Having the tallest building in the world has always been a source of pride for a country. Currently the UAE has bragging rights with the 829.9 meter Burj Khalifa. Nate Berg wanted to know the theoretical maximum height of a building:

• One of the biggest limitation appears to be available area. The taller the building the broader the base structure has to be to support the weight of the building.
• A concept 4,000 meter superstructure in Japan (pictured above) would have had a base that spread out several kilometers.
• Another important limitation is the transportation system. Lifts can only go so fast and people don’t want to stand around in one waiting to reach the top.
• Yet there’s no reason why, in theory, a manmade structure couldn’t be taller than, say, a mountain. According to one expert a tower as tall as Mt. Everest (8.8 km) wouldn’t be out of the question.

To read more and to find out why we might soon see a series of buildings that look like the Eiffel tower, the two year span that saw the constructuction of the tallest building in the world three times, other towers that are expected to go up soon and take the record from the UAE, and other considerations related to the question, click here.

Source: The Atlantic

Via: Kottke