Mercury Tower v Federation Tower

With the internal fitout of The Shard still underway I was surprised to read that our new iconic building has already been knocked into second place as Europe’s tallest building. Mercury City Tower in Moscow topped out this week at 339 metres tall, overtaking The Shard by 29 metres.

I previously thought the French would be the first to surpass Renzo Piano’s elegant structure with the Tour Hermitage at La Defense, however it appears Moscow is one place where the global recession has had little impact. Mercury Tower is one of five Russian skyscrapers in the list of ten tallest buildings in Europe, and Moscow is also the city with the most high-rise buildings on the continent. With all this investment in the area its reign as tallest building however will be short-lived, as under construction nearby is the planned 506-metre Federation Tower, which is set to complete next year.

Experts say the two reasons for the property boom in Moscow are the many Russian and foreign investors who focus on prestigious building projects, and the fact that there are less building regulations in Moscow than in any other European city. This may help with the size and speed at which these buildings are going up, however it doesn’t seem to be helping with the final design. I would rather have a shorter Shard in London than a taller Mercury in Moscow !

 

Mercury Tower

Federation Tower

Images courtesy of Google images
Skyscrapers - Architecture - Moscow

www.sovibrant.co.uk

The World's tallest buildings - Kingdom Tower V Burj Khalifa

In the new world order of the 'Megatall' buildings planned over the next decade, the Burj Khalifa at "over half a mile" high (828 metres) is soon to be nudged into second place.
Kingdom Tower in Jeddah is set to begin construction early this year and aims to break the 1,000 metre mark, doubling the height of the world's tallest building in less than 20 years.

At the start of the 21st century, the 452-meter high Petronas Tower held the title of “The World’s Tallest”. However the era of the 'Megatall' is upon us with 20 buildings planned across the globe aiming for heights of 600 metres and above.

  
China will lead the way, with 10 of the 20 projects in their pursuit of the Megatall, followed by Korea (3), Saudi Arabia (2) and the UAE (2).
Asia counts for 70% (14) of the buildings and the Middle East counts for 25% (5).

Below are some of the projects soon to be fighting for third place on the list of “The World’s Tallest”. 

  
China’s Shenzhen’s Ping An Finance Centre is scheduled for completion in 2015.
The 660-meter tall building will become the tallest in the country.

Standing at 632-meters, the mixed-use Shanghai Tower will join a supertall cluster in the city’s Pudong area.
The project began construction in 2009 and will be completed in 2014.

The tallest amongst 3 planned in Seoul will The Seoul Light DMC Tower, measuring in at 640-meters.

Towering above Indonesia’s current tallest tower is The Signature Tower Jakarta that will rise to 638-meters.

Finally with The Shard nearing completion at 306 metres, Europe’s tallest building is still a shadow of all this Eastern promise.

You may also be interested in checking out some of my other posts that compare in more detail, some of the world's tallest and most iconic buildings.

The Shard vs Le Tour Hermitage
One World Trade Centre vs The Empire State Building

Images courtesy of Google images
Architecture and Design

www.sovibrant.co.uk