What is it with people who want to build big glass buildings on earthquake-prone volcanoes?

Wireless Joe

Either build a tower to be the worlds tallest or just build a tower.

Second tallest just proves you're poor or have no mad building skillz. Go home losers. live in my shadow

Mwahahaha

ultim8fury

Okay, not every other year, but certainly every couple of years.

bbfreak

So what does the train going into the tunnel underneath the giant tower represent?

reddingofish

It all has to do with the size of the mayors' you know what of Tokyo and Chicago. Richie Daley has always felt short changed.

Rick36

Those of you playing at home will note that the second tallest building in that picture is the headquarters of the Asahi Brewing Company, designed to look like a big, gold, frothy mug of beer (the silvery cap is the foam). The building to its right was built for the Olympics, and the gold "sperm" on top is the flame of an Olympic torch. The Budokan is just out of view to the right.

(Yes, I took the Sumida River Tour and payed attention)

tinyhands

[www.gizmodo.com.au]

Why are Tokyo and Chicago duking it out with Vancouver to win the title of World's Runner Up?

Hiphopopotamus

Until some years later when some other wanker wants to build a tall building. Of course, I guess there is going to be a limit eventually with the current materials but until then every other year someone is going to try to outmatch the previous record.

bbfreak

What happened to the Chicago tower :-(

we keep falling behind

mricyfire

one = antenna
two or more = antennae (not antennaes)

(Sorry, I study insects. :-)

mad_scout

They're almost done with the foundation hole for the Chicago Spire. I walk by it everyday on teh way to work, but there's really high walls around the site. I swear I see the base for the sky crane is laid out at the site right now just waiting for the foundation to be drilled.

Lupison

Mmmm...digital TV in more places, but with same sucky shows. :(
I think they "officially" broke ground last Saturday. There's a video out there on YouTube that shows the view from the elevation/location of where the tower will be. It pans around. Anyways, the skyline is going to look trippy once that thing is up.

vagrant

Don't they ever take the local monsters into account. That tower would be a perfect perch for a giant bug or flyng dinosaur. Godzilla could use it as a bat to whack down who ever he is fighting.
Oh, sorry, this comment belongs on io9.

reddingofish

...um the chicago spire is currently under construction and is going to be 2000' tall. And that is without a superfluous antennae.

jc5680

They're just trying to make Tokyo more like the way it's presented in Ninja Gaiden 2. Expect to see more of this, 115th floor dojos and odd secret passage ways lazily disguised behind paper walls.

lpranal

Looks like they are making up for things that aren't so...ahem... equivalent

Kramen loves her MBP

@ultim8fury: Yeah man. Second place is the first loser.

Joseph

Looks exactly like the CN Tower in structure form. Just simple evolution of design.

xtremesniper

@ultim8fury:

Like others are saying, what's the point in holding the title, when you could only hold it for a few years anyway ?

And, not that I like to contribute to the MISPLACED climate of fear (I mean there are plenty of things in the world worthy of dread but certain things get a wee bit more press time than is proportional to their real threat is all I'm saying), but can you seriously imagine a terrorist thinking "Hmmm...I know how I'll make my political statement...I'll bomb/blow up/raspberry the worlds SECOND tallest building! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!"

As Dave Chapelle would say "You not gonna see it..."

Besides, $555 million is cheap in one of the richest countries in the world. Witness the factr that 90% of the building as yet has not intended purpose. This is probably just so some rich 80 year old japanese businessman can have the secret private gogo disco bar and shag pad at 2000' that he's dreamed about since college.

And you know what ? If you're an 80 year old billionaire, why the heck not!?!??

OddManOut

If I were to build a skyscraper, I'd make it with a sleek outer wall. Having a place for King Kong to step on is just pure stupidity.

Chester_Copperpot

isnt tokyo in the race with chicago for 2016 olympics? maybe that's why?

sdsviet

Needs a big rotting monster corpse impaled on it.

strider_mt2k

*N*E*W*S* Gizmodo's-Second-Tallest-Building-of-the-Month-Club-Award goes to ... "Tokyo Sky Tree" ! yay.
Why not do an interesting building award?
"Gizmodo's-Most-Stupid-Building-in-the-World-Award"
I nominate... (Badda Bum Tish!!!) The White House.

ANoel

gigantic phalluses help people forget that their population is shrinking their your economy is in the shitter. がんばって

Gaytheist

Needs more racing stripes.

Chromeo

@tinyhands: The Asashi building also happens to have been designed by Philippe Starck. I took the tour as well, although that bit was in a guide book I had with me...

As for everyone arguing about the new Chicago Spire SKYSCRAPER vs. this new Tokyo Sky Tree TOWER... what do the uppercase words tell you? They can both be 2000 feet tall, as they are entirely different buildings.

