The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habit acts as an international body in the field of tall buildings and sustainable urban design. It is a non-profit organization. It is located in Monroe Building in the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States.
The CTBUH announces the title of “The World’s Tallest Building” and is widely considered to be an authority on the official height of tall buildings. The ultimate mission of CTBUH is to study and report “on all aspects of the planning, design and construction of tall buildings”.
The Council was founded at Lehigh University in 1969 by Lynn S. Beedle, where its office remained until October 2003 when it is moved to the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.
Database of CTBUH:
The CTBUH maintains an extensive database of the tallest buildings in the world, organized by various categories. Buildings under construction are also included, although not ranked until completion. The CTBUH also produces an annual list of the ten tallest buildings completed in that particular year.
Events:
The CTBUH also hosts
annual conferences and a World Congress every three to five years. The CTBUH also bestows Tall Building Awards
each year, with four regional awards to the Americas, Europe, Africa and the
Middle East, and Asia and Australasia. Among these four regional awards, one is
given the "Best Tall Building Award Overall." There are also two
lifetime achievement awards. Starting in 2010, these awards are presented at a
symposium and dinner held on the Illinois Institute of Technology's campus. In
2012 the CTBUH added two new awards for Innovation and Performance.
Publications:
In addition to the monthly newsletter and daily updated global news
archive, the CTBUH publishes a quarterly CTBUH Journal. The Journal includes
peer-reviewed technical papers, in-depth project case studies, book reviews, interviews
with prominent persons in the tall building industry, and much more.
The CTBUH also publishes guidebooks, reference manuals, and monographs
related to the tall building industry. In 2006 it published the book 101
of the World's Tallest Buildings in conjunction with author and CTBUH
member Georges Binder, a reference to 101 of the world's tallest skyscrapers.
It includes photos, plans, details on architects, engineers and stakeholders,
and comprehensive technical data on each building. Since 2008 it has published
a Best Tall Buildings book to accompany that year's awards.
The height of the buildings are ranked using three different methods:
1. Height to architectural top:
- This is the main criterion under which the CTBUH ranks the height of buildings.
- Heights are measured from the level of the lowest, significant, open-air, pedestrian entrance to the top of the building, inclusive of spires but excluding items such as flagpoles and antennae.
2. Highest occupied floor:
- Height to the floor level of the highest floor that is occupied by residents, workers or other building users on a consistent basis.
3. Height to tip:
- Height to the highest point of the building, including antennae, flagpoles, and technical equipment.
A category measuring to the top of the roof was removed from the ranking
criteria in November 2009. This is because flat-topped skyscrapers are not as
common in the modern era as skyscrapers with intricate spire designs and
parapet features atop their roofs, making it more difficult to define the roof
of a building.
The CTBUH insist that a building should only be added to the official
tallest list when it is
- topped out structurally and architecturally,
- fully clad, and
- open for business, or at least partially open. This became the CTBUH official definition of a building's "completion".
