July 07, 2005

10:03:15 pm World's Tallest Buildings  

A couple of months ago we posed a trivia question that asked what two cities had projects underway that would surpass Taipei 101 as the world's tallest building. We received several responses, but we never got around to answering the question because the responses revealed that we needed to do more research. Moreover, that research reveled, well, the answer we had in mind was not correct, and any answer is more complicated than we anticipated. Now having just visited Taipei 101, we procrastinate no further and provide an answer.

The cities we had in mind were Shanghai and Dubai, and the buildings we had in mind were, respectively, the World Financial Center (WFC), and Burj Dubai. Subsequent research on our part has shown Shanghai's WFC not to be a correct answer. At the time of its original conception in mid 90s, it was to be the world's tallest. A multi-year construction delay occurred, however, due to--take your pick--1) a glut of office space in Shanghai; 2) financing problems after the 1997 Asian crisis; or 3) soil tests showing the site would not support the original design structurally. Whatever the reason, the architects changed the design during the delay, and the WFC will now be shorter, coming close, but no longer surpassing Taipei 101. On our visit to Shanghai, we confirmed that construction has resumed, although at this point there is nothing to see but a hole in the ground. Some rumors suggest there is a secret plan to add some form of structural appendage to the top so that WFC would be taller than Taipei 101. This strikes us as wishful thinking by Shanghai boosters because the design of WFC does not allow easily for such an appendage (see Shanghai image gallery for a depiction of the finished building). Further, it's probably a moot point anyway, because with the delay in Shanghai, the much taller Dubai building is now scheduled for completion around the same time.

This illustrates an issue with the announcement of future world's tallest buildings. Most announcements never get off the ground. We recall that two different projects announced in Chicago over the past two decades, the Miglin-Beitler Tower at Madison and Wells in 1989, and the Dearborn Tower at Madison and Dearborn in 1999 were never built due to financing problems. That developers announced each shortly before a recession that scuttled their financing plans is no coincidence. Tall building announcements are often a contrarian indicator about future economic activity. For someone to have audacity to build the world's tallest building usually takes a prolonged period of economic prosperity. And after such a prolonged period, things are usually due to take a tumble. For such a project to be completed, it must be well under construction when the downturn hits. Consider three prior world's tallest buildings. Each signaled a major economic downturn, but each was far enough along to be completed. The Petronas Towers were completed in 1998, the year after the Asian Crises hit Malaysia and the rest of developing Asia. The Sears Tower was completed in 1974, while the painful 1973-1974 OPEC oil embargo recession was underway. The Empire State Building topped out in 1931 during the Great Depression.

Here are the figures. Taipei 101 is 1,670 feet tall. Burg Dubai is scheduled to finish in 2008 at an eye-popping 2,314 feet. While a building is never certain until it's finished, the foundation work is complete and we think more likely than not, this building will be built. (We will be in Dubai in two weeks and probably will talk more about what's happening in that city at that time.) There are some rumors that the final height of Burj Dubai may be different from the initial figure here, and it could be even higher. The Shanghai WFC now will not finish until 2008 and it will be 1,614 feet.

Here's a web link to information on Burj Dubai:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burj_Dubai

Note that outdated information for Shanghai WFC remains prevalent on the web, indicating an earlier completion date than 2008 and taller height. You will also find incorrect information on the web for a project called Union Square Phase 7 or Kowloon Station Phase 7 in Hong Kong. The outdated information is that this building will be around 1900 feet, which could have made it the world's tallest. Developers have since redesigned that building down to 1,588 feet. It has a 2007 completion date--we do not know if it remains on schedule. Also on the web are extremely sketchy details on something called the Center of India Tower in Katangi, India that is to be 2,222 feet, making it the world's tallest, if you ignore the Dubai building. This project was first announced years ago and with no substantial information available on it today, we are skeptical it will ever be built. Finally, there's the Freedom Tower in New York City to be built on the site of the World Trade Center. A third iteration of its design was released last week. While this iteration fixes the security problems present in the second iteration, in our opinion it re-introduces the aesthetic concerns that scuttled the first iteration. Now not scheduled to be completed until 2010, the present design retains the spire that will rise to a symbolic 1,776 feet. At present, we believe the chance of the current design being built is 50% at best. Even if it is, we think it is unlikely that this building will ever hold the title of the world's tallest building.

