There's a very real "the western world isn't all that" in most developing markets. Why'd they build the Petronas Towers? To show the world that Kuala Lumpur was a new center of industry. Why'd they build the Burj Khalifa? To show the world that Dubai was a new center of industry. Why'd they build the Empire State Building? To show that New York was a new center of industry. Why'd they build the Sears Tower? To show that Chicago was a new center of industry. Shit, even the Smith Tower in Seattle was billed as "the tallest building west of the Mississippi" until it wasn't, and that fucker is short. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/21/garden/21who.html?pagewant...
Considering height, I guess it is really just that simple. People build tall because of what it symbolizes - a monument to prosperity and technical prowess. What's interesting to me though is that it even still exits as an endeavor. When the lift was invented, it doubled the height of buildings. Then steel hit the market and that doubled the height again. And there was a time when a conversation could be had about land use and efficiency, but when I look at Dubai all I see is a city with nothing around and therefore no real imperative to conserve. Things could be built outward just as easily as upward. People still build tall because of how it exists in our imagination - the same way men climb mountains. I will forever be in awe of The Sears (Willis) Tower simply because of what it meant for me as a child. For me though, I think that building tall just simply isn't cool anymore. Especially when your tower is only the highest for a few months. If there is any type of innovation in the big-swinging-dick variety of buildings, it's maybe Norman Foster's Crystal Island Tower:
http://www.e-architect.co.uk/images/jpgs/moscow/crystal_isla...
but even that feels a little rapacious for my taste. Nope, If you want to see cool, look no further than the tallest load bearing masonry building in the world - The Monadnock in Chicago. 1890, 17 stories. The ground floor walls are 6 feet thick! Eat your heart out Rapunzel: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eliezerappleton/4176675900/size...
Don't try to wrap your rational mind around Dubai. It is Babel in every sense. Well, no. That's not fair. You wanna know what Dubai is? Dubai is a stab at immortality from a nomadic culture that has enjoyed three generations of spectacular wealth on a resource that is already dwindling, built to leverage a financial system already in decline. Dubai is Lehman Brothers as architecture. Something else to keep in mind about tall buildings: In the United States, we're still getting over the shock of September 11. Once the Twin Towers came down, pretty much everyone in America thought "we must never build tall buildings again, Arabs will smash into them." Every non-aligned power in the world, however, took that moment to say "fuck the dollar, it's me-time." So while you or I can sit around and think "tall buildings aren't cool any more" most every developing culture is busy attempting to become Mad Men. Take the geopolitic of 1960's USA and overlay it over 2010's China. You'll see more similarities than differences.
The #1 tallest coaster or building is a quick lived phenomenon. It's a shame, that coaster is still a ton of fun to ride and the Sears Tower is still a wonderful building to visit.
Burj Khalifa is a great example. It is an incredible building. Beautiful design, and from the pictures I've seen that my friend took, an out an out badass building. But over the five years that it took to build, Dubai went from the best performing property market to the worst. The collapse of global credit caused 50% of the real estate projects to be cancelled in the emirate. Almost a year after its inauguration, 90% of its private apartments were still vacant. Most of its business went the "The Address" next door. So why, when the world is in this financial state,( http://hubski.com/pub?id=13029 )are we designing and building these structures that are so big? A smaller building would better suit the needs of the city. I mean it's a desert, how tall does it need to be? It just seems like some sort of national pride crap that we've already discovered is senseless. As put it, "territorial pissing", http://hubski.com/pub?id=10646 .
When I think of the era in which the original tall buildings were constructed, I think of the Washington Monument and the Eiffel Tower. The monument was built in Washington's honor. The Eiffel Tower was built to celebrate the world's fair of 1899. This might be a huge oversimplification, but it seems that every skyscraper since has been a response to those two. In my mind, that race has been over for years. Maybe that is part of my problem. Remember back in the early 90's when big SUV's were all the rage? Well somebody thought that a military grade vehicle was what the general public needed...so now we have the Hummer H2. The H2 is one of the most ridiculously inefficient and gaudy vehicles out there. It might as well come with fireworks and a bull horn that announces your arrival. Sometimes you need a big truck, van, or (sigh) SUV, but the H2 is an example of how designing something big, just to be the biggest, is obnoxious and glutinous.
The vehicle is a good simile for this topic. About once a week I'll see a yellow Lamborghini downtown and think to myself "Wow! People really do buy into this shit don't they?" Money does not afford taste.