Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat

Tall Buildings in Numbers: World's Highest Observation Decks

Source: CTBUH Journal, No. 3 (2015), pp. 44-45
Published by: Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/44154298
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Tall Buildings in Numbers

World's Highest Observation Decks

Perhaps no element of a tall building is more closely related to the pure Observation Decks by Function
pleasure of standing high in the sky and taking in the view of one's
This figure shows a breakdown of the uses within the 75
surroundings than observation decks. Often adding an important source of
tallest structures in the world with observation decks.
revenue for the structures that have them, observation decks also change the
way people view cities, and can potentially elevate their international
Hotel 3%
reputation. However, many operators don't take the "pure pleasure of height" for
granted, choosing to include all manner of amusements, from glass floors to
roller coasters and bungee jumps. Here we take a look at the history and
chronicle some of the histrionics of humanity's obsession with height.

The history of the observation deck can be said to have its origins in North
American culture, and the observation deck was integrated into the skyscraper
at an early stage. As soon as we started building into the clouds, people wanted
to know what the view looked like from the top. Recently however, Asia and the
Middle East have taken over the development of the observation deck as they
come into their era of building tall.

Note: All data as of June 201 5

2018-
(Projected)

World's Highest Observation Decks - Historically 634m

561.25 m
2010-2015 . I
2010-2010 555 7 m I
488 m I ft
2008-2010 I 1
474 m I M
1976-2008
447 m ■
I 11
H
1975-1976 ■ ■
415 m ■

1974-1975 I Uà Bi
600 m 413m ■ ■
1973-1974 ■
395 m n ■ Bf
1931-1973 I .1 111 ■
373 m ñ
1889-1931 I I 11

Washington EHMToww Empir* Stat* TWoWortdTrada Willis Towar Two Workl Trad« CN Towar Shanghai World * Canton Towar Burj Khalifa Shanghai Towar Kingdom Towar
Mon umant 300m/984ft Bullding Canter» 442.1 m / 1,451 ft Cantar* 553.3 m /1,815 ft Financial Cantar 600m/1, 969ft 829.8 m / 2,723 ft 632m/2, 073ft 1,000 m /3,281 ft
169.1 m/555ft Paris 381 m/1, 250ft 415.1m/ 1,362ft Chicago 415.1 m / 1,362ft Toronto 494.3 m /1,622 ft Guangzhou Dubai Shanghai Jeddah
Washington New York City New York City New York City Shanghai

*Two World Trade Center, New York City, is featured on this historical skyline twice. After the original observation deck (395
^
meters), was surpassed by the observation deck at Willis Tower, Chicago (41 3 meters) in 1 974, Two World Trade Center opened
a new, higher observation deck on its roof (41 5 meters), once again making it the tallest observation deck in the world.

44 I Tall Building in Numbers CTBUH Journal | 201 5 Issue III

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Historie Increases in Observatory Height by City The World's 75 Highest Observation Decks
Ranked by observation deck height, the following table lists t
1974- i ļ and height of the 75 tallest observation decks in the world that
412.7 m
been completed (shaded), or are currently under construction
- « . 1955-1969 I I IK

LnlCQÇO 3i3.8m - , I H|
400 m

ļļ 1 Kingdom

[ļ
Tower

98
2 Suzhou Zhonqnan Center

3 Goldin Finance 1 1 7

4 Wuhan Greenland Center

1930-1955 179.5m 5 Shanghai Tower

165 m

6 Buri Khalifa

7 Ping An Finance Center

8 China Zun Tower

9 Lotte World Tower

1 0 Makkah Royal Clock Tower

11 Canton Tower

1 2 Shanghai World Financial Center

13 Tokyo Sky Tree

14 CN Tower

Chicago Board Prudential Building John Hancock Willis Towar 15 Comm

ofTrada 183.2 m/601 ft Cantar 442.1 m / 1,451 ft 16 KK100 Shenzhen 427.1 441.8 ~ 2011
1 84.4 m / 605 ft 343.7 m / 1,128 ft
1 7 Guangzhou International Finance Center Guangzhou

18 Willis Tower

19 Dalian Greenland Center

NewYorkCity ™ 2014_ ļ
20 TAIPE1 101

2 1 International Commerce Center

' 386.5 m 22 One World Trade Center

23 Marina 106

24 Marina 101

• - 25 Empire State Building

1930-1931 If 26 PetronasTower2

27 Princess Tower

28 Lakhta Center

29 Oriental Pearl Television Tower

30 T & C Tower

31 Jin Mao Tower

- liTI If
32 Ostankino Tower

33 30 Hudson Yards

34 Longxi International Hotel

35 John Hancock Center

36 Tianjin World Financial Center

37 China World Tower

38 Stalnaya Vershina

39 World One

40 The Torch

Bank of Empira Stata TWo World Trada Ona World Trada 41 KAFD World Trade Center

Manhattan Building Cantar Cantar

282.5 m /927 ft 381 m/1, 250ft 415m/1, 362ft 541 m /1,776 ft 42 Shun Hing Sguare

43 Cernindo Tower

44 Milad Tower

45 Kingdom Center

2015- 46 Baiyoke Tower II

Shanghai 561 3 m - 47

48
Brys

Abeno
Buzz

Harukas

600 m

2008-2015 ■■ 49 Spring City 66

50 Eureka Tower
474 m

' 873 m al
51 Etihad Tower T2

52 Northeast Asia Trade Tower

53 Eiffel Tower

54 Menara Kuala Lumpur

1995-2008
342 m 55 Overseas Union Bank Center

56 Columbia Center

57 Landmark Tower

58 Zifeng Tower at Greenland Center

Y
59 Central Radio & Television Tower

60 JP Morgan Chase Tower

61 Stratosphere Tower

62 Leatop Plaza

63 Republic Plaza

64 Lotte Center Hanoi

200m

65 Torre Costanera

66 Sydney Tower

67 GE Building

68 Tianjin Radio & TV Tower

69 Osaka World Trade Center

JUL B
70 Etihad Towers T1

71 Henan Province Radio & TV Tower

Oriantal Paar! Talavision Towar Shanghai World Financial Cantar Shanghai Towar
72 Tokyo Tower

468 m / 1 ,535 ft 494.3 m / 1 ,622 ft 632 m / 2,073 ft 73 Colombo Lotus Tower

74 Zhengzhou Greenland Plaza

75 I The Shard

CTBUH Journal | 201 5 Issue III Tall Building in Numbers | 45

H H
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