Gensler's recently completed Shanghai Tower is now the 2nd tallest building in the world, and the tallest building in China, according to The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH). At 632 meters tall, it is the third building in the world to exceed 600 meters and be designated “megatall.”

This recent addition to the hierarchy of tall buildings adds to the trend of tall buildings emerging in the east. For the first time in 41 years, Chicago’s Willis Tower (aka Sears Tower) has been pushed out of the world’s Top 10 Tallest Buildings with the new Top 10 dominated by towers in Asia and the Middle-East. With the rapid development of these areas, CTBUH predicts that in less than five years, the Willis Tower will be out of the Top 20 Tallest Buildings.

The Shanghai Tower itself embodies a new kind of skyscraper. Its spiralling form signals China’s emergence, but also provides a 24 percent saving in structural wind loading when compared to a rectangular building of the same height.

"The tower’s program is unique for being organized into nine vertical zones. Each of these “vertical neighborhoods” rise from a sky lobby, a light-filled garden atrium that creates a sense of community and supports daily life with a varied program catering to tenants and visitors," writes the CTBUH.

Read the full report here.