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by Meish Goldish by

spectacular Goldish Buildings Stupendous ports stadiums Freaky-Strange s ides ark r kyscrapers p Spectacular s Amazing Amusement Some buildings are so tall it’s hard to grasp just far they how grasp to tall so it’s are hard Some buildings something into compare to the have rise air—unless you is Center Financial World the Shanghai example, For them to. m) (492 feet the tallest It 1,614 stretches building in China. giraffes tall that? 100 It’s as as is high How up into the sky. amazing more for inside Look one on of another. top stacked findto out in order the just big how biggest comparisons the around truly world skyscrapers are. [Intentionally Left Blank] by Meish Goldish

Consultant: Paul F. Johnston, Ph.D. , D.C. Credits Cover and Title Page, © Prisma/SuperStock, Radaway/Dreamstime, and Jeffrey Liao/Shutterstock; TOC, © Joao Virissimo/Dreamstime; 4, © Bill Cobb/SuperStock; 5, © Art on File/Corbis; 6T, © Caitlin Mirra/Shutterstock; 6B, © philipus/Alamy; 7, © Kjersti Joergensen/Dreamstime; 8, © Best View Stock/ Photolibrary; 9A, © age fotostock/SuperStock; 9B, © Bruce Burkhardt/Corbis; 10, © Imaginechina via AP Images; 11, © Imaginechina via AP Images; 12, © Hemis.fr/SuperStock; 13, © Corbis/SuperStock; 14, © Anne Ryan/zrImages/Corbis; 15, © age fotostock/SuperStock; 16, © Evan Chakroff; 17A, © Xujun/ ChinaStock; 17B, © IndexStock/SuperStock; 18, © Stock Connection/SuperStock; 19, © Maria Isabel Villamonte/Dreamstime; 20, © Theresa L. Carter; 21, © Alexandre Fagundes De Fagundes/Dreamstime; 22A, © Bob Henry/Alamy; 22B, © Richard Berenholtz/The Durst Organization, Inc.; 22C, © Henry Westheim Photography/Alamy; 22D, © Nareg Karamanoukian; 23, © age fotostock/SuperStock.

Publisher: Kenn Goin Editorial Director: Adam Siegel Creative Director: Spencer Brinker Photo Researcher: Picture Perfect Professionals, LLC

Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data

Goldish, Meish. Spectacular skyscrapers / by Meish Goldish ; consultant, Paul F. Johnston. p. cm. — (So big compared to what?) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN‑13: 978‑1‑61772‑303‑2 (library binding) ISBN‑10: 1‑61772‑303‑7 (library binding) 1. Skyscrapers—Juvenile literature. I. Johnston, Paul F. II. Title. NA6230.G592 2012 720’.483—dc22 2011011346

Copyright © 2012 Bearport Publishing Company, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.

For more information, write to Bearport Publishing Company, Inc., 45 West 21st Street, Suite 3B, , New York 10010. Printed in the of America in North Mankato, .

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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 contents Why So Tall?...... 4 ...... 6 ...... 8 Shanghai World Financial Center...... 1 0 ...... 1 2 ...... 1 4 Nanjing Greenland Financial Center...... 1 6 ...... 1 8 Trump Tower ...... 2 0

More Spectacular Skyscrapers...... 2 2 Glossary...... 2 3 Index...... 24 Bibliography...... 24 Read More...... 24 Learn More Online...... 24 About the Author...... 24 Why So Tall? Around , big cities are growing even bigger as more people move to them to live and work. These cities aren’t just spreading outward, however, they’re growing upward. To provide the extra offices and apartments that all these people need, tall buildings—called skyscrapers—are being built to be even taller and bigger than they were in the past.

Crowded cities such as New York have only one direction to build large buildings—straight up!

4 The first skyscrapers were built more than 100 years ago. In the 1880s, some of these “tall” buildings were only about ten stories high. Today, many skyscrapers are nearly 20 times as tall. Some can hold more than 10,000 people. That’s enough to fill more than 130 large school buses! In this book, you’ll view some of today’s most spectacular skyscrapers—from both the outside and the inside. With their awesome height and dramatic architecture, these soaring buildings make cities exciting places to visit and explore. So get ready for an amazing tour!

