The ‘super-tall’ age is here: World welcomes 100th mammoth skyscraper

It started in Manhattan, 1930: the Chrysler Building, nudging over 300 meters (984 feet), became the world’s first supertall skyscraper. A new benchmark for aerial architecture had been set, and over the course of the next 80 years, 49 more were added to the list.

Now, remarkably, that number has doubled. Between 2010 and 2015, 50 new supertall skyscrapers were built, and the hundredth is now open for business.

At 425.5 meters (1396 feet) high, 432 Park Avenue in New York City is only the fourteenth highest building in the world, but its symbolism cannot be overstated. It marks a significant juncture in an astonishing period of rapid architectural growth, coinciding with economic booms in both the Middle East and Asia.

The slender skyscraper is typical of “skinny” new construction projects being built in high density areas, and becomes the seventh building over 300 meters (984 feet) in New York. Designed by Rafael Vinoly and developed by CIM Group and Macklowe Properties, 432 Park Avenue is the tallest all-residential building in the world. 104 luxury condominiums are priced from $7 million, with the penthouse retailing at $95 million – more than double the construction cost of the Empire State Building in 1931.

The Jeddah Tower, under construction, will eventually become the world's tallest building and the first manmade structure to surpass one thousand meters.

The world’s hundredth supertall building may have been constructed in New York, but since the turn of the century the focus of skyscraper construction has shifted east.

Today, 22 buildings in the United Arab Emirates stand at over 300 meters (984 feet), and China is host to 36. One of those in the Emirates was constructed before 2000, and only six were finished in China pre-Millennium. Meanwhile Saudi Arabia now owns the third highest building in the world, the Makkah Royal Clock Tower.

The 828 meter-high (2717 feet) Burj Khalifa in Dubai has held the record for the world’s tallest building since 2010, and currently stands 198 meters (650 feet) above the Shanghai Tower, its nearest rival. That’s set to change however, when the Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia completes in 2018, becoming the first man-made structure to surpass one kilometer (0.6 miles) in height.

Empire State Building, New York —

Height: 437 meters.
Cost to build: $41 million.
Completion date: May 1, 1931.
Fast fact: The Empire State Building took only one year and 45 days to build, or 7 million man hours -- a record to this day for a skyscraper of its height. Its glory days are numbered though -- developers in China just broke ground on the world's tallest building, Sky City, with plans to whip it up in just 10 months.

China Central Television Headquarters, Beijing —

Height: 234 meters.
Cost to build: $600 million.
Completion date: 2012.
Fast fact: A building in the CCTV complex was badly damaged during a fire ignited by fireworks.

Commerzbank Headquarters, Frankfurt, Germany —

Height: 300.1 meters.
Cost to build: $414 million.
Completion date: 1997.
Fast fact: There's no observatory or open area on top. The public can only get as far as the plaza level.

The Shard, London —

Height: 310 meters.
Cost to build: $666 million.
Completion date: November 2012.
Fast fact: Architect Renzo Piano made the first rough sketch of The Shard on the back of a restaurant menu in Berlin in 2000.

Elephant Tower, Bangkok —

Height: 102 meters.
Cost to build: N/A.
Completion date: 1997.
Fast fact: The elephant is Thailand's national animal; it appeared on the national flag when the country was known as Siam.

Chrysler Building, New York —

Height: 320 meters.
Cost to build: $15-20 million.
Completion date: May 1930.
Fast fact: The building became the tallest in the world when architect William van Alen added a surprise 186-foot spire to the top, beating the Eiffel Tower and another skyscraper being built at the same time on Wall Street.

Bitexco Financial Tower, Ho Chi Minh City —

Height: 262 meters.
Cost to build: $220 million.
Completion date: October 31, 2010.
Fast fact: Bitexco Financial Tower's helipad on the 52nd floor juts out 22 meters.

Ryugyong Hotel, Pyongyang, North Korea —

Height: 330 meters.
Cost to build: $750 million.
Completion date: N/A.
Fast fact: The hotel has held the Guinness World Record for world's tallest unoccupied building for an unenviable 21 years.

Transamerica Pyramid, San Francisco —

Height: 260 meters.
Cost to build: $32 million.
Completion date: 1972.
Fast fact: When the Transamerica Pyramid's three years of construction began in 1969, signs around the site proclaimed it "a San Francisco landmark since 1972."

Bank of China Tower, Hong Kong —

Height: 367.4 meters.
Cost to build: N/A.
Completion date: May 1990.
Fast fact: The building was criticized by feng shui masters for its sharp corners, which, they claimed, would bring bad luck to its neighbors (notably the HSBC main building).

