I remember a noteworthy chapter of the Great Skyscraper Wars from when I was a kid. This was back in the late nineties when it was announced that Chicago’s Sears Tower – then the world’s tallest building for 24 years – was dethroned by the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. As the first country outside the US to contest the World’s Tallest Building title in a huge way, Malaysia marked the opening volley in an intense skyscraper arms race that would stretch from Asia all the way to the Middle East.
You’d think after that Biblical fiasco with the Tower of Babel, humanity would have toned down its hubris a tad. In the last century our engineering prowess has reached all-new heights (pun intended), and our obsession with carving out a niche on top of the world is as strong as ever.
The Kuala Lumpur skyline, showcasing the Petronas Twin Towers. Image courtesy of tourist-destinations.com.
With the announcement of several new and ambitious skyscraper projects at Makati’s main financial district, the Philippines is now making its bid for the Really Tall Buildings Club. And why not? The national economy is the best it’s been in years. We’re seeing entrepreneurs taking bold risks and investing in landmark projects left and right. Between the economic recovery, the growing trend of condominium living and the demand for premium real estate in an overcrowded metropolis, venturing into vertical development would seem like a no-brainer. But can building a whopper of a skyscraper really be that simple?
The Country’s Tallest
By now, some of you may have seen the marketing materials for Picar Development’s Stratford Residences on Makati’s Kalayaan Avenue. At a projected height of 312 meters (1024 feet), Stratford Residences bills itself as the country’s undisputed tallest building and residential condo – provided Picar meets their target completion date of 2015.
Artist’s rendering of the Stratford Residences. Image courtesy of stratfor.ph.
Meanwhile, the same area shall pay host to Century City, touted as the landmark development of Century Properties. Already up is the first of the complex’s four condominiums, the 73-storey Gramercy Residences. With an estimated 62-meter height difference between the Gramercy and the Stratford, the competition between the developers of the two towers is already taking a controversial turn.
Artist’s rendering of the Gramercy Residences (right). Image courtesy of gramercyresidences.com.
Other skyscrapers in the works include Century’s Trump Tower Manila (slated for completion by 2015), Megaworld’s 50-storey One Central, and the Discovery Primea on Ayala Avenue (topped out just this year). None, however, have yet to close to the Stratford’s planned 312 meters, making it the country’s sole contender for the coveted “supertall” title.
A bird’s eye view of the Trump Tower Manila by Century Properties. Image courtesy of worldpropertychannel.com.
What Makes a Supertall Super-Tall?
The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) defines a supertall as “a building over 300 meters (984 feet) in height“, a distinction officially held by 65 skyscrapers worldwide as of July last year.
The current tallest building in the country is Ayala Avenue’s PBCom Tower - a designation which, to the consternation of local skyscraper enthusiasts, hinges on an 18-meter technicality. The building’s official recorded height of 259 meters (849.7 feet) includes an eight-level radio antenna. Thanks to that antenna, PBCom Tower narrowly edged out Gramercy Residences, the country’s second-tallest building at 250 meters (820 feet).
The World’s Tallest Building race is no stranger to antenna-related height technicalities. It’s no wonder that the CTBUH saw it fit to expand their height criteria, taking into account finer details like a structure’s context, function, highest occupied floor and materials.
Of course, future skyscraper builders will have a lot more than stringent height definitions to contend with. As far as the Makati CBD is concerned, Section 13, Article V of Makati City Ordinance 2000-078 states that all building heights must be in accordance with height restrictions set by both the Air Transportation Office (now the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines or CAAP) and the Philippine National Building Code (Republic Act No. 6541).
Compliance with the National Building Code seems self-explanatory enough, but why the Civil Aviation Authority? In special circumstances (as per Chapter 11 of their Advisory Circular 139-06-A), the CAAP may require new constructions to obtain a Height Clearance Permit if its location is deemed perilously close to an aerodrome or airport. In the case of Makati’s aspiring supertalls, the nearest one would be the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, which not only serves the Greater Manila area but also ranks as one of the world’s busiest airports.
So far, the CAAP has yet to sound off on the skyscraper mini-race brewing in Makati. Whether future constructions in the area will be permitted to breach the 300-meter mark remains to be seen, especially if the prospect of a supertall getting dinged mid-air by a passenger jet would become a very palpable concern.
828 Meters = A Long Way Up
While the distinctive silhouette of the Makati skyline is nothing to scoff at, it is still far from making a dent in the big leagues. The PBCom-Gramercy debate aside, neither come close to rivaling the current World’s Tallest title holder, the United Arab Emirates’ Burj Khalifa. Topped out in 2009 and completed in 2010, the Burj Khalifa stands at a staggering 828 meters (2,716.5 feet) tall.
The Burj Khalifa at Downtown Dubai, UAE. Image courtesy of sun-surfer.com.
To add even more fuel to the fire, the Burj Khalifa raised the stakes by standing out in the spanking-new “Megatall” category, referring to buildings measuring 600 meters (1,968 feet) and up in height. Dubai’s new architectural pride and joy did more than steamroll past the Megatall threshold – it also stands less than 200 meters short of being the world’s first kilometer-high manmade structure. And no matter how you approach it, the only acceptable response to that fact is “wow.”
The Philippines may be decades away from constructing its first Megatall (or even its own proud fleet of Supertalls), but Filipinos can take comfort in it becoming a viable possibility. Who knows? Years down the line, the country might produce its next hotshot architect with the vision to transform the skyline and give the country something new to talk about.
Author Bio:
Dominique Cordero lives in the Philippines and writes for HousingInteractive Inc. You can contact her at dominique@housinginteractive.com or add her to your Google+ circles:+Dominique Cordero.