The Most Iconic Skyscraper/Tower in the World today

[jd3189]

What do you guys believe is the most recognizable skyscraper or tower in the world today? For many, the Empire State Building is the king of all skyscrapers and if you present a picture of it to anyone who atleast knows something about skyscrapers, they will know what it is on the spot. The building is also New York's best known landmark. It can be said that the Eiffel Tower in Paris is one of the most iconic landmarks of all time and it still attracts millions of visitors each day. This stucture,when seen at an instant screams out "France". Any opinion is openly welcomed.

[Roadcruiser1]

With over 16 million posts from all the skyscraper forums online for the World Trade Center it is most certainly one the most iconic buildings in existence even though it is under construction.



The tallest building in the world is also an icon, or the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

[ChiSoxRox]

Looking at buildings as opposed to towers, to me, there's one skyscraper that everyone knows and is a symbol of its city:



(The Chrysler Building is a close second, I feel.)

[mhays]

Eiffel by a mile.

The new WTC isn't terribly understood by people who don't follow construction, even among the general public who knows that something is getting built. Outside NY I mean.

The ESB is well known, but some people look at Chrysler and think it's the ESB. It's in the top handful but not #1.

Eiffel is unmistakable, and the undisputed icon of one of the world's top handful of cities. Even though there are a couple cheap knock offs, it's more unique than even ESB.

Collectively the Egyptian pyramids might be higher on the list, but no single one is terribly known by the average Walmart shopper. Ok, to be fair, the average Macy's shopper.

[Roadcruiser1]

Then how about this? Still represents NYC, and everyone knows them from around the world. This person took the pictures in the year 2000.



Link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jakeraj...n/photostream/

[jd3189]

Yeah. After the ESB,they were the most iconic symbols of NYC and after that September morning, are seen as one of the most iconic buildings that ever existed.

[JManc]

would say it's a toss up between the empire state building/ the pyramids (Kind of a skyscraper) and the eiffel tower.

[Rico Rommheim]

I think the parliament's clock tower in London ranks up there with the big boys, for sure.

[trueviking]

Originally Posted by Roadcruiser1

With over 16 million posts from all the skyscraper forums online for the World Trade Center it is most certainly one the most iconic buildings in existence even though it is under construction.

funny that a photo with the empire state, chrysler and woolworth's buildings in it would be used to show that the new world trade centre is the most iconic building in the world.

i dont think it would rank in the top 500....i bet less than .001% of the general population would recognize it out of context....its somewhat average design will probably ensure it stays that way.

[Nowhereman1280]

^^^ Yeah, no one is going to recognize the new WTC with is relatively boring design among the plethora of newer, taller, and flashier towers going up today.


I'd say the answer to this only has about 4 structures that can be considered:

1. Empire State Building
2. Eiffel Tower
3. Pyramids
4. Statue of Liberty


New WTC doesn't come close and never will come close to any of those.

Edit: I might add that the White House is up there as well. Even outside of the United States people recognize the White House as an icon though that will change quickly if the USA continues it's "fall from grace"...

[HomrQT]

Originally Posted by Roadcruiser1

With over 16 million posts from all the skyscraper forums online for the World Trade Center it is most certainly one the most iconic buildings in existence even though it is under construction.



The tallest building in the world is also an icon, or the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

Kind of off topic, but it looks like the Statue of Liberty is doing a disco pose. Or maybe Freddie Mercury...

[ColDayMan]

Eiffel Tower and the Great Pyramids by a mile, then your Statue of Liberty, Big Ben, etc.

Any sort of skyscraper is going to be mistaken for something else. Chrysler = ESB to many people. I could show people a skyline photo of Philadelphia and people think "New York!" (it's happened). Ditto with landmarks like the CN Tower/Space Needle. The four mentioned above are not going to be mistaken, even with the cheap knockoffs.

[mhays]

SSPers tend to overestimate the fame of skyscrapers. To much of the world they're almost anonymous and interchangable.

I agree about CN Tower and others of the concrete variety. The Space Needle won't make anybody's top 10 or many top 20s of world landmarks, but it's more unique aside from a common basic height. A ball or saucer on a unified concrete tower has been the recipe many times, resulting in a lot of towers intended to be well known but mostly not. Except CN which gets credit for height.

[Steely Dan]

my top 3 iconic "tall things":

1. giza pyramids
2. eiffel tower
3. statue of liberty



if we open it up to iconic buildings of any height, i'd also throw in:

1. the coliseum
2. the parthenon

[marvelfannumber1]

How has no one mentioned the chrysler building yet?




Wirednewyork.com

[summersm343]

In my opinion the ESB and the Chrysler Building aren't "that" iconic only because most people get them confused, unlike the rest of us who know something about buildings.

So in my opinion "Iconic Structures" would be things like (what my girlfriend would recognize)-

The Eiffel Tower
The Great Pyramids of Giza
The Statue of Liberty
The St. Louis Arch
The Liberty Bell
The Original World Trade Center (Possibly the new World Trade Center as well)
Big Ben in London
The Golden Gate Bridge
Hollywood Sign
Times Square (More then one building of course)
Taj Mahal
The Colosseum
Stonehenge
Great Sphinx
The Vatican
The White House
The U.S. Capitol Building
The Great Wall of China
Mount Rushmore
The Washington Monument
Yada Yada Yada...etc etc

Buildings that come in at a close second would be (meaning people have a general idea of what they are, or people who know something about buildings or architecture would recognize)

The ESB
Chrysler Building
Sears Tower (Willies Tower)
CN Tower
Bank of China Tower
Transamerica Building
The Burj Khalifa
The Metropolitan
The Philadelphia Museum of Art (Rocky Stairs)
Hagia Sofia
The Louvre
Sydney Opera House
The Burj Al Arab
Seattle Space Needle

Dare I also include One and Two Liberty Place?
Bank of America Building?
New York Times Building?
Philadelphia City Hall?
Independence Hall?
Grand Central Station?
Penn Station?
Madison Square Garden?

I think I compiled a decent list lol

[Dylan Leblanc]

http://otherworldmystery.com/where-i...-great-pyramid

This is how they looked originally, white with glimmering capstones. They were mystery temples.

[NYC4Life]

My picks for skyscrapers:

Empire State Building
Chrysler Building


All other structures:

Statue of Liberty
Eiffel Tower
Big Ben
Tower Bridge
Giza Pyramids & Sphinx
Golden Gate Bridge
Taj Majal
Roman Coliseum
Great Wall of China
Seattle Space Needle

[brickell]

I'd vote for ESB.

But to add to the list
Why no the Epcot Ball (aka Spaceship Earth)

src: wikipedia

Leaning Tower of Pisa
Hatteras Lighthouse
Sagrada Familia
St Basil's

[Coldrsx]

ESB hands down.