Building Facts

The word skyscraper originally referred to a type of sail on a sailing  ship. A skyscraper is held together by a steel skeleton of vertical columns, horizontal girder beams and often  diagonal beams for extra support. This structure distributes the  immense weight in a way that ensures the  integrity and safety of the building. Restoration work in 1990 and 2001 shifted the Leaning Tower of Pisa  back to an angle of 4 degrees after  it was previously leaning at an angle of 5.5 degrees. The roofs of the Sydney Opera House are covered in a total of 1056006 tiles. The Colosseum in Rome, Italy, is an elliptical amphitheatre that was completed in 80 AD. It held around  50000 spectators and was used for a variety of events including gladiator contests, animal hunts and  mythology based dramas. Around 20000 workers helped build the Taj Mahal, a famous mausoleum and landmark in Agra, India, that  attracts millions of visitors every year. The world’s largest office building by floor size is the Pentagon in Virginia, USA, with over half of its  6500000 square foot (604000 square metre) floor area used as offices. The Empire State Building in New York was the first building to have over 100 floors and was the tallest  building in the world from 1931 until 1972. The Chrysler Building in New York was built at a time when there was a strong desire to build the world’s  tallest skyscraper, before being overtaken by the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building was the  world’s tallest for around 11 months. During the construction, floors were being completed at a staggering  four per week. Despite the rush, no workers  died during its construction. The Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, are the world’s tallest twin buildings, standing at a heigh t of 452 metres (1483 feet). The Burj Khalifa in Dubai, UAE, is the tallest building in the world. It reaches an amazing 828 metres  (2717 feet) in height. Check out our top ten list of thetallest buildings in the world. Tall buildings need fast elevators, recent developments have led to elevators that can travel up to, and  sometimes over, 1000 metres a minute (3280 feet a minute).