Skyscrapers are the most iconic part of any city’s skyline. New ones sprout up all the time, always competing for the “world’s tallest.” But this video shows that height isn’t the only stat that matters: Total area does, too.
The video comes from YouTube channel The B1M, which is dedicated to all-things construction. It focuses on how just because some of these buildings are super tall doesn’t actually mean that they’re big. The video goes on to look at some of the tallest buildings across the globe and compare them using their total area instead. For example, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa is the tallest building on Earth (2,722 feet tall) but in terms of area, it doesn’t come anywhere close to the largest buildings (just 3.3 million square feet).
To gain an accurate measurement, The B1M followed the lead of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat‘s methodology, only considering the total gross floor area of a tower’s footprint and excluding adjoining podiums, connected buildings, and other towers within the overall building’s development.
The largest building, as determined by this channel, is awarded to China’s Ping An International Finance Center. Though it’s only 1,965 feet tall, it has over 5.3 million square feet of space, excluding its 968,000 square-foot basement. The video features other buildings like the Empire State Building, 30 Hudson Yards, Marina Bay Sands, the Renaissance Center, and the Petronas Towers.
via Nerdist