Now let's recognize those who answered our question. Cheryl Hays of Plant City, Florida, aka Deanna's mom, was not the first to answer, but she was the first to provide the answer we had in mind. She not only named the buildings in Dubai and Shanghai, she also mentioned Union Square in Hong Kong and the Freedom Tower in New York City. No penalties for guessing here! We award her the no*prize for this trivia question!

Larry Padgett of Buchanan, Michigan aka Nick's dad responded first. He also named the Hong Kong building, which he prefers to call Kowloon Station, as well as the Center of India Tower. Sorry dad, but you had outdated information on Kowloon Station's height and the India building is does not have a credible chance of being built, in our opinion. Nevertheless, we do not want to be ungracious, so we award you an honorable mention early bird no*prize for your superior responsiveness!

Finally, John Stierman of Macomb, Illinois, aka Nick's mom's neighbor, correctly, albeit a bit belatedly, named Dubai as one of the two cities we were looking for. He had the good sense not to name Shanghai since it wasn't a correct answer anyway. John wins the high-percentage answerer no*prize honorable mention award.

The link below details the 100 tallest buildings in world as of right now (buildings under construction are not listed). We list the top 20 in this post (the formatting is messed up but you should be able to read the table). We note that the city of Hong Kong now has as many buildings in the top 20 as the entire United States. China leads all countries with five in the top 20--nine if you include Hong Kong and 11 if you include Taiwan. Asia has 16 of the top 20, the US four. The US does have 11 buildings in the next top positions, 21-40.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001338.html

Rank; Building; City; Year; Stories; Height in Feet
1. Taipei 101, Taipei, Taiwan
2004 101 509 1,670
2. Petronas Tower 1, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
1998 88 452 1,483
3. Petronas Tower 2, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 1998 88 452 1,483
4. Sears Tower, Chicago
1974 110 442 1,450
5. Jin Mao Building, Shanghai 1999 88 421 1,380
6. Two International Finance Centre, Hong Kong 2003 88 415 1,362
7. CITIC Plaza, Guangzhou, China 1996 80 391 1,283
8. Shun Hing Square, Shenzhen, China 1996 69 384 1,260
9. Empire State Building, New York
1931 102 381 1,250
10. Central Plaza, Hong Kong 1992 78 374 1,227
11. Bank of China, Hong Kong 1989 72 369 1,209
12. Emirates Tower One, Dubai 1999 54 355 1,165
13. Turntex Sky Tower, Kaohsiung, Taiwan 1997 85 348 1,140
14. Aon Centre, Chicago 1973 80 346 1,136
15. The Center, Hong Kong 1998 73 346 1,135
16. John Hancock Center, Chicago 1969 100 344 1,127
17. Wuhan International Securities Building, Wuhan UC05 68 331 1,087
18. Shimao International Plaza, Shanghai UC05 60 331 1,087
19. Ryugyong Hotel, Pyongyang, N. Korea 1995 105 330 1,083
20. Burj al Arab Hotel, Dubai 1999 60 321 1,053

Finally, as we have written before, there are multiple definitions of how a building's height is measured. The definitions multiplied when Petronas Towers surpassed Sears Tower by the official measure, but Sears boosters pointed out that it was actually still taller by three alternative measures. As of its completion, Taipei 101 now tops the list under three of the four definitions (including the official definition), with Sears still holding the title under one definition, and Petronas no longer having any claim as world's tallest.

Here is an article that explains these definitions (1 meter = 3.28 feet). Again, the formatting is messed up, but you should be able to read what it says.

For immediate release – April 20, 2004

“World’s Tallest” Confirmed for Taiwan

Chicago . . . The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat’s Height Committee, after reviewing its height criteria, has officially designated Taiwan’s Taipei 101 as the “World’s Tallest”. The initial announcement was made by CTBUH Chairman, Ron Klemencic, at the Structural Engineers Foundation of Illinois’ 2004 Lecture on April 15 in Chicago, where members of the Taipei 101 design team made a presentation on the construction of the building.

