Not even halfway through construction the Burj Dubai is already the 5 th tallest building in Dubai but staying it is another project. (As of 11/10/2006.)

Tallest title put in a perspective.
Which titles could the Burj Dubai really claim?
Approved or Proposed new Tallests.

Tallest Title Put in a Perspective.

A spokesman for the developer, Emaar, said in a interview “I don’t think Burj Dubai tower could claim the title in 10-15 years, it would surprise me.” Me to. The Empire State Building managed to keep it’s title in 42 years, quite an accomplishment and that also an record in it’s class. In recent year the competition has been closing in even more, the Petronas tower only managed to keep the tallest building in the world title for six years and the current holder Taipei 101 for less then five if Burj Dubais construction progress as expected.

Taipei 101, Current worlds tallest tower
with a rooftop height of 1470 ft (448 m),
most likely 200 m(670 ft)shorter then challenging Burj Dubai.

Although the final height of the Burj Dubai tower is keept a secret the aim is very clear, the tallest building in the world all categories. At least for a short period of time. This would guarantee a height of at least 630 m (2,067 ft) to beat Taipei 101, the CN tower in Toronto and the Fargo mast in North Dakota and most certinly will it be much taller then that.

CN tower, Toronto 553 m (1815 ft).

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Which titles could the Burj Dubai really claim?

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat’s, one of the most respected sources when it comes to categorization define the following four measurements for the tallest building in the world(note buildings).

To Structural Top: Height to structural top of the building.
To Highest Occupied Floor: Height to the floor of the highest occupied floor of the tower.
To Top of Roof: Height to the top of the roof.
To Tip of Spire/Antenna: Height to the tip of spire, pinnacle, antenna, mast, or flag pole.”

The Burj Dubai will have all the abow titles but with it’s great height it will also claim the “tallest freestanding structure on land” and the “world’s tallest supported structure on land”, traditionally out of any buildings league and there has already been argued if the Burj actually could claim it no matter it’s height.

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Approved or Proposed new Tallests.

At any given time there is always dussens of projects aspiring on the worlds tallest tower title. A majority of them never raise abow the ground but remember, Burj Dubai was once also only a visionary tower which only a few really expected to get built. At the moment challengers to the title are almost exclusively visionary projects, no approved or proposed ones. However I have sorted out a few projects which seem more likely to get built then others but in the footsteps of Burj Dubai I’d also say it’s most likely I´ll have to update this list again very soon.
Tallest Tower list*
Building and location: Height:
Bionic Tower, Shanghai or HK. 1128 m(3,701 ft)
Sky City 1000, Tokyo. 1000 m(3,281 ft)
Enviro Mission Solar Tower, NSW, Australia. 1000 m(3,280 ft)
Millenium Tower, Tokyo. 840 m(2755 ft)
Al Burj, Dubai. Above 700 m(2296 ft)

*All types of structures and statuses listed.

The Solar Tower is an interesting challenger to Burj Dubai, it’s one of the two projects on the list that’s actually not only a vision, it’s proposed. what looks like a gigantic chimney make use of the wind to run a generator and also reflects the sun on thousands solar panels surrounding it on the ground. If beeing built this project could however only claim “the tallest free standing structure on land” -title, a title Burj Dubai most likely won’t be able to claim anyway but it’s still quite a spectacular project don’t you think?

Proposed Solar Tower in Buronga NSW, Australia.

Al Nakheel, the developer behind the other proposed building on the list, the Al Burj, has clearly stated it will rival the Burj Dubai tower when it’s expected to open in 2010.

Al Burj tower, Dubai Waterfront, Dubai.
Picture courtesy to Al Nakheel.

The next contender however are most likely to come from Asia or the middle-east but there’s projects in the west to of course, Fordham Spire in Chicago and Russia Tower in Moscow for example but with it’s current designs none of them are to rival the Burj Dubai. With the sudden changes the world experiences today almost nothing is for certain though and in a weeks time the situation might be a lat different so make sure to come back 🙂