Quote:
Originally Posted by Guiltyspark
Which is very stupid. I fear we are becoming a country that focuses on the past. The WTC isn't even that tall anymore compared to what the rest of the world is building. There are currently 10 taller towers UC or completed and not a single one of them has to use a spire to break the 450 m mark. Hell, if you go by roof height of buildings completed or UC it is only the 28th tallest in the world. The sooner we build something 550 m + without a spire the better.
500 m is the new 300 m ;-)
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500 m is definitely not the new 300 m, 75% or more of the world is building nothing of the sort including all of Africa, South America, Oceania, and Europe.
The last time the US built a world's tallest was the 70s, where have you been dude? Back then there wasn't any competition for world's tallest. Really the only reason a few countries are building 500 m towers is because they have cheap labor and the government is picking up the costs (the case in China and Dubai and Saudi Arabia). No government in the US would ever pay for such a White Elephant knowing they would never make a dime on such a project.
The other countries won't either. Eventually the bill will come due and they will stop building them, Dubai has already found this out. The towers are mostly statues symbol, something to put the countries' cities on the map. That doesn't make their cities any better though. The top ranked cities in the world are New York, London, and Tokyo, all located in the most liberal countries in the world. The height of their buildings don't make the cities, their people and institutions do. Of course in New York's case tall towers are more of a defining characteristic of the city.
There probably will be US towers built above 550 m, the closest being the Chicago Spire. But you'll have to be patient, its not going to happen over night. Your looking more like decades not years. And a few select US cities. The WTC is a bad example that was designed before much of the world's skyscraper boom got underway not to mention the tall building jitters after 9/11, and spires definitely do count towards the height just like with other towers.