Measured to the architectural top, Taipei 101 has a height of 508m, which places it above Malaysia’s twin Petronas Towers, measuring in at 452m. Chicago’s Sears Tower now moves into fourth place at 442m, followed by the Jin Mao Building in Shanghai at 421m.

The CTBUH official criteria states that “The height of a building is measured from the sidewalk level of the main entrance to the architectural top of the building, including penthouse and tower. Towers include spires and pinnacles. Television and radio antennas, masts, and flag poles are not included.”

In 1996 the Council voted to expand the data gathered to include three additional height categories – Highest Occupied Floor, Top of the Roof, and Top of Pinnacle or Antenna. Although the Sears Tower held the record in these three categories, Taipei 101 has now taken over two of the three, with the Sears Tower remaining as the record holder for Top of Pinnacle or Antenna at 527m.

The international membership of the CTBUH Height Committee includes Mir Ali of the University of Illinois, Champaign, IL; Eli Attia of Eli Attia Architects, New York, NY; Georges Binder of Buildings & Data, Brussels, Belgium; John Chapman of Schindler Elevator Corporation, Morristown, NJ; Joseph Colaco of CBM Engineers, Houston, TX; W. Gene Corley of Construction Technology Labs, Skokie, IL; Mahjoub ElNimeiri of the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL; James Forbes of Scott Wilson Irwin Johnson Pty Ltd, Sydney, Australia; Tom Fridstein of the Hillier Group, New York, NY; Marshall Gerometta, St. Joseph, MO; Jeff Herzer of World’s Tallest Media, Inc., St. Joseph, MO; Nicholas Isyumov of The University of Western Ontario, Southwold, Canada; Tom McCool of Turner Steiner International, Doylestown, PA; R. Shankar Nair of Teng & Associates, Chicago, IL; Gary Pomerantz of Flack + Kurtz, New York, NY; Mark Sarkisian of Skidmore Owings & Merrill, San Francisco; Jan Vambersky of Corsmit Consulting Engineers, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; and George von Klan of Edgett Williams Consulting Group, Mill Valley, CA.

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, based at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, IL is the only international organization that brings together all of the disciplines involved in creating the urban environment on a global basis. Its mission is to disseminate information on healthy urban environments and tall building technology, to maximize the international interaction of professionals involved in creating the built environment, and to make the latest knowledge available to professionals worldwide in a useful form. Currently there are over 1,000 members from 80 countries representing a wide spectrum of professional specialization.

Send feedback • Permalink

April 30, 2005

04:42:47 am Malaysia  

Country Background:
Population: 24 million
Per capita GDP: $9,000
Size: slightly larger than New Mexico
Currency: Malaysian Ringgit, fixed at 3.8 per US dollar
Independence: 1957 from United Kingdom as Malaya. Malaya expanded to become Malaysia in 1963 when Singapore and two states on the island of Borneo joined the federation. Singapore seceded by mutual agreement in 1965, but the rest of Malaysia remained in tact. Language: Bahasa Melayu is the official language (a form of Malay), but all of the languages of Singapore, plus a few others are present. English is common, not quite to the extent of Singapore, but English speakers will have no problems here. Main ethnic groups include Malay, 58%, Chinese, 24%, and Indian, 8%.

Itinerary

Sunday, April 24, 2005 - Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Singapore Airlines flight from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Two nights at Le Meridien.

Temperature high/low during our stay: 90/75 and humid.

Kuala Lumpur (KL) is the capital and largest city of Malaysia. It is a relatively new city, founded in the mid-19th Century by the British.
Population: between 1 and 2 million

Kuala Lumpur Activities:
- Petronas Towers
- National Museum of History
- City Tour

Our hotel in KL is a new, five-star hotel with rooms on Expedia for $60 per night, including free breakfast, a great exercise room (free also), and a free high-speed Internet connection in the room. Malaysia is an inexpensive country. Its currency ought to be higher, but the government fixes it at 3.8 per dollar, much like China fixes the yuan at 8.28 per dollar. In coming years, both countries are expected to allow their currencies to float, at least partially. We expect both to rise.

