Tall Buildings in Numbers - Council on Tall Buildings and Urban

Tall Buildings in Numbers
A Look at Occupiable Telecommunication & Observation Towers
With the recent completion of two megatall telecommunication/observation towers – Canton Tower in 2010 and Tokyo Sky Tree earlier this
year – it is time to review these structures and explain why they are distinguished from buildings in the Council’s official tallest lists (found at
www.skyscrapercenter.com).
To be considered a “building” a project must achieve three milestones: 1) it must be complete, 2) it must be freestanding and, 3) at least 50% of its
height must be occubiable 1 space. While projects like Canton Tower and Tokyo Sky Tree are indeed complete, free standing and partially occupiable
– making them distinct from many of the world’s other telecommunication structures – less than 50% of their height is occupiable and thus the
projects cannot be considered “buildings.” The following is a study of the world's “supertall” (300 m+) occupiable telecommunication & observation
towers (referred to as “occupiable T&O towers” in the study) – some 36 of which now exist in 23 countries around the globe. 
Notes:
1
“Occupiable” refers to
conditioned space which is
designed to be safely and legally
occupied by residents, workers or
other building users on a
consistent basis. It does not
include service or mechanical
areas which experience
occasional maintenance access.
2
“Height to Tip” is measured from
the level of the lowest, significant,
open-air, pedestrian entrance to
the highest point of the building,
irrespective of material or
function of the highest element.
See all official definitions and criteria
at http://criteria.ctbuh.org
Occupiable T&O Towers
1
The world’s 10 tallest occupiable Telecommunication and
Observation (T&O) towers according to “Height to Tip” 2
are displayed below, with a blue highlight showing the
location of occupiable space. In the background are the
world’s 10 tallest buildings, for comparison.
2
Tokyo Sky Tree
634 m/2,080 ft
Tokyo, 2012
Canton Tower
600 m/1,969 ft
Guangzhou, 2010
3
4
CN Tower
553 m/1,815 ft
Toronto, 1976 Ostankino Tower
540 m/1,772 ft
Moscow, 1967
Oriental Pearl
Television Tower
468 m/1,535 ft
Shanghai, 1995 Milad Tower
435 m/1,427 ft
459 m
Tehran, 2008
5
6
4
2
450 m
1,476 ft
5
1,507 ft
447 m
1,467 ft
Tallest Observatory
337 m
1,106 ft
Three of the world’s 10 highest public observatories are
located in occupiable T&O
towers:
38 | Tall Buildings in Numbers
8
9
293 m
961 ft
276 m
906 ft
253 m
830 ft
10
60
10
8
6
4
2
0
2
2
2
2
China Japan India Rusia Germany
10
Tianjin Radio
& TV Tower
Henan Province
415 m/1,362 ft Radio & TV Tower Central Radio
& TV Tower
Tianjin, 1991
388 m/1,273 ft
Zhengzhou, 2011 387 m/1,268 ft
Beijing, 1992
350 m
1,148 ft
1 Shanghai WFC, 474 m / 1,555 ft
2 Canton Tower, 459 m / 1,507 ft
3 Burj Khalifa, 452 m / 1,483 ft
4 Tokyo Skytree, 450 m / 1,476 ft
5 CN Tower, 447 m / 1,467 ft
6 Kingkey 100, 427 m / 1,401 ft
7 Guangzhou IFC, 415 m / 1,362 ft
8 Willis Tower, 413 m / 1,354 ft
9 Taipei 101, 392 m / 1,285 ft
10 ICC, 388 m / 1,272 ft
Until 2007, there
were more supertall
occupiable
telecommunication/
observation towers
than supertall
buildings in the world.
7
Menara Kuala
Lumpur
420 m/1,379 ft
Kuala Lumpur, 1996
China,60with 10
50
supertall
occupiable
40
telecommunication/
36
30
observation
towers, has
23
five times
more of these
20
12
structures
than any
10
other country.
0
No. of Countries
buildings with
buildings
No. of Countries
towers with
towers
450 m
1,476 ft
248 m
814 ft
The 600m Canton Tower
contains 37 floors and a
gross floor area of 114,000
m². In contrast, the 632m
Shanghai Tower (a building)
will have 121 floors and a
GFA of over 500,000 m².
CTBUH Journal | 2012 Issue II
Supertall (300m+) Occupiable T&O Towers (36 No.)
Asia
Europe
North America
Middle East
What’s the Difference?
