How we measure
SPIRE is not the arbiter of the world’s tallest building. The Council on Vertical Urbanism (formerly CTBUH) is. We visualize their three heights, cite every figure, and leave blanks where we do not know.
We do not award titles.
Three heights
The Council on Vertical Urbanism (formerly CTBUH) measures height three ways, always from the lowest significant open-air pedestrian entrance.
- A · Architectural Top
- Spires in, antennas, signage and flagpoles out. The official ranking.
- B · Highest Occupied Floor
- The highest finished floor designed to be lived or worked in.
- C · Tip Height
- The highest point of any kind, antenna included.
At least 50% of height must be occupiable to count as a building. N Seoul Tower and the Eiffel Tower therefore sit outside the ranking and only appear as scale anchors.
What is in
Completed buildings 300 m and above, plus Korean towers needed for scale even when they miss the world ranking (63 Building). Jeddah Tower appears only as the next title contender.
What is out
No scraping of SKYDB or the CTBUH database, no full pipeline of unbuilt proposals, no guessed numbers. Unknown occupied-floor or tip heights stay null and drop out of that ranking.