SHANGHAI - A mile-high skyscraper, almost double the height of today's tallest building, may become a reality by 2025 as developing countries splurge cash in an ego-fueled race to construct the world's highest tower.
"If you have enough money, I'm sure the human mind can create a lot higher," said Timothy Johnson, an architect and chairman of the Chicago-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. "Who are we to say it's good or bad. People want to push higher and higher. That's just human nature, isn't it?"
Planning for the next milestone, a 1-mile-high building, may be under way before 2020 and completed five years after that, Johnson said, without giving further details. Johnson designed the Sail at Marina Bay in Singapore, the world's 10th tallest residential building.
Today's highest skyscraper - the 2,717-foot Burj Khalifa in Dubai - is set to be overtaken by the 3,281-foot (that's 1 kilometer) Kingdom Tower in Jeddah when it's completed in 2018. Developing countries are eclipsing the United States and Europe in the "megatall" category of 1,800-foot-plus buildings, fueled by faster economic growth and a desire to show off their wealth.
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The council has been recognized as the arbiter on building height and the body that determines the title of "The World's (or Country's or City's) Tallest Building," according to its website.
Johnson said he had discussed with a Middle Eastern developer a plan for a building with a height of 1 1/2 miles about four years ago. The plan was shelved because of the economic turmoil in the region, he said, declining to identify the developer.
"We actually discovered you can do it," Johnson said.
The challenges are finding materials to replace steel and cement, and identifying methods beyond traditional elevators to move people.
The world's next tallest building is unlikely to be in the U.S. or in Europe, he said.
Frank Lloyd Wright, the architect who designed New York's Guggenheim Museum, sketched fantasy skyscraper "The Illinois" in 1956 that would have been a mile high. The tower called for 76 atomic-powered, quintuple-deck lifts, including express elevators that could reach the top of the 528-story building in a minute.
"Maybe the 1-mile building will be in Africa, a place that needs to somehow say 'look, we are also here,' " Johnson said.
China completed 23 buildings over 656 feet last year, more than any other country, according to the council.
The 1,614-foot World Financial Center in Shanghai is the tallest tower in China and the third in the world. The 2,073-foot Shanghai Tower in the city's Pudong business hub is set to be the world's second-highest building when construction is completed in 2014.
The world's No. 2 skyscraper today is the 1,667-foot Taipei 101 in Taiwan.
Chicago's 1,451-foot Willis Tower is the eighth tallest.