The Biggest Skyscrapers In The World

Celebrate Skyscraper Day with the world’s tallest structures.

Every year, September 3rd marks national Skyscraper Day. It's a chance to take stock of the incredible buildings created throughout human history and look to the future. 

While we’ve already forgotten many of the building techniques the ancients mastered, we have learned how to craft skyscrapers that touch the skies. These skyscrapers are so tall that they pose flight risks! 

Mecca Royal Clock Tower

When we think of skyscrapers, we traditionally imagine a block of flats or offices. However, the fourth-largest structure in the world is actually a clock tower located in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. 

Holding the Guinness World Record for the largest clock tower in the world, the Mecca Royal Clock Tower was completed in 2012 and stands at 1,972 feet or 601 meters. It was built to modernise the pilgrimage to Mecca and offers shops, accommodation and other facilities. 

Shanghai Tower

The Chinese government put together a project that would signify the country’s economic and engineering strength. Shanghai Tower was the third skyscraper to be built under that premise and by far the tallest. 

From 2008 to 2015, Shanghai Tower was slowly constructed, as designers raised the roof to a whopping 2,073 feet or 632 meters. The premise is that the tower acts as a vertical city and contains absolutely everything you’d see in a typical town. 

Merdeka Maybank Tower

In Malaysia, the state-owned management firm Permodalan Nasional Berhad required a structure to be built that could serve as a point of national pride. A building that would decentralise traditional monetary power and serve as a hub for tourism and economic prosperity. 

The Merdeka Maybank Tower was the result of these ambitions, a 2,227-foot or 678.9-metre-tall structure with 118 storeys. Completed in 2023, the tower holds a couple of world records of its own, including the tallest building signage in the world and the highest observation deck in Southeast Asia. 

Burj Khalifa

The Burj Khalifa, at the time of writing, is the tallest building in the world. It’s an engineering marvel, created by the Dubai government to demonstrate the state’s economic focus was more varied than just its oil interests. 

As the centrepiece of a massive development that includes the Dubai Mall, the Burj Khalifa towers above the rest at 2,717 feet or 828 meters. With 163 floors, the construction took place between 2004 and 2010, and the building still acts as a prestigious tourist attraction that highlights Dubai’s growing power.