Malaysia was hit extremely hard in the 1997-1998 Asian crises, during which its then-expensive free-floating currency devalued sharply and its stock markets plunged. We don't have the numbers at hand, but the stock market went down something like 80% or more in US dollar terms (Indonesia, Thailand, and other countries suffered similarly.) Mahathir Mohamad, the country's long-standing prime minister, went berserk, blamed foreigner currency traders for trying to ruin the country, and said the crisis was a failure of capitalism. These market unfriendly words, combined with follow-on currency controls and foreign investment restrictions, caused emerging market funds to sell their Malaysian stocks and move on to other countries that understood the lessons of capitalism better. Mohamad seemed unaware that his words and actions were exacerbating the crises. In a bizarre twist, he evened jailed and tried his finance minister--for sodomy of all things. While we have no knowledge of the finance minister's inclinations, we are confident that whatever sexual peccadilloes he may have were of no concern to the government in 1995, when Malaysia was receiving more foreign direct investment than any country in East Asia.

There are many universal truths around the world and here are two relating to politicians. One, when there is a crisis, foreigners are often blamed. Two, politicians are nothing if not creative and resourceful at trumping up charges to remove opponents and scapegoats from office, or to prevent them from running in the first place. A current example is the Mexican government prosecuting the mayor of Mexico City on an administrative matter that may disqualify him from running for president in 2006. So if you hear a politician blaming foreigners, look elsewhere for the truth. And while there may be some basis in truth to the charges against domestic political opponents, usually the charges are greatly inflated and stretched. Conservatives, liberals, presidential democracies, parliamentary democracies, socialist countries, authoritarian regimes--these truths are present everywhere on this globe.

Anyway, getting back to Malaysia, Mohamad retired in 2004 after 23 years and a more open-minded successor, Abdullah Badawi, was elected prime minister. Badawi is saying all the right things and loosening the investment restrictions such that emerging markets investors are beginning to re-enter the country. Actually, Mohamad--other than going temporarily insane in 1997 and 1998--was not such a bad guy. Malaysia grew tremendously during his reign until then, averaging 8% annual growth during the 1980s. To its credit, Malaysia has learned a lot from Singapore and is not too proud to copy what works. So KL is clean, crime free, with an efficient airport and public transportation system. Malaysia is a lot like Singapore, but not quite as successful (this says more about the degree of Singapore's success than any shortcomings on Malaysia's part), and with the ethnic and religious majorities and minorities reversed. Whereas Singapore has a Chinese/Buddhist majority and a Malay/Muslim minority, KL has a Malay/Muslim majority and a Chinese/Buddhist minority. Both countries also have Indian/Hindu minorities. Singapore is more westernized, but both countries were British colonies and westerners are welcome in both places. To a westerner, though, KL feels more foreign.

We noticed several halted building projects, a legacy from the 1997-1998 crises. Overall, though, things seem vibrant enough in KL. There were no lingering signs of 1997 in Singapore or Indonesia either, although in Indonesia we were only in a tourist area, not a business center.

The reversal of majorities and minorities is one underlying reason why Singapore did not last as part of Malaysia. With Singapore included, Chinese edged slightly past Malays as the ethnic majority in Malaysia. Also, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew's People's Action Party (PAP) began to campaign in Malaysian local politics. They were entitled to do this as they had become part of Malaysia, but let's just say the Malaysian government would have preferred the PAP to keep their focus on Singapore only. Other countries also were wary of Singapore. Indonesia and the Philippines viewed a Singapore-Malaysia combination as a regional competitive threat to the point where Indonesia may have clandestinely encouraged Malay-Chinese race riots in Singapore. So for these reasons and others, Singapore and Malaysia arranged a hasty divorce, ejecting Singapore from the country it joined only two years earlier.