JoeKing

@mricyfire:

we don't need em... they're just proving themselves. love to see the spire go up tough... I'd prefer design then specs...

snowy_coke

you guys are not good with sky-scraper news, its not going to be the 2nd, because burj dubai isnt the first, its not even second, the mile tower in jeddah saudi arabia is going to be the tallest at 1 mile tall, then there are other even taller than burj dubai, so this building will not be near 2nd

kush

@kush: IF the Royal Family in the kingdom ever decides to approve it, and IF they don't realize in the meantime that spending over $2 BILLION on a single building is foolish in every way shape and form.

As for the other tower, the Al Burj...yeah that hasn't been approved either. So as of right now, the Burj Dubai is the tallest man made structure on the planet, beating out the TV antenna in North Dakota..and the Tokyo Sky Tree is the second tallest *approved* building in the the world.

Check your facts ;-)

jayhawk11

"Why are Tokyo and Chicago duking it out with Vancouver to win the title of World's Runner Up?"

WTF?

Vancouver.. has no claim to fame for tall buildings. We only JUST got our first building taller than 30 floors recently. Gotta love bylaws.

disdes

Let's see a Sky Tee & Spire battle.

drummerjoe

@sdsviet: Now that would be a cool way to decide Olympic Cities. Have a series of competitions, like a reality show, and each week one city gets voted off.

It would cost a truly ridiculous amount of money of course, but think of all the new cool structures that would come out of it. And the TV opportunities!!!

"Reykjavik, the water flow in your canal system just isn't what we expected. Pretoria, the decision to only dig the canal 3 feet deep was simply too safe a decision...

...Pretoria...

...you still have a shot at the Gold!

Reykjavik...I'm sorry, that means there is no place for you on the podium, au revoir."

92BuickLeSabre

@mricyfire: Don't fret. We have the long delayed, much debated, highly anticipated, pornographically patriotic ~~~FREEDOM TOWER~~~ rising just a couple of meters away from the ashes of the Twin Towers (because they didn't want to hurt any dead people's feelings) and will stand a patriotic ~~~1776~~~ feet tall. It will become the tallest building in the US and return the title to its rightful owner: New York City. :P Oh, but wait, we were too afraid/patriotic to go any higher...

@Kramen loves her MBP: Considering the furious commenting going on last night, this article is rather ironic.

DigitalSciGuy

the rest of the tower isn't going to be anything else because this is a television broadcasting tower. They are building it because the current Tokyo Tower is not strong enough to reach most homes.

cf292010

feet? really? get with the program and use meters and kilos etc. idiots say feet and/or stupid people. good article tho!

darklybishop

@kush and @jayhawk guy who roots for a sucky school:

There's a huge difference between "under construction" and "being planed".

[skyscraperpage.com]

finished:
[skyscraperpage.com]

under construction:
[skyscraperpage.com]
(the one being built in Mecca is gorgous)

Lupison

Ohhh!!! I think its time for a sizemodo... That tower in dubai,this tokyo sky tree... and finally the chicago spire!!!

I think it would be interesting

MadColombian

There's no credit here or at skyscraperpage.com for the architect, it shows these are engineering ego-trips more than art.

@Lupison: the one being built in Mecca is gorgous
Abraj Al Bait Towers ??!
Maybe you mean "1: any of three snake-haired sisters in Greek mythology whose appearance turns the beholder to stone 2: an ugly or repulsive woman." If you mean "gorgeous", then I quote the comments: It's almost Soviet in its clunkiness, especially the ludicrously overscaled clock tower. ... At first glace it looked like the "New York, New York" complex in Las Vegas with Big Ben thrown in.

skierpage

kin no unko
gin no kanchou

senorbelly

Does it transform?

bertoo1960

@jayhawk11:its been approved, theres a contract thats already been signed for 50 Billion Riyals with Bectel check your facts

kush

eh, the japanese always cheat at this stuff. at least a quarter of the building above the last habitable portion is an architectural spire. don't get me wrong, looks good. but it's just not the same as building a 2000 foot building that allows you to stand on the 150th floor.

speaking of a 2000 foot tower with 150 floors, don't forget about the chicago spire, which (gee whiz, it's like i planned it this way) will have 150 stories stretching 2000 feet into the air. no weak-ass architectural doodad at the top to boost the height. it'll also be the tallest freestanding structure in north america and the tallest all-residential building in north america. and it will look like a dildo. seriously, it doesn't get much more phallic than this: [upload.wikimedia.org]

stre

@Hiphopopotamus:

Vancouver? WTF are you talking about? I'd have to think you meant Toronto, which is easily mistaken as Vancouver as it has no mountains around it and is, for all practical purposes, on the other side of the contenent. Having lived in both cities for many years, Toronto doesn't hold a candle to Vancouver.

diverguy

Dubai sucks. It's great if you like overpriced eastern European hookers and hot weather. Not sure why anyone goes there. I guess it's to see all the dumb buildings that those dumb Arabs build to make up for their short comings, i.e. their tiny country and joo lek.

angelo999

I love that they just decided,"hey lets build a skyscraper! We can throw a restaurant in there and of course an antenna, we'll figure something out for the rest of it later."

Kaikai