Observation deck is a place within a building or structure (tower) for visitation by tourists for sightseeing. Wonderful panoramic view is offered in observation deck which is usually located at the top portion of a building of tower, and yet not necessarily at the highest floor or point of a building. We are usually aware of the list of world’s tallest buildings. But what about the list of world’s highest observation decks? Emporis had compiled the list recently and I’m going to share it here. Click on the image below for larger view.
Burj Khalifa, the current world’s tallest man-made structure that stands at 828 metres had its observatory named ‘At The Top’. However, that doesn’t means that the building has the highest observatory in the world. It’s observatory is situated at 452 metres above ground and that is not high enough to top the list of world’s highest observation deck. It can only afford to be placed no.3. I wonder why the architect doesn’t want the observatory to be placed much higher to claim another title and also to allow for much breathtaking view from a greater height that has never been attempted before.
Out of this top 10 list of world’s highest observation decks, I had only been to one; the observatory in Taipei 101. I had visited Taipei 101 in 2008, at the time when it was still the world’s tallest building. Hence, the highest level of a building that I have ever been to is at level 91 of Taipei 101 which is at 392 metres above ground. At the time of my visit, it is also the title holder for the world’s highest outdoor observatory. Everything below appears so tiny from that particular level.
Out of this top 10 list, three are categorized as towers and not buildings; Canton Tower, Tokyo Sky Tree and CN Tower. Canton Tower which is located in Guangzhou is the world’s third tallest structure. The tower not only provides a magnificent view over the city of Guangzhou but also provides further attraction to visitors – a chance to circle the top of the tower below the antenna in glass pods 460 metres above ground. It’s like a horizontal ferris wheel at such a height! Excellent! I wish to visit the tower once in near future! The tower looks cool especially at night with those LED lights illuminating and giving ‘life’ to the tower beautifully.
Petronas Twin Towers, former world’s tallest buildings and still the current world’s tallest twin buildings had it’s highest observatory on 86th floor in Tower 2 at a height of 370 metres above ground. It would be then situated in placing no. 11. Opps..the list only covers top 10. I live in Kuala Lumpur, and I had never been to the observatory of the towers which are at level 41st and 42nd at the skybridge (170 metres above ground) and at 86th floor as mentioned earlier.
Around five years later, the Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia would top this list as well as claiming the title of world’s tallest man-made structure from Burj Khalifa once it is built. The construction has commenced last month as reported and estimated year of completion would be somewhere in 2018. The building’s height would goes above 1000 metres, making it the only man-made structure to go beyond 1 km in height when completed. The exact figure of the height still remains unknown or mystery, similarly to the time when Burj Khalifa is completed. Kingdom Tower’s observatory would be located somewhere 800 metres above ground. Wow…
(Images and information in this post are from emporis.com and from various other sources throughout the world wide web)
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