It’s only been a few years since humans could climb more than 800m above the surface of the Earth without the help of jet fuel. It’s easy to forget that buildings that reach this high into the atmosphere are a new phenomenon in our world — at these heights, it’s more like aerospace engineering than architecture.
Picture: Bill Richards/Flickr
After looking at the newest crop of supertall (over 300m) buildings yesterday, I noticed that while photos of the buildings themselves are all over the place, we rarely see the view from the top — images shot from their observation decks. I dug through Flickr’s Creative Commons archives and realised there are plenty floating around out there, and they’re breathtaking.
Feel free to drop your own in the comments, or check out even more bird’s-eye-view shots from towers here.
Shanghai World Financial Center, Shanghai, 492m
Pictures: Manu Cornet/Flickr, Gabriel Jorby/Flickr, Kenneth Moore/Flickr
International Commerce Centre, Hong Kong, 484m
Pictures: JohnLSL/Flickr, BlueSkySunHigh/Flickr, Barbara Willi/Flickr
Burj Khalifa, Dubai, 828m
Pictures: AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, Darla دارلا Hueske/Flickr, Reinhold Behringer/Flickr
Makkah Royal Clock Tower, Mecca, 600m
Picture: Lou Kofiah/Flickr
One World Trade Center, New York, 541m
Pictures: AP/Seth Wenig, AP/Richard Drew
101 Taipei, Taipei, 509m
Pictures: Gary0801/Flickr, Gérard Métrailler/Flickr