World's tallest buildings remain led by the Burj Khalifa globally, while downtown Cincinnati is poised to begin construction on a 21 story convention hotel at Fourth and Plum Streets, as reported by The Enquirer.
The Enquirer ranked downtown Cincinnati's tallest buildings and placed the 667 foot Great American Tower at Queen City Square first, reporting it has 41 floors, a 130 foot tiara of about 300 tons of steel, and was completed in 2011.
The second ranked building is Carew Tower, an Art Deco complex reported at 574 feet with 49 stories and a former mixed use role. The Enquirer says Carew Tower was the city's tallest for roughly 80 years and is planned for redevelopment into apartments and commercial space.
Third on The Enquirer list is the PNC Tower, also called Union Central Tower, recorded at 495 feet with 31 stories and undergoing conversion to 281 luxury apartments. The Scripps Center follows at 468 feet with 36 stories, and the Fifth Third Center is listed at 423 feet with 32 stories, both figures reported by The Enquirer.
The planned convention hotel will rise about 264 feet, The Enquirer reports, which would not place it among Cincinnati's top 10 tallest buildings. The hotel will still exceed the height of nearby structures, including The Enquirer headquarters in a 15 story building on Plum Street, as reported by the same article.
Global Rankings And Measurement Standards
On the global stage, Wikipedia lists the Burj Khalifa in Dubai as the tallest building at 828 metres and places Merdeka 118 and Shanghai Tower among the next tallest, according to Wikipedia's compiled ranking. That source also shows major towers such as the Makkah Royal Clock Tower and Ping An Finance Center within the top five.
Wikipedia explains measurement practices that shape such rankings, noting an organization called the Council on Vertical Urbanism, and describing how spires count as architectural features while antennas do not. The article also recounts the 1996 move to multiple height categories and a later change that removed height to roof as a standard metric.
The Skyscraper Center provides a contemporary listing of the 100 tallest completed buildings and places the Burj Khalifa at the top as well. That database uses a defined height measure that includes spires but excludes antennae, and it calls its criteria the CVU Height Criteria, as stated on its site.
Together these local and global sources illustrate how city skylines and international lists are measured and ranked, and how a new mid rise in Cincinnati will fit within a much taller worldwide roster of completed skyscrapers.
