Saturday, October 26, 2013
The Edge of Insanity
Earlier this week, internationally acclaimed photographer Joe McNally posted a heart-stopping photo to Instagram, saying:
“My old battered shoes climbed the worlds tallest building today. What an amazing structure! Tweeting from 820 meters straight up!”
The photograph was taken well above the observation deck (located on the 124th floor), this is literally the highest point on the planet a person can be, on a man-made structure.
Joe McNally’s career has spanned over 30 years with assignments in over 50 countries. He has shot cover stories for TIME, Newsweek, Fortune and The New York Times; been a contract photographer for Sports Illustrated, a staff photographer at LIFE and a 23-year (still ongoing) contributor to National Geographic. He’s fairly prolific on Twitter, and you can also find him online at his Blog, Facebook, Google+ and YouTube.
At 829.9 meters (2,722 ft), the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is the tallest man-made structure in the world. Check out this list of records it holds:
- Tallest existing structure: 829.8 m (2,722 ft) (previously KVLY-TV mast – 628.8 m/2,063 ft)
- Tallest structure ever built: 829.8 m (2,722 ft) (previously Warsaw radio mast – 646.38 m/2,121 ft)
- Tallest freestanding structure: 829.8 m (2,722 ft) (previously CN Tower – 553.3 m/1,815 ft)
- Tallest skyscraper (to top of spire): 829.8 m (2,722 ft) (previously Taipei 101 – 509.2 m/1,671 ft)
- Tallest skyscraper to top of antenna: 829.8 m (2,722 ft) (previously the Willis (formerly Sears) Tower – 527 m/1,729 ft)
- Building with most floors: 163 (previously Willis (formerly Sears) Tower – 108)[20]
- Building with world’s highest occupied floor : 584.5 m (1,918 ft)
- World’s highest elevator installation (situated inside a rod at the very top of the building)
- World’s longest travel distance elevators
- Highest vertical concrete pumping (for a building): 606 m (1,988 ft)
- First world’s tallest structure to include residential space
- World’s highest installation of an aluminium and glass façade: 512 m (1,680 ft)
- World’s highest nightclub: 144th floor
- World’s highest restaurant (At.mosphere): 122nd floor at 442 m (1,450 ft) (previously 360, at a height of 350 m/1,148 ft in CN Tower)[30][31]
- World’s highest New Year display of fireworks.
