Skyscrapers soon to be spacecrapers?

Skyscrapers have always amazed me, by their massive sizes, ingenious architectures and modern designs. When the Eiffel Tower was built in 1889, it was meant to stay there temporarily for the Universal Exposition of that same year. Fortunately, they decided to keep it and made it the world's tallest tower for 41 years until the Chrysler Building was built in New York City. NYC, also known to be the tallest city in the world along with Chicago and several main US cities has seen even bigger towers growing out of the ground in Asia and the United Arab Emirates. It seems like the competition is now happening between Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur, Dubaï and a few other cities.

Last week, the Burj Dubai reached its final altitude of 818 meters (2,683 feet), beating by nearly 1 Eiffel Tower (or 310 meter) the Taipei 101 tower in Taiwan. Since the 1980-90's, skyscrapers from around the world were setting new altitude records by a few meters each and every time. However, the Burj Dubai has taken a huge step leaving its competitors FAR behind.

Until recently, skyscrapers were mostly used to house office space or apartments in highly populated areas where the price per square-meter was reaching phenomenal prices. But Dubai does not have any lack of space and still reaches for the stars. These towers are now a symbol of luxury and economical health serving different purposes. For example, the Burj Dubai, with its beautiful and slim design, will be hosting commercial malls, recreational areas, hotels, restaurants, offices and of course housing.
Now let's have a look at several projects that seem unrealistic but who would have thought a century ago we would have a 800 meter tower?

The Bionic Tower

Meant to be built around 2015-2020 in China's economic center Shanghai, this tower is one of my favorites in terms of design. This is the work of two Spanish architects, Javier Pioz and Maria Rosa Cervera, specialized in "bionic" structures.

This simple means they inspire their structures from those of plants as seen on the image below. With such architectures found in the nature, the tower should be both strong and flexible at the same time. Considering the height of the tower, this is a very important detail that will protect the tower from high winds and earthquakes.

This tower should be housing over 100,000 people and will reach a height of 1,200 meters (4,000 feet) or 300 floors!

The Mile High Tower

This 1-mile high tower meant to be built soon in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia could beat the Burj Dubai soon because of the seriousness of the project. However, it appears that its construction could be postponed due to the current financial crisis.

Its height could reach an amazing 1,600 meters (5,250 feet).

Eye in the Sky

This tower of 600 meters (2,000), although less impressive than other towers shown here in terms of height, has a very interesting design. Meant to be built in Oakland California, it will be a lookout and won't be hosting any office or residential floors. You can read more information here.

The Ultima Tower (or X-Seed 4000)

This tower is more likely to never be built, considering its price (approx. 600 billion USDs!) and craziness! This tower, designed to be complete "city in the city" of Tokyo would be by all means the highest and most massive building ever built. It's height of 4,000 meters (13,123 feet) would literally make it a mountain. For your information, the Mont Blanc, Europe's highest mountain in France is 4,807 meters high!

This tower would be all solar powered and eco-friendly. It could also host up to... 1,000,000 people!! You can read more information on this post.

As far as I'm concerned, I can't wait to live in the first Spacescraper! :)

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