What is the tallest building in the world by architectural height?

The Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world by architectural height.

Completed in Dubai in 2010, the tower reaches 828 meters, or about 2,717 feet, to its architectural top. That measurement is the standard used by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat for the principal worldwide ranking of completed skyscrapers. The building was developed by Emaar and designed by the architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, with Adrian Smith as design architect.

Its height is not an accidental by-product of construction: the project was conceived to establish a new global record. The tower’s Y-shaped plan helps organize the structure around a central buttressed core, while setbacks reduce its exposed profile as it rises. The design was influenced in part by the form of a desert flower and by regional architectural traditions.

People often confuse different height categories. The Burj Khalifa’s architectural height is 828 meters, while its tip height is slightly higher. Other records, such as highest occupied floor or observation deck elevation, use different measurements and can produce different leaders. The CN Tower is a communications tower, not the world’s tallest building by this criterion.