Kingdom Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia —

Height: 302 meters.
Cost to build: $1 billion.
Completion date: 2002.
Fast fact: Riyadh's building code forbids any building to have more than 30 usable floors, but doesn't impose height restrictions.

Petronas Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur —

Height: 452 meters.
Cost to build: $1.6 billion.
Completion date: June 1996.
Fast fact: National poet laureate A. Samad Said was commissioned to write a poem for Malaysia's tallest towers.

Tokyo Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower, Tokyo —

Height: 204 meters.
Cost to build: N/A.
Completion date: October 2008.
Fast fact: As the name suggests, the Tokyo Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower resembles the silky home of various larvae. Students are said to be educated inside the 50-level tower and metaphorically transformed into something bigger and more beautiful.

Shanghai World Financial Center, Shanghai —

Height: 492 meters.
Cost to build: $1.2 billion.
Completion date: August 2008.
Fast fact: The square "bottle opener" opening at the top is designed to reduce stress of wind pressure, and was originally circular. However, Shanghainese citizens and the city's mayor protested, claiming it was too similar to the rising sun design of the Japanese flag.

Hotel & Casino Grand Lisboa, Macau —

Height: 261 meters.
Cost to build: $385 million.
Completion date: 2008.
Fast Fact: Designed by Hong Kong architects Dennis Lau and Ng Chun Man, the golden structure combines the visual effects of crystals, fireworks and the long plumes of a Brazilian headdress -- all symbols of prosperity to guide the money home.

Bahrain World Trade Center, Manama, Bahrain —

Height: 240 meters.
Cost to build: $150 million.
Completion date: 2008.
Fast fact: Upon completion, this was the world's first wind-powered mega-structure.

Two International Finance Center, Hong Kong —

Height: 415 meters.
Cost to build: $2.5 billion.
Completion date: August 2008.
Fast facts: Two International Financial Center is the definitive point of Hong Kong's skyline and a symbol of its wealth. In "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life," Lara Croft leaped off the building.

Burj al Arab, Dubai, U.A.E. —

Height: 321 meters.
Cost to build: $650 million.
Completion date: December 1999.
Fast fact: The hotel is not, nor does it claim to be, a seven-star hotel. That famed designation was dreamed up by a creative journalist when touring the property.

Taipei 101, Taipei, Taiwan —

Height: 508 meters.
Cost to build: $1.8 billion.
Completion date: 2004.
Fast fact: The building is designed to resemble a growing bamboo stalk, a symbol of everlasting strength in Chinese culture.

Torre Agbar, Barcelona, Spain —

Height: 142 meters.
Cost to build: $130 million.
Completion date: 2004.
Fast fact: The design is inspired by a geyser, shooting up to touch the sky above Barcelona.

Burj Khalifa, Dubai, U.A.E. —

Height: 828 meters.
Cost to build: $1.5 billion.
Completion date: January 2009.
Fast fact: Not only is this currently the world's tallest building, it's home to the world's highest mosque, on the 158th floor. The tower is more than twice the height of the Empire State Building in New York.

30 St. Mary Axe, London —

Height: 180 meters.
Cost to build: $212 million.
Completion date: 2003.
Fast fact: Despite its curvaceous body, the entire building only has one piece of curved glass in its construction -- the lens at the top of the building.

Turning Torso, Malmo, Sweden —

Height: 190 meters.
Cost to build: $80 million.
Completion date: 2005.
Fast fact: In line with Sweden's low-emission promise, the tallest residential building in the country is supplied with 100% locally produced renewable energy.

One World Trade Center, New York —

Height: 541 meters.
Cost to build: $3.9 billion.
Completion date: May 2013.
Fast fact: The height of 1,776 feet is a symbolic reference to the year in which the United States' Declaration of Independence was signed.

Marina Bay Sands, Singapore —

Height: 194 meters.
Cost to build: $6.3 billion.
Opening date: April 2010.
Fast fact: Marina Bay Sands is one of the world's most expensive standalone casino properties, with total construction costs estimated at more than $6 billion.

25 great skyscrapers: icons of construction

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Three other projects currently under construction, the Suzhou Zhongnan Center and Wuhan Greenland Center, both in China, and KL118 Tower, in Malaysia, also surpass 600 meters (1969 feet) – and so qualify as “megatall” buildings, the latest standard for extreme skyscrapers.

Height isn’t everything however, and only time will tell if these new creations become design classics. Scroll through the gallery below to see which gravity-defying structures have taken on an iconic status.