2014 Year in Review - The Skyscraper Center

2014 was the year of the skyscraper, with over 97 completed buildings reaching a height of 200 meters or more. Explore these charts from The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat to learn more. What do you think of the trend to build upwards?

Completions by Country:-

Only countries with at least two completions in 2014 are included in this chart. One tall building 200m+ in height was also completed during 2014 in these countries: Chile, Kuwait, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, United Kingdom, Vietnam.

Once again, for the seventh year in a row, China completed the most 200-meter-plus buildings (58). This represents 60% of the global 2014 total, and a 61% increase over its previous record of 36 in 2013.

The Philippines took second place with five completions, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar share position three with four completions, and the United States, Japan, Indonesia and Canada tie for fourth, with three completions each.

Japan marked its first entry into the supertall stakes with the completion of the 300-meter Abeno Harukas in Osaka, becoming the country’s tallest building.

This was the "tallest year ever" by another measure: The sum of heights of all 200-meter-plus buildings completed across the globe in 2014 was 23,333 meters – setting another all-time record and breaking 2011’s previous record of 19,852 meters.

Completions by City:-

Only cities with at least two completions in 2014 are included in this chart. One tall building 200 m+ in height was also completed during 2014 in these cities: Brisbane, Busan, Changsha, Foshan, Haikou, Hanoi, Harbin, Istanbul, Izmir, Jeddah, Jinan, Kuala Lumpur, Kunming, Kuwait City, Liuzhou, London, Manila, Melbourne, Nanjing, Nanning, Nantong, Osaka, Riyadh, Santiago, Shenzhen, Singapore, Taipei, Taiyuan, Zhengzhou.

China's dominance of the tall-building industry can be seen in this completions by city chart. Of the 25 cities with two or more 200m+ completitions, 16 of them are located in China.

Tianjin, China was the city that completed the most 200m+ buildings with six. Chongqing, Wuhan, and Wuxi, China, along with Doha, Qatar all tied for second place with four completions each.

Although it didn't have as many completions as some other cities this was a triumphant year for New York City, for more reasons than one. At 541 meters, One World Trade Center, New York, was the tallest building to complete in 2014 and is now the world’s third-tallest. Its 298-meter neighbor, 4 World Trade Center, also joined the ranks as the 12th-tallest building to complete in 2014. The completions of these two structures are important milestones in a long and often tortuous rebuilding process after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Meanwhile, midtown New York marked the completion of One57, a 306-meter residential tower. All of these completions point toward a resurgent skyscraper city in New York, which is one of the reasons CTBUH will hold its 2015 conference there.

Completions by Timeline:-

97 buildings completed in 2014 beat every previous year on record, including the previous record high of 81 completions in 2011.

A total of 11 supertalls (buildings of 300m or higher) completed in 2014 – the highest annual total on record. Since 2010, 46 supertalls have been completed, representing 54% of the supertalls that currently exist (85).

Completions by Locations:-

Asia’s dominance of the tall-building industry increased yet again in 2014. Seventy-four of the 97 buildings completed in 2014, or 76%, were in Asia.

South America welcomed its first supertall, the 300-meter Torre Costanera of Santiago, Chile, which was also the only building of 200 meters or greater to complete on the continent in 2014.

Completions by Functions:-

In 2014, 47 all-office buildings were completed (48% of the total), the largest total ever, versus 31 (38% of the total) in 2011, the previous record high.

Completions by Material:-

A majority of 2014 completions used composite construction as the primary structural system – 52 out of 97 (54% ), as compared to 24 out of 71 (34%) in 2013. The number of buildings whose predominant structural material is concrete dropped to 38% in 2014 from 61% in 2013.

World’s 100 Tallest Location:-

World’s 100 Tallest by Function:-

World’s 100 Tallest by Material:-

All-steel continued its decline as a primary structural material, comprising only 5% of 2014’s 200-meter-plus completions and 13% of the world’s 100 tallest buildings, though it showed a slight uptick from 3% in 2013.

 Skyline: Tallest Building by Year:-

At 541 meters, One World Trade Center was the tallest building to complete in 2014 and is now the world’s third-tallest building.

Skyline: Tallest 2014 Completions:-

Average Building Height:-

Although the average height of all 200m+ completions seems to fluctuate each year, the average height of the tallest 100 buildings continues to rise as the industry pushes itself further into the sky.

Total # of 200m + Buildings:-

The number of 200-meter-plus buildings in existence has hit 935, a 352% increase from 2000.

Buildings Entering 100 Tallest:-

As skyscrapers "surge," a number of tall buildings enter the 100 Tallest Buildings list each year. Since 2010, at least 12 buildings have entered the list annually. With high projected supertall numbers for 2015 and 2016 completions, it might not be long before we see a year pass the 2011 record.

Projected 2015 Completions:-