One thing KL has that Singapore does not is a former world's tallest building. The Petronas Towers held that title from 1997-2004, taking it from the Sears Tower and passing it along to Taipei 101 in Taiwan. The subject of a recent e-mail no*prize trivia question, we note here for the record that Nick's father, Larry Padgett, was the first to answer the question correctly. Honorable mention goes out to Don Furman and Jan Johnson who had the correct answer, but were a bit late. Dangerous Don hails from Garner, Iowa, a small but prosperous little town where the tallest building, the grain elevator, is nearly five stories tall. In his youth, he was a corrupting influence on Nick, and was always the source of Nick's youthful indiscretions. But like George W. Bush, Don has cleaned up his hard-partying ways, and settled down to a life of respectability in Garner, where he has a monopoly as the only optometrist in two towns. The FTC is investigating.

Many spoilsports in Chicago took issue with losing the world's tallest title that they had for 23 years, and pointed out correctly that the Sears Tower is actually taller than the Petronas Towers in many ways. It's a bit of moot point now that Petronas is no longer number one and several other even taller buildings are planned. But how can it be that some claim Sears is taller than Petronas? Given two buildings, isn't it obvious which is bigger? Actually no. If you got a group of people together to decide how to measure building height, you would soon realize that there are many different ways to measure. All start from street level, but where do you stop? At the absolute highest point, counting all antennas? At the roof, ignoring all antennas and spires? At the highest inhabited floor, ignoring any floors devoted to mechanics? By all of these measures, the Sears Tower is taller than Petronas Towers. But none of these measures is the correct measure. The correct measure as determined by the Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat at Lehigh University is "from sidewalk level of main entrance to structural top of the building. Television and radio antennas and flag poles are not included." Thus, the spires on top of Petronas Towers, which are considered structural, are including in its height, but the television antennas on the top of Sears Tower are not counted.

We point this out not to further the claims of argumentative Chicagoans, but as background for a future discussion on future world's tallest buildings. We received several replies to this follow-on trivia question that we asked via e-mail. The two buildings we had in mind were mentioned first by Cheryl Hays, Deanna's mom, but several other buildings we were not aware of were also cited. So we need to do some more research on this topic before we hand out the priceless no*prize. More on this later.

In a postscript to our first contest on the current world's tallest building, we received an e-mail from our Asia advance man, John Krotzer, Nick's B-school roommate, and our provider of lodging in Shanghai, China. When John heard of our world tour last year, he voluntarily agreed to move his wife and three children to Asia and then arrange business trips to various destinations prior to our arrival to provide us with restaurant reviews, attractions to see, and the location of English-language bookstores. In a past log, you may remember that we detailed the notorious Kidman-Krotzer Dinner in Sydney. John writes, " I should get a bonus. I was IN this tower [Taipei 101] when you wrote this! I am in Taipei as we speak. This building also has the world's fastest elevator--38 seconds up and 46 down. It goes down [slower] so your stomach doesn't feel queasy."

Not to be outdone, while John is gallivanting around the Pacific, his wife Tania reports in from Shanghai of her recent shopping exploits, "Success!!! Now in addition to seeing the Krotzer-Romanoff family, you can look forward to drinking Snapple Raspberry Iced Tea. The good news for me was that the store FINALLY had Kraft Macaroni & Cheese today too (the first time I've been able to find it!)" Well, this is quite a treat and most unexpected. We may just cancel the remainder of our Vietnam tour and head right to Shanghai.

While Deanna can look forward to her trusty Coca-Cola every day in any country in the world, Nick has had no Snapple since Tampa, where Deanna's mom stocks a second refrigerator with no less than five cases of sugary beverages at all times. There was raspberry iced tea on occasion in New Zealand and Australia, but it was always the artificially too sweet Lipton or Nestea versions. Snapple was common in Singapore, but apparently the local distributor has an anti-raspberry tea bias, for nowhere on the island did we see this flavor. Cranberry/raspberry juice yes, but raspberry iced tea no.

Now this will come as a great shock to many, and one of us may even deny this fact, but truthful reporting must come ahead of martial bliss, so we will relate that on this trip Nick has been very flexible and adaptable with his food and beverage consumption, much more so than finicky Deanna with her ever-insistent two-legged vegetarian requirements. How she worries so about getting violently ill and throwing up her meal. Why Nick even ate lettuce at one meal in Singapore, as documented in our Image Gallery!

Send feedback • Permalink