9 of The World’s Most Impressive Structures

When it comes to architecture and buildings, it’s easy to overlook and forget about just how impressive some structures actually are.

From skyscrapers that stand thousands of feet in the air, to buildings that showcase intricate details that look like they’ve been hand-drawn, a building can sometimes be one of the most impressive things to look at.

At the heart of every structure are robust materials, quality workmanship and a lot of hard work and effort throughout the entire process. Although the external appearance will take the accolades and be admired internationally, it’s the work that goes into creating and fabricating the parts that remain unseen that take our interest; from the welding that fuses and holds the metal in place, to the cutting that shapes and gives the metal structures their distinctive appearance.

Every once in awhile something is made that makes people sit up and take note, so we thought we’d take a look at at some of the world’s most impressive structures and see how much material, effort and cost went into making them.

Europe

The Shard

Location: London, England
Date Opened: February 2013
Build time: 3 years 4 months
Amount of metal: 12,000 tonnes used to form the steel frame.
Cost: £435m

Did you know that 95% of the construction materials used to make The Shard are recycled? Many different types of welding processes including SMAW, MIG, SAW (tandem and tractor) welding were used in the fabrication of The Shard to ensure that the structure stays in tact and solid.

Guggenheim Museum

Location: Bilao, Spain
Date opened: October 1997
Build time: 4 years
Amount of metal: 33,000 pieces of titanium
Cost: $100m

Did you know that the Guggenheim has been hailed as the greatest building of our time by architect Philip Johnson?

Allianz Arena

Location: Munich, Germany
Date opened: October 2005
Build time: 3 years
Amount of metal: 22,000 tons of steel
Cost: 340m Euros

The Allianz Arena is home to one of the most famous football teams in the world, Bayern Munich, and holds 71,000 people. The arena lights up and night making it one of the most beautiful landmarks in Germany – not bad for a football stadium!

Asia

Burj Khalifa

Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Date Opened: January 2010
Build time: 5 years 11 months
Amount of Metal: 39,000 tonnes of rebar
Cost: $1.5bn

Did you know that the Burj Khalifa is the world’s tallest building and construction took 22 million man-hours?

Hangzhou Bay Bridge

Location: Shanghai, China
Date Open: May 2008
Build time: 4 years
Metal used: Steel
Cost: $1.5bn

The Hangzhou Bay Bridge is 32,500m in length and is one of the 10 longest bridges in the world.

Petronas Towers

Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Date opened: March 1996
Build time: 3 years
Amount of metal: 36,910 tonnes of steel
Cost: $1.6bn

The Petronas towers are so big and feature so much glass that it takes 2 months to clean the windows. Once they’re done, the cleaners have to start again!

America

The Cadet Chapel

Location: Colorado, USA
Date opened: 1962
Build time: 3 years
Metal used: undisclosed
Cost: $3.5m

Did you know that the Cadet Chapel is one of the largest religious buildings in the world and contains five types of chapels for several different religions?

The Chrysler Building

Location: New York, USA
Date opened: 1930
Build time: 2 years
Amount of metal: 20,961 tonnes of steel
Cost: $15m ($850m in today’s money)

The Chrysler Building is one of the most famous buildings in the world. Did you know that it was the tallest building in the world from May 1930 – April 1931?

Africa

Portside Tower

Location: Cape Town, South Africa
Date opened: 2014
Build time: 3 years
Material used: concrete
Cost: $138

Did you know that the Portside Tower is the fourth most expensive construction in Africa?