obviously, construction technologies are advancing extremely quickly. couple that with multi-billionnaires / deep-pocketed companies trying to outdo each other in the quest for the next standout design and you have a near-future filled with mile-high skyscrapers and buildings that no longer look like buildings.
below are 9 strange and unique structures which have either been approved or are in the final stages of approval. some have already been partially constructed.
welcome to the future landscape.
1. aqua, usa (website)
from a distance this skyscraper, to be completed in 2009 in chicago, will seem quite traditional. it’ll only be when you get close and look up that you can appreciate the ripple/jelly effect created by variously sized balconies from top to bottom.
2. chicago spire, usa (website)
the phenomenal chicago spire, when completed in 2010, will be the world’s tallest residential building and the tallest building of any kind in the western world. seemingly modelled on the image of a giant drill poking through the ground, the 609m structure will dominate the chicago skyline.
3. cctv headquarters, china (website)
at a modest 234m the cctv building isn’t going to stand out from a distance. however the design and shape is a crowdstopper to say the least and will be another incredible addition to beijing’s skyline in time for the 2008 olympics. the shape, described as a ‘z criss-cross’ results in a very high, seemingly unsupported corner at the front. let’s hope there’s a glass floor up there.
4. regatta hotel, jakarta (website)
taking on a nautical theme, the developers say the 10 smaller towers represent sailing boats whilst the larger building is ‘the lighthouse’. it’s the lighthouse that steals the show for me, possibly the most incredible looking structure i’ve seen for a long time. if it ends up looking anything close to these pictures i’ll be impressed.
5. residence antilia, india (architects’ website)
construction has begun on residence antilia despite opposition from those who see it as an ‘excessive’ design in a city where more than 65% of the population live in slums. politics aside and after you recover from the initial shock of seeing a skyscraper that resembles an ikea cd rack, the building actually looks like it may succeed as a stunning, unique, green piece of architecture.
6. russia tower, russia (architects’ website)
topped with an observation deck over the city of moscow, russia tower will become the tallest building in europe when completed in 2012 and twice the height of the eiffel tower. construction has already started on this angular beast which was designed by foster & partners, also responsible for the gherkin and spaceport america, currently in development.
7. penang global city centre, malaysia (website)
following months of speculation and sturdy opposition, this humungous project is in the final stages of approval and apparently construction will start very soon. even so, due to the size of the plan it will take at least 15 years to complete. resembling a sci-fi city, the area will be crowned by 2 x 200m towers and completely transform the small island of penang.
8. gazprom headquarters, russia (architects’ website)
this gigantic, 300m tall glass flame of a building will house the gazprom headquarters in st. petersburg, dwarfing all structures in its vicinity. it will apparently change colour up to 10 times per day depending on the position of the sun. the building has already been nicknamed ‘corn on the cob’ by unhappy locals.
9. burj dubai, dubai (website)
this is the big one. when completed next year it will be the tallest man-made structure in the world and the tallest building by a long shot with a predicted height of 818m. note: currently the tallest building on earth, excluding an antenna, is taipei 101 in taiwan which stands at 509m. the photo below is the building’s current state: the skyscrapers below the burj dubai used to look tall.
Filed under: architecture, bizarre, construction, design, just brilliant, photo, technology, wow | 91 Comments
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Just looking at these pictures gives me vertigo.
Nice buildings!!!!
Dubai is top notch for this sort of thing right now. In addition to the ones above, see also the Dancing Towers – http://198.106.254.194/idf/2007/04/17/dancing-towers-dubai-by-zaha-hadid/ – also, the Dubai Towers at Dubai Lagoons – http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=11799107&postcount=11
Burj dubai is now the tallest building in the world, even without completing.
What can we see in the next 50 years?
http://www.juzamdjinn.blogspot.com
so i guess that size DOES matter
Why this urge to build vertically?? That race to have the tallest structure reminds of the 30’s rather than the 00’s…. Sometimes people are very old-fashioned in trying to be modern.
amazing!
gazprom headquarters is cancelled, as i know
No one else sees the Chicago building as blatantly phallic? It looks like a giant dildo, folks!
That is becuase men still rule the world. It is an ever-present reminder to you.
These are really great photos and a nice post, thanks for checking things out, come check out my blog on wordpress too.
http://ThunkDifferent.com
Great collection – definitely inspiring work.
