Building owners are often keen on scaling new heights. But the tricks and toppers that bring record-breaking skyscrapers to their peak often result in big chunks of useless hidden space.
In New York City, the loftiest example of this trend is the Bank of America tower at 1111 Avenue of the Americas, which stretches 1,200 tall feet and has 430 feet of non-occupiable height, making it third among the world’s largest chunks of unusable space. And the New York Times Tower at 620 Eighth Avenue, ranked sixth in the world, holds 325 feet of useless space atop its 1,046 feet.
(Source: Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat via Architizer)
The BOA tower’s unusable space, however, is dwarfed by that of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, which holds a whopping 800 feet of un-occupiable up top. The world’s tallest tower stretches 2,722 feet high in its entirety. Right behind the Burj Khalifa is the Zifeng Tower in Nanjing, which is topped with 436 feet of non-occupiable space, and reaches 1,480 feet total. [Architizer] — Julie Strickland