ICONIC SKY SCRAPERS
Empire State Building, New York, United States
Height: 437 meters
Cost to build: US$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.
China Central Television Headquarters, Beijing, China
Cutting through the Chinese smog.Height: 234 meters
Cost to build: US$600 million
Completion date: January 2008
Fast fact: A building in the complex was badly damaged during a fire that was ignited by fireworks.
Bitexco Financial Tower, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Helicopters welcome, rich residents even more so.
Height: 262 meters
Cost to build: US$220 million
Completion date: October 31, 2010
Fast fact: With speeds of seven meters per second, the elevators in the building are the third-fastest in the world.
Bank of China Tower, Hong Kong
You don't need to be big to be noticed.Height: 305 meters
Cost to build: NA
Completion date: May 1990
Fast fact: The building was criticized by feng shui masters for its sharp corners, which in feng shui terms means it will bring bad luck to its neighbors (notably the HSBC main building). Pei had to modify the design before construction began.
Petronas Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Throwing the gauntlet down to Hong Kong as a financial capital. Height: 452 meters
Cost to build: US$1.6 billion
Completion date: June 1996
Fast fact: National poet laureate A. Samad Said was commissioned to write a poem for the towers, which can be read here: www.petronastwintowers.com.my
Bahrain World Trade Center, Manama, Bahrain
Possibly the greenest building on earth.Cost to build: US$150 million
Completion date: 2008
Fast fact: It was the world’s first wind-powered mega-structure.
Seven-star hotel anyone?Burj Al Arab
Height: 321 metersCost to build: US$650 millionCompletion date: December 1999Fast fact: The hotel is the only seven-star hotel in the world, even though the hotel proclaimed itself so.
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