At 147 feet (44.8 m) tall, the Wainwright Building was about as tall as four football goalposts stacked on top of one another.

The word first meant the sail at the top of a ship’s tall mast. In the late 1800s, though, people began using the word to describe buildings that seemed to touch the sky.

The ten‑story Wainwright Building, built in St. Louis, , in 1891, was one of the 5 first skyscrapers in the United States. Burj Khalifa Opened: 2010 Where: , Height: 2,716.5 feet (828 m) Spectacular Feature: World’s tallest outdoor

Something huge can be found in Dubai (duh‑BYE). This city in the United Arab Emirates, a country in the Middle East, boasts the world’s tallest building. Burj Khalifa rises 2,716.5 feet (828 m) into the sky—more than half a mile (805 m) high! That’s almost five times taller than the Washington Monument. This spectacular skyscraper has more than 160 floors. Its 57 elevators zoom from the ground level to the top in The Washington just 60 seconds. They speed along at 40 miles per hour Monument stands just over 555 feet (64 kph)—about as fast as a racehorse. (169 m) tall. Inside , it’s like a mini‑city. There are hundreds of offices, more than 1,000 apartments—plus a hotel. The building’s capacity is 35,000 people. That’s almost big enough to hold the entire population of Atlantic City, . From the outdoor observation deck, viewers can see about 60 miles (97 km) away.

The outdoor observation deck—the highest in the world—is on the 124th floor and is 1,483 feet (452 m) above the ground.

6 To walk to the 160th floor of Burj Khalifa, a person has to climb 2,909 steps. That’s about eight times as many steps as it takes to reach the Statue of Liberty’s crown.

The concrete used to build Burj Khalifa weighed 121,254 tons (110,000 metric tons). That’s heavier than 20,000 African elephants.

Burj Khalifa has more than 26,000 glass panels on the outside of the building. It takes 36 workers about three months to wash them all.

7 index 22 Nanjing Greenland Financial Trump Tower Bank of America Tower 22 Center 16–17 Chicago 20–21, 22 Burj Khalifa 6–7, 12 Petronas Towers 12–13 Tuntex Sky Tower 22 Empire State Building 18–19, Shanghai World Financial Wainwright Building 5 22 Center 10–11 Willis Tower 14–15 International Commerce Taipei 101 8–9, 22 Centre 22

Bibliography

Dupré, Judith. Skyscrapers: A History of the World’s Most Extraordinary Buildings. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal (2008). Lepik, Andres. Skyscrapers. New York: Prestel (2008). Wells, Matthew. Skyscrapers: Structure and Design. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press (2005). Read More

Curlee, Lynn. Skyscraper. New York: Atheneum (2007). Goodman, Susan E., and Michael J. Doolittle. Skyscraper. New York: Knopf (2004). Hopkinson, Deborah, and James E. Ransome. Sky Boys: How They Built the Empire State Building. New York: Schwartz & Wade (2006). Roza, Greg. The Incredible Story of Skyscrapers. New York: PowerKids Press (2004).

Learn More Online To learn more about spectacular skyscrapers, visit www.bearportpublishing.com/SoBigComparedtoWhat

About the Author Meish Goldish has written more than 200 books for children. His books Bug‑a‑licious and Michael Phelps: Anything Is Possible! were Children’s Choices Reading List Selections in 2010. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, where the 24 tallest skyscraper is a 37‑story apartment building called the Brooklyner. [Intentionally Left Blank] by Meish Goldish by

spectacular skyscrapers Goldish Buildings Stupendous ports stadiums Freaky-Strange s ides ark r kyscrapers p Spectacular s Amazing Amusement Some buildings are so tall it’s hard to grasp just far they how grasp to tall so it’s are hard Some buildings something into compare to the have rise air—unless you is Center Financial World the Shanghai example, For them to. m) (492 feet the tallest It 1,614 stretches building in China. giraffes tall that? 100 It’s as as is high How up into the sky. amazing more for inside Look one on of another. top stacked find to out in order the just big how biggest comparisons the around truly world skyscrapers are.