For the third year in a row, the number of buildings over 200 meters tall that were completed has increased and broken the previous year’s tally. In 2016, 128 buildings 200 meters tall or taller were completed, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH). The previous record, set in 2015, saw 114 completions of 200 meters or taller. Now, the overall number for buildings at or exceeding 200 meters sits at 1,168, a 441% increase from the 265 that existed in the year 2000.
Of the record-setting 200-meter-tall buildings that were completed in 2016, 18 of them became the tallest in their city, country, or region. Asia had the most 200-meter-tall completions with 107, or a whopping 84% of the 128-building total. 2016 was the fourth year in a row with at least 75% of the 200-meter-plus building completions occurring in Asia. A large portion of these completions were in China, which had the most by a country with a record 84, surpassing its previous high set in 2015 of 68. Among these completions was Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre, which, at 530 meters, stands as the tallest building in Guangzhou, the second-tallest building in China, and the fifth-tallest building in the world.
The Middle East had nine completions of at least 200 meters, matching its total from 2015, and North America had seven completions, a three-building increase from 2015’s four. The United States represented all seven of those North American completions after only completing two in 2015.
Despite the high number of buildings over 200 meters completed, only 10 supertalls (buildings of 300 meters or higher) were finished in 2016. This total was lower than anticipated and is at least in part due to the construction delays that arise when constructing buildings of such immense height. Still, the 10 supertalls completed in 2016 was behind only 2014’s 11 and 2015’s 14.
Looking ahead to 2017, CTBUH is predicting the completion of between 12 and 20 supertalls and between 125 and 150 200-meter-plus buildings overall. The tallest of these projected completions is Ping An Finance Center, which will stand 599 meters and become the second-tallest building in China and the fourth tallest in the world.
For the CTBUH’s full report, click here.
Graphic courtesy of CTBUH
Related Stories
High-rise Construction | May 23, 2017
Goettsch Partners to design three-building Optics Valley Center complex
The Chicago-based firm won a design competition to design the complex located in Wuhan, China.
High-rise Construction | May 15, 2017
Construction begins on 47-story luxury tower in Chicago’s South Loop
The glass tower is being built at 1326 S. Michigan Avenue.
High-rise Construction | Apr 26, 2017
Dubai’s newest building is a giant gilded picture frame
Despite currently being under construction, the building is the center of an ongoing lawsuit filed by the architect.
3D Printing | Apr 17, 2017
The Tokyo Pod Vending Machine resembles a giant game of Tetris in the sky
The building is designed to print and dispense its own dwellings in vending machine-obsessed Tokyo.
Green | Apr 11, 2017
Passivhaus for high-rises? Research demonstrates viability of the stringent standards for tall residential buildings
A new study conducted by FXFOWLE shows that Building Teams can meet stringent Passivhaus performance standards with minimal impact to first cost and aesthetics.
Mixed-Use | Apr 5, 2017
SOM-designed ‘vertical village’ is Thailand’s largest private-sector development ever
60,000 people will live and work in One Bangkok when it is completed in 2025.
High-rise Construction | Apr 4, 2017
Fifth tallest tower in the world opens in Seoul with the world’s highest glass-bottomed observation deck
Lotte World Tower’s glass-bottomed observation deck allows visitors to stand 1,640 feet above ground and look straight down.
High-rise Construction | Mar 31, 2017
Ping An Finance Center officially becomes the fourth tallest building in the world
The completed building sits between the Makkah Royal Clock Tower at 1,972 feet and One World Trade Center at 1,776 feet.
High-rise Construction | Mar 27, 2017
Density and tall buildings
CRTKL’s Maren Striker examines Europe’s desire to build upward.
High-rise Construction | Mar 23, 2017
This speculative skyscraper would be suspended from an orbiting asteroid
Clouds Architecture, a New York-based architecture firm, has created a design to invert a skyscraper’s traditional earth-based foundation and replace it with a space-based supporting foundation from which the tower is suspended.
