Good morning, newbie,
Well, until I began researching this, I thought it was a pretty
straightforward question to which I already knew the answer. I quickly
typed the following response, and it's correct depending on how you
define and categorize what you mean by 'building.'
The world's highest building is located in Toronto, the provincial
capital of Ontario, Canada. It's called the CN Tower and stands at
553.33 metres (1,815 ft., 5 inches). You'll find good information
about the tower and some great photos on the Tower's official website:
CN Tower, Canada's wonder of the world and Toronto's number one ...
http://www.cntower.ca/
Then I found an interesting website which raises some doubts as to
what you really need. "There is much debate as to the ranking of the
World's tallest structures, chiefly depending on the criteria used for
selecting the structures admissible to the list.
In particular, there is debate about whether:
- guy-wire-supported structures can be counted
- only habitable height counts
- roof-top antennas can be counted toward height of inhabitable buildings
- observation galleries on communication towers make them into
inhabitable buildings
- structures under construction can be included in the list
- structures rising out of water should have their below-water height included"
The webmaster goes on to report that:
"the world's tallest structures (of any sort) is KVLY-TV mast in North
Dakota, at 629 metres (2,063 feet)."
The world's tallest structures (not supported by guy-ropes) is the
Petronius Platform standing at 610 metres (2,100 feet) tall, "making
it the tallest freestanding structure in the world. However, as this
oil and natural gas platform is partially supported by buoyancy, some
critics feel the below-water height should not be accounted for."
As for the world's tallest habitable buildings, the Council on Tall
Buildings and Urban Habitat has defined four categories in which the
"world's tallest building" can be measured. These are the categories
with the 'winner' below each of the four:
1) Height to the structural or architectural top (including spires,
but excluding antennas).
-- As of October 17, 2003, Taipei 101 in Taipei, Taiwan leads in the
first category with 508m (1,667ft).
2) Height to the highest occupied floor.
-- Sears Tower in Chicago, with 435m (1,431 feet): when Taipei 101 is
occupied in 2004, it will claim this category with an occupied floor
at 438 m (1,437 ft).
3) Height to the top of the roof.
-- Taipei 101 in Taipei, Taiwan leads in the third category with 448m (1,470ft).
4) Height to the top of antenna.
-- The Sears Tower in Chicago also leads in the fourth category with
529m (1736ft), previously held by New York City's World Trade Center
until its destruction in 2001; its antenna included, it measured 536m
(1,758 feet).
Now, let's get back to the CN Tower. "The CN Tower in Toronto stands
553.33m (1,815 feet) tall, making it the tallest freestanding
structure ON LAND." (Caps are mine.)
There is an excellent chart provided which lists, starting with the
highest, historical height records by name, type and records held by
each structure. You can link to further information and photos by
clicking on the highlighted names.
World's Tallest Structures
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World's_tallest_structures
So, newbie, it all boils down to the context in which you are posing
your question. Personally, I'd say that it's a toss-up between the CN
Tower and the office high-rise of Taipei 101.
High regards,
revbrenbda
Search strategy:
://www.google.ca/search?q=CN+Tower&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&meta=
world's tallest freestanding structure
://www.google.ca/search?q=world%27s+tallest+freestanding+structure&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&meta= |
