started: 2002
Expected Completion: 2010
Height: 484 meters / 1,587.9 feet
Stories: 118
About the International Commerce Centre
Formerly known as Union Square Phase 7, the International Commerce Centre is part of the expansive Union Square project on the Kowloon peninsula across from Hong Kong Island. The ICC building stands at one end of Victoria Harbour, opposite from Two International Finance Centre located across the harbour on Hong Kong Island.
Original plans were for an even taller building with 102 floors rising 574 meters (1,883 feet). However zoning laws prohibited the construction of buildings higher than the surrounding mountains. The design of the ICC building was revised and plans for a pyramidal-shaped top were abandoned.

Petronas Towers

 Tall spires atop the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia make them among the world's tallest buildings, 10 meters higher than the Sears Tower in the USA.
Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Architect: Cesar Pelli
Year: 1998
Petronas Tower 1 Height: 452 meters / 1,483 feet
Petronas Tower 1 Stories: 88
Petronas Tower 2 Height: 452 meters / 1,483 feet
Petronas Tower 2 Stories: 88
About the Petronas Towers
Traditional Islamic design inspired the floor plans for two Petronas towers in Kuala Lumur, Malaysia. Each floor of the 88-story towers is shaped like an 8-pointed star. The two towers have been called cosmic pillars that spiral heavenward. At the 42nd floor, a flexible bridge connects the two Petronas Towers.

Nanjing Greenland Financial Complex

The Nanjing Greenland Financial Center (also Greenland Square Zifeng Tower) is a 450-metre (1,500 ft) supertall skyscraper currently topped-out in Nanjing, China with completion expected in 2009. The 89-story building will feature office space and retail space in the lower section, and restaurants and a public observatory near the top, which will be topped off with a spire. The tower’s stepping is functional, helping separate these sections.
The mixed-use tower became the second tallest building in China and the 5th tallest building in the world when topped out in 2008. An observation deck on the 72nd floor, 287 m (940 ft) above ground, will provide an unobstructed, panoramic view of Nanjing and the nearby Yangtze River, two lakes and the Ningzheng Ridge mountains.
Marshall Strabala and Adrian Smith, who also worked together to design Burj Dubai, designed the competition winning building for the Nanjing Greenland Financial Center. The design was taken over by Gordon Gill under the guidance of Adrian Smith throughout the post-competition design of the building complex. The complex was designed while all three of these architects worked at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill.
Other Information
Location : Nanjing, China
Status : Topped-Out
Estimated completion : 2009
Use : Mixed use
Height : Antenna/Spire – 450 m (1,500 ft), Roof : 381 m (1,250 ft), Top floor – 339 m (1,110 ft)
Floor count : 89
Architect : Skidmore, Owings and Merrill

Willis Tower

The Sears Tower in Chicago was the world's tallest building when it was built in 1973. Today it is the tallest building in North America.
Historically Named: Sears Tower
Current Name: Willis Tower
Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Architect: Bruce Graham, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM)
Year: 1973
Height: 442 meters / 1,450 feet
Stories: 110
About the Sears Tower
 To provide stability against high winds, architect Bruce Graham used a new form of tubular construction for Sears Tower. Two hundred sets of bundled tubes were laid into the bedrock. Then, 76,000 tons of prefabricated steel in 15-foot by 25-foot sections were put into place. Four derrick cranes moved higher with each floor to lift these steel "Christmas Trees" into position.
Facts about the Sears Tower:

The Sears Tower covers two city blocks and has 101 acres (4.4 million square feet) of space.
The roof rises 1/4 of a mile - 1,454 feet (442 meters).
Its highest occupied floor is 1,431 feet above the ground.
The foundation and the floor slabs have some 2,000,000 cubic feet of concrete - enough to build an eight-lane highway 5 miles long.
The Tower has more than 16,000 bronze-tinted windows and 28 acres of black duranodic aluminum skin.
The 222,500-ton building is supported by 114 rock caissons socketed into the bedrock.
A 106-cab elevator system (including 16 double decker elevators) divides the Tower into three separate zones with skylobbies in between.
Two domed entrances, one with skylights, were added in 1984 and 1985.
The Ledge was added 2009.
As part of a rental deal, Willis Group Holdings, Ltd. renamed the Sears Tower in 2009.
Architect Bruce Graham talks about Sears Tower:
"The stepback geometry of the 110-story tower was developed in response to the interior space requirements of Sears, Roebuck and Company. The configuration incorporates the unusually large office floors necessary to Sears' operation along with a variety of smaller floors. The building plan consists of nine 75 x 75 foot column-free squares at the base. Floor sizes are then reduced by eliminating 75 x 75 foot increments at varying levels as the tower rises. A system of double-deck express elevators provides effective vertical transportation, carrying passengers to either of two skylobbies where transfer to single local elevators serving individual floors occurs."
-from Bruce Graham, SOM, by Stanley Tigerman.