The completion of the Burj Khalifa in 2010 was a major milestone for humanity. It was the first time a residential building had exceeded 600 metres in height, making it the world’s first megatall skyscraper. The excitement led many to declare that we had entered the ‘age of the megatall’, and that by 2020 at least eight buildings would lay claim to this new title. But of all the proposals put forward, only a handful have made it to construction. Six were never completed, three were scaled back, and only three were actually completed. Of the only two megatalls officially classified as under construction by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, the status of each project could not be more different. While the future of Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia is unclear – with no major work taking place since 2018 – the prospects for another scheme look much more certain. When completed in 2023, at a time when the global economy is still in a period of slowdown, Malaysia’s Merdeka 118 will be the second-tallest building in the world and may well be the world’s last megatall skyscraper. The 118-storey, 644-metre-tall Merdeka 118 residential building is the centrepiece of the redevelopment of one of Malaysia’s most historically significant sites. Consisting of several residential towers, a theatre, a shopping mall and a landscaped public boulevard, the area will become a destination in itself. The main tower, which houses office space, a hotel, a 36-storey atrium, a restaurant and observation decks, will be a monument to the country; with cultural symbolism reflected in almost every element of its design. Rising next to Merdeka Stadium, where the country declared independence in 1957, the crystal façade is designed in the traditional songket pattern, meant to reflect Malaysia’s diversity and heritage. The building’s 160-metre spire creates a silhouette that mimics the iconic image of Malaysia’s first prime minister when independence was declared, with the word ‘Merdeka’ itself meaning ‘independent’ in English. The first construction work began in 2014. To support a building of such enormous height and maintain the structural integrity of the surrounding landmarks and existing infrastructure, engineers had to take care of the structure’s foundations. 137 reinforced concrete piles, each 2.2 metres in diameter and 60 metres long, were poured into place to support the main tower, before a self-supporting 800mm-thick circular retaining wall was built around the site. This allowed the five-tier foundations to be excavated and constructed using a top-down approach, an approach that minimised settlement and lateral movement of the surrounding soil. To maximise space on its valuable upper floors, which often decrease in size as the building grows or are occupied by tuned mass dampers to ensure structural stability, Merdeka 118 employs a number of ingenious engineering techniques. Using 1.7 metre-thick reinforced concrete walls, the core rises along eight megacolumns, each 4.4 metres wide at the base, that run around the building’s perimeter. Diminishing in size as they grow, these megacolumns are connected to the core by a structural steel system consisting of six belt trusses and three outrigger zones to create a rigid structure capable of withstanding lateral and seismic forces. The outrigger floors, which span three floors, also form an important part of the building’s transport network; they house lobbies and transfer areas for a system of high-speed double-deck elevators that will transport 15,000 people per day when the skyscraper opens. The project is estimated to cost $1.2 billion, with a total floor area of ​​400,000 square meters. The skyscraper will include a museum and a mosque, as well as the highest observation deck in Southeast Asia. Originally proposed in 2010, as the world was emerging from the global financial crisis, it took four years to secure the appropriate permits and financing, and another six years of construction to complete. While this is typical for a project of this scale, more than a decade of design and construction means that it is almost inevitable that something will disrupt global markets in the meantime, making any building that is not already occupied a liability for developers. Such risk makes canceling the project outright and accepting a small loss more attractive than continuing to pour billions into something that may sit empty for years after its completion. While it is certainly possible that another megatall skyscraper will be built in the future, we will likely have to make a quantum leap in how we build these impressive structures before a fifth member joins the megatall club. Based on materials from https://www.theb1m.com/video/building...