Oceania
No
Building Name
City
m
ft
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
15
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
26
28
28
28
31
32
=33
=33
=33
=33
Tokyo Sky Tree
Canton Tower
CN Tower
Ostankino Tower
Oriental Pearl Television Tower
Milad Tower
Menara Kuala Lumpur
Tianjin Radio & TV Tower
Henan Province Radio & Television Tower
Central Radio & TV Tower
Kiev TV Tower
Tashkent Tower
Liberation Tower
Alma-Ata Tower
Berliner Fernsehturm
Riga TV Tower
Stratosphere Tower
West Pearl Tower
Macau Tower
Europaturm
Dragon Tower
Tokyo Tower
Emley Moor National Telecommunications Transmitter
Sky Tower
Vilnius TV Tower
Yerevan TV Tower
Tallinn TV Tower
Azeri TV Tower
Nanjing TV Tower
St. Petersburg TV Tower
Liaoning TV Tower
Sydney Tower
Jaisalmer TV Tower
Samatra TV Tower
VRT Toren
Eiffel Tower
Tokyo
Guangzhou
Toronto
Moscow
Shanghai
Tehran
Kuala Lumpur
Tianjin
Zhengzhou
Beijing
Kiev
Tashkent
Kuwait City
Almaty
Berlin
Riga
Las Vegas
Chengdu
Macau
Frankfurt am Main
Harbin
Tokyo
Huddersfield
Auckland
Vilnius
Yerevan
Tallinn
Baku
Nanjing
St. Petersburg
Shenyang
Sydney
Jaisalmer
Bhuj
St Pieters-Leeuw
Paris
634
600
553
540
468
435
420
415
388
387
385
375
372
371
368
368
350
339
338
337
336
333
329
328
326
312
312
310
310
310
306
305
300
300
300
300
2080
1969
1814
1772
1535
1427
1378
1362
1273
1270
1263
1230
1220
1217
1207
1207
1148
1112
1109
1106
1102
1093
1079
1076
1070
1024
1024
1017
1017
1017
1004
1001
984
984
984
984
To be officially recognized as a “building” or an “occupiable telecommunication/observation tower,” a project must meet a number of criteria. Four categories of structures are displayed and described below.
Occupiable
Freestanding Structure
Tall Building
Shanghai Tower
632 m/2,073 ft
Shanghai, 2014
Tokyo Sky Tree
634 m/2,080 ft
Tokyo, 2012
Free Standing
Contains occupiable space
>50% of height occupiable
Free Standing
Contains occupiable space
>50% of height occupiable
Freestanding
Structure
Cable-Stayed
Structure
WITI TV Tower
329 m/1,078 ft
Milwaukee, USA, 1962
KVLY-TV Tower
629 m/2,063 ft
Blanchard, USA, 1963
Free Standing
Contains occupiable space
>50% of height occupiable
Free Standing
Contains occupiable space
>50% of height occupiable
Location and History of Supertall Occupiable Telecommunication/Observation Towers
Australia: 1
N. Zealand: 1
Kuwait: 1
Iran: 1
United States.: 1
2 (5%)
Canada: 1
700
Oceania
Middle 2
East (5%)
North
America
France: 1
2 (5%)
2012: Tokyo Sky Tree
Belgium: 1
2010: Canton Tower
Estonia: 1
Asia
Lithuania: 1
600
Height in Meters
U.K.: 1
China: 10
19 (53%)
Europe
1967: Ostankino Tower
11 (31%)
Latvia: 1
1976: CN Tower completes
2007: number of supertall
buildings surpasses number of
supertall towers
Japan: 2
Ukraine: 1
India: 2
500
1995: Oriental Pearl Television Tower
1974: Kiev TV Tower
Malaysia: 1
Germany: 2
Uzbekistan: 1
Rusia: 2
Azerbaijan: 1
400
1969: Berliner Fernsehturm
Kazakhstan: 1
Armenia: 1
1958: Tokyo Tower
1889: Paris completes the Eiffel Tower,
first man-made supertall structure
300
1880
1900
10
10
The Eiffel Tower
8
became
the world’s
first6 supertall structure
in 1889.
It remained
4
one of the tallest
10 2
2
2
2
2
structures in the world
0
China Japan India Rusia Germany
until
1974.
CTBUH Journal | 2012 Issue II
1920
60
1940
60
50
40
36
30
23
20
12
10
0
No. of Countries
buildings with
buildings
No. of Countries
towers with
towers
Year of Completion
1960
While the world’s
60 current supertall
buildings are located
in just 12 countries, the
36 supertall occupiable
T&O towers are spread
through 23 countries.
1980
2000
2012
Until the completion of the
Burj Khalifa (2010), the KVLYTV Tower (1963), a cablestayed telecommunications
tower in North Dakota, was
the world’s tallest manmade structure.
Tall Buildings in Numbers | 39