The tallest skyscrapers we’ll see in 2018
Here is the top ten of the buildings that will reach their top height during the year, including new entries and postponements
When you talk about building skyscrapers, expertstend to be subtle: there is a specific expression for that stage during construction when very high buildings have reached their final height, but they are not complete (for example with respect to the interiors). This expression is “topping out”. Given that we have just put a year behind us, and we have to familiarise ourselves with the new one, let’s discover together the top ten of the highest skyscrapers that will be built in 2018,or that will top out this year. The source is an official database, this one, where the data were cross-checked by Thespaces with those provided by the websites of the developers. Hold tight, if you thought that China would be on top, you got it wrong. The winner is… the USA.
Number 10 on the chart is Greenland Group Suzhou Centre. 358 metres, 77 floors. It will be completed in 2019 in the port city Suzhou, west of Shanghai. The project is by the historic American firm SOM (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP), and it will guarantee a 60% energy saving compared to average American skyscrapers. It will be the second tallest in the city, and it will feature a 30-storey “atrium window” that will act as “a lung for the building” facilitating ventilation.
Number 9: the Golden Eagle Tiandi Tower A. Still in China but in Nanjing, on the Blue River. 368 metres, 76 floors. It is designed by a local firm, and it will be the highest tower of a complex comprising three – the Golden Eagle Square Plaza – that will stand on a common platform in the north of the Huxi central business district. The three skyscrapers will be connected by bridges built 200 metres above ground.
At number 8 is 30 Hudson Yards, also known as Manhattan Tower or Hudson Yards North Tower. We are in New York City, where the Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates firm will build this 386-metre, 73-storey edifice, a new centre dedicated to retail and culture. It is a part of a huge urban regeneration project in the area of the Hudson River. The skyscraper shares its hall with the neighbouring 10 Hudson Yards, and when it will be completed in 2019, the two buildings will be like “a city within the city”.
At number 7 is South Korea, with LCT Landmark Tower. At 412 metres and 101 floors, it will be completed in 2020. Busan will have the second tallest skyscraper in the country, which will be used for maritime hospitality and as a convention centre. It will be flanked by two 85-storey towers, both realised by SOM. The structure is in concrete.
#6: here we are again in NYC. Try to imagine living in a 435-metre building, because that will be the height of the 111 West 57th Street. This residential skyscraper is on its way to becoming, once it will be finished in 2019, one of the tallest in Manhattan and one of the thinnest in the world. The use of terracotta and brass is a tribute to the golden era of skyscrapers in Manhattan. Its 82 floors promise a breath-taking view on Central park and the entire city.
Here we are in the top 5. In fifth place of the ranking of the tallest skyscrapers in 2018 is the 436-metre Riverview Plaza A1, in Wuhan, China.Designed by Pelli Clarks Pelli Architects in one of the emerging economic hubs of the Asian giant, also this edifice will be part of a three-tower complex. From the building’s top soars a 100-metre spire.
Fourth place, the Nanning China Resources Tower is above the clouds: 445 metres, 94 floors. Goettsch Partners designed a sober, elegant, and modern skyscraper with very high energy-efficiency standards. At the base of the tower is a big lobby that faces south and a square connecting to the local underground station, a complex of shops, and a new luxury hotel. A monumental terrace offers an incredible view on the surrounding mountains.
With its 461 metres and 81 floors, in third place is a skyscraper under construction in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: the Vincom Landmark 81 tower. The design is by studio Atkins. It looks like something from Fantasia, the city of The Never Ending Story.
2nd place: almost at the top of the chart is Central Park Tower. That’s right, we are again in Manhattan. With its 472 metres and 95 floors, it is on course to becoming the tallest residential tower in the world. It is slated for completion in 2020. Hold tight because in the US it will be the second tallest building only after the 541-metre One World Trade Center!
At the top of the ranking – and it is appropriate to say top – we find the Wuhan Greenland Center in China, with its 636 metres, which it was supposed to reach by 2017. A 126-storey skyscraper in the shape of a rocket. They have to rush to finish it in 2019, otherwise in 2020 it will be beaten by the Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia, which will be more than 1,000 metres high!
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