That the 21st Century will be the age of the Asian Skyscraper seems indisputable. Already the past two decades have witnessed a major shift in tall buildings from west to east. Many of the major advances in the tall typology are now taking place in Asia, often with a collaboration of eastern and western expertise. With global urbanization approaching 200,000 people every day, the need for a new or extended city of a million inhabitants every week is driving massive growth in hundreds of Asian cities simultaneously – from Mecca to Manila, Istanbul to Incheon, Karachi to Kunming. At the same time, there is still intense global debate on whether the extrapolation of our cities vertically offers the best chance to combat global climate change, or whether a more sustainable pattern of life can be better achieved through other means. Tall buildings are not the only solution for achieving increased urban density, and the higher embodied energy of constructing and existing at greater heights may offset gains in land and infrastructure efficiency. The impact on inhabitants of future vertical cities must also be better understood. In all cities, infrastructure, long-term planning and joined-up thinking are essential. The major issues are no longer focused on just individual buildings, but how these buildings fit into the larger urban whole. Actually, the question the world’s leading tall building owners, developers, contractors, architects, engineers, planners, policy-maker have ultimately to answer is: does the vertical city offer the best chance for human survival in our rapidly-populating, urbanizing, consuming, and resource-dwindling world? Is the skyscraper a sustainable building type? Can tall buildings truly reduce and harvest enough energy to become carbon-neutral? What is the full impact on the city and the lives of its inhabitants by developing skyward? And what support mechanisms and urban infrastructure are required for such growth? In the meanwhile, anyway, the race to reach the sky doesn’t slow down. In the next years, nevertheless the economic crisis caused some of the projected buildings to be cancelled for budgetary reasons, a number of new super-tall buildings is scheduled all around Asia. Even if many of them are at the moment only proposed projects, some are already under construction: within this decade, the World’s first kilometer-tall building is likely to be completed, along with many other buildings over 600-meters tall. “The term “supertall” (which refers to a building over 300 meters) is thus no longer adequate to describe these buildings: we are entering the era of the “megatall.”
AZERBAIJAN TOWER
Azerbaijan Tower is a proposed skyscraper to be constructed on the Khazar Islands, 25 km (16 mi) south of Baku, Azerbaijan. If completed, it would rise to about 1,050 m (3,445 ft) with 189 floors. The $2 billion tower is to be the centerpiece of the Khazar Islands, a $100 billion city of 41 artificial islands that will spread 3,000 hectares over the Caspian Sea. Construction on the Azerbaijan Tower is set to begin in 2015 and will be completed around 2019. The Khazar Islands are scheduled to be finished between 2020 and 2025.
KINGDOM TOWER
Scheduled to by completed in 2018 to become a major symbolic and technological achievement as the first structure to surpass the kilometer mark, Kingdom Tower will surpass Burj Khalifa by at least 173 meters. As the centerpiece for the Kingdom City development in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, it will feature a luxury hotel, offices, apartments and the world’s highest observatory.
SKY CITY ONE
Sky City (Chinese: 天空城市; pinyin: tiānkōng chéngshì), or Sky City One, is an 838 m (2,749 ft) tall skyscraper proposed for construction in the city of Changsha, Hunan in south-central China. When completed, Sky City One should be able to house 100,000 residents and myriad businesses and offices within its 220 stories. The prospective builders, Broad Sustainable Building, estimate it would take just 90 days to construct, but other estimates state that it will take 210 days to complete. Construction is expected to begin in 2013 making at the time of its completation the Sky City, if built as planned and to schedule, the tallest building in the world, 10 meters taller than Burj Khalifa.
PING’AN INTERNATIONAL FINANCE CENTER
The Ping’an International Finance Center is a 115-storey skyscraper that is under construction in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China. The tower was commissioned by Ping An Insurance, and designed by the American architectural firm Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates. It is expected to be completed in 2016, and will at that time be the second-tallest building in the world, as well as the tallest in China, standing a total of 660 m (2,165 ft) high. The Finance Center complex will also include a 307 m hotel building and a conference center.
SIGNATURE TOWER
Signature Tower Jakarta is a proposed building in Jakarta, Indonesia, designed at 638 m height. With a combined site area measuring 50,674.0 square meters, and an allowable development area of 391,435 square meters, the 111-story development will include an Observatory, a 300-key, 6-Star Luxury Hotel, International Class A Office Space, a Conference Center and Banquet Facilities, and a Luxury Retail Mall.
WUHLAN GREENLAND CENTER
The Wuhan Greenland Center, at 606 meters (1,988 feet), will likely be China’s third-tallest building, and the fourth tallest in the world, when completed in 2016. The 119-level tower in Wuhan, China will be comprised of about 300,000 square meters of floor area, including about 200,000 sm of offices, 50,000 sm of luxury apartments and condominiums, a 45,000 sm five-star hotel, and a 5,000 sm, 27-meter-tall private club with spectacular views at the tower’s penthouse level.
SHANGHAI TOWER
The Shanghai Tower, at 121 floors and 632 meters, will be the tallest building in China when completed in 2015, and likely the second tallest building in the world. More important than its shear height, however, is the innovation it delivers – in its twisting, crystalline form; in the vertical zones of rich multi- functions; in the communal skygardens throughout its height; in its unique environmental technologies; and in the advanced fabrication and construction processes to enable it.