Jason
Hey, you gotta admit, that Regatta one looks like a big vagina, so maybe some progress is being made!
hey DD
I think the Regatta is gonna be erected in Jakarta, not Dubai. The 10 “big sail” towers carry 10 different interior concepts / themes, namely Monte Carlo, Rio, Miami, NY etc. including Dubai.
Just to let everyone know that. I love the “vagina” looking tower tho, it looks pretty slick. Very nice.
Cheers!
*Architecture ignites your senses and emotions*
Amazing what we are capable of constructing today, and all over the world not just the super power countries.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOW
number 4 is in jakarta indonesia. not dubai..
nice structures
I want to go to dubai <3
This has always interested me, thank you for this roundup. There’s a huge pyramid-shaped building going in somewhere in china in the next 20 years or so, I’m surprised that wasn’t on here.
One of my favorites is the residential highrise in India. Despite the criticism from those who advocate forced equality in wealth, this concept is one that helps to maximize the value of the land in the city. Certainly the first high rise like this would be for a wealthy person’s residence, but the good news is that the urban high rise is going to be adapted for verticle farming and energy generation in the future.
I was also a little surprised you didn’t mention Sir Norman Foster’s latest big project…the Kahn Shatyry in Astana, Kazahkstan. 500 feet of elevated tent-like canopy underwhich a community of thousands will live and many more come to experience the shirtsleeve comfort when it minus 30 outside in winter. It’s only a matter of time before entire cities are covered.
Dubai is too hot.
Russia’s population is imploding–it will be an empty country soon.
Malaysia and Indonesia are living on borrowed time.
China and India will inherit all.
I think that the building in India is very interesting. What a strange design. Is it going to have greenhouses on it? I would love to go there sometimes, maybe when I am dreaming.
All in all the buildings are quite awesome. Good job architects, but I am a little intimidated. You would have to pay me to go visit, just kidding…
And all look loads better than the proposed Freedom Tower.
number 10. The new trade center building!
Chris Jones
http://www.inspirationalexperiences.org
Some of these appear to be modeled after fun sex-toys.
How will these enormously tall buildings be demolished when their lifespan has been exploited?
I wonder what would happen to those buildings in an earthquake. They look cool, though.
Regarding number 6, Russia is in Asia, not Europe. So is this Russia Tower supposed to be taller than any building in Europe, or the tallest building in Asia?
disco – russia is in europe and asia.
To be clear, the project in India is a SINGLE residence for one family and their staff. Yes, a high-rise for one family.
Why on earth would they invest hundreds of millions or billions of dollars into these superstructures if a fucking plane could bring them down? 9/11 in the US was a hoax and these financiers and bankers know it.
those are quite tall!
What a bunch of shit.
#19 you are thinking of the Ryugyong Hotel in North Korea. It stands at 330 m but is unfinished and will never be completed.
Yeah, 1/10 of Russia is in Europe… you’re right in that.
The list is missing Veer in Vegas. It’s actually a pair of towers that slant across eachother like an X. Part of the CityCenter Project. They’re already doing the foundation work on it. They’re also fighting with the FAA over building another supertower in Vegas but it looks like the government won’t allow anything taller than the Stratosphere (1,200 feet) because the airports in Vegas are so busy.
The Burj Dubai is a great monument to engineering but many of the buildings in Dubai are mostly empty. The main structural engineer is also on record (on wired.com) saying that it was not designed to be as tall as they are making it.
Ultimately, mixed use buildings like the Sears Tower and various complexes in Vegas are more useful than vainity projects because you can live, eat, play and work all in the same buildings without ever getting in a car and sitting in traffic for 1 to 2 hours a day which is to say 260 to 520 hours a year, which is to say longer than most Americans spend on vacation. Something to think about.
The Burj Dubai is so tall. It’s hard to imagine it getting BIGGER than it already is. It has a public observation deck at the top, I got to get there!
Ugly American,
He never says it wasn’t designed to be as tall as it is. He says they over designed it to allow for making it taller, and the designers tested and check every time they wanted to go higher to make sure they could.
You’re implying, deliberately or not, that it’s not a safe building. That’s not true.
As to whether it’ll sit empty or not, well that’s a different story. Not to mention the energy consumption of the construction and cooling sytem in that environment.
The building is all ego and high oil prices.
In fact, those are unique structures and unique architecture. Its a good compilation of current state of the art construction design and technology.
Foster is getting real competition here.
Thank you for posting the amazing pictures. I hope I will be able to visit your blog in ten years, and see real life photos of the projects. Mercy.
Dubai is evil, true testament to mans greed and corruption.
Russia is in Europe West of the Ural Mountains and in Asia East of the Urals. St. Petersburg is in the European part.
On Malaysia – the Petronas Twin Towers were the tallest buildings in the world for a short period of time in the 1990s before being eclipsed by several other structures. The sad part about the magnificent towers is that there are people living in abject poverty, without electricity and running water within half hour drive from the towers.
I really like the Chicago Spire because the ripply effect reminds me of my favorite dildo. Could you imagine having that in your ass? Tehehe Tehe
I like the “chem-trails” with their subsequent “clouds” in the dubai picture.
the future is not awesome these buildings will not stand for long as storms are getting worse alround the plant these things will fall over. Why not put your energy into Saving our dieing planet. how many people die while making these monster buildings. Just so the Archietec can get a pat on the back ,BIGDEAL
most of these are a little too phallic…
I hope the architects on the Penang building left room to make modifications along the way. There will be a lot of technological advancements in those fifteen years it will take to build it and by then it might not seem so modern.
As usual, some truly inane comments (why do some people need to let everyone know how stupid they
are?) some thoughtful ones, some really educational ones. I do agree that many architectural
structures are very phallic. I’ve always wondered if this is Freudian on the part of the
designer or just an out and out manifestation of his own self impression. One building proposed
recently in San Diego was so absolutely suggestive of human anatomy it was impossible to
believe the architect took offense at the comments it elicited. These tall monsters do foster
questions about the need to be bigger, taller, grander. And yes, how would you like to be in
one during an earthquake, explosion, or hurricane? Not I thank you.
That Dubai tower is incredible! I didn’t even know they were building it. Not sure I like that Regatta Hotel, looks kinda cheap and plasticky.
The rich are simply isolating themselves into smaller corners, ignoring the poor and their slums. What is the point of living/working so high? Material Greed will definitely send us falling from the top of the highest building structures ever harder!
Sorry if someone has already made this point (don’t really feel like reading through all the comments), but the tallest man-made structure currently is the KVLY-TV mast (formerly the KTHI-TV mast). It’s a television transmitting mast in Blanchard, Traill County, North Dakota, standing 2,063 feet (628.8 m) tall. So, it will still be the tallest structure even after the Burj Dubai is completed.
Secondly, why didn’t you include any of the island developments like the Palm Islands or the World Islands of Duabi? Despite the fact that they’re raping the environment and taking advantage of immigrant laborers, as well as capitalizing, Americanizing, and cheapening a country that once had some dignity, they are quite astounding.
That’s all I have to contribute. Have a good day everyone! (or a good night to those who are stumbling around el inter-web at some ridiculous hour in the AM). = D
- Cameron
Forgot to post the wiki link for the KVLY-TV mast. Here it is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KVLY-TV_mast
Wow, thank you very much. A few of them I didn´t know for.
What absolutely hideous buildings.
I suppose it’s debatable whether these are attractive or not; I think they’re pretty unappealing in terms of structures intended for human occupation.
But then, they’re not REALLY intended for human occupation; they’re designed by conceptual architect-engineers to impress other architect-engineers, and for the aggrandizement of their sponsors. Their theoretical USE is a distant afterthought.
For some of these, that use will be short-lived, if indeed they are ever completed. The energy crunch is going to make lighting and climate-controlling and especially elevatoring such structures even more ridiculous than it already is.
Amazing! I’ve seen these structural top lists before but this has the coolest and most intense looking designs I’ve seen.
I hope they all actually get made them. I’m sure many of them will never be completed. Some of them just seem like pipe dreams (beautiful pipe dreams, but still).
Would you really want to live in one of these? The way these tall buildings sway in the wind I am not sure I want to be there. Then what do you do if you get a fire half way up. I remember seeing a fire on the 20th floor of a skyscraper and the windows (lucite or perspex or the like) melted in big blobs down onto the street. How do you get down in case of emergency? The logistics are enough to keep me from ever even wanting to visit them let alone live in them.