The largest buildings in the world

The largest buildings in the world

We take a look at the world's largest buildings, from aircraft factories to royal palaces

Modern architecture has made relentless and remarkable progress over the past century, and with construction of the world's tallest and first 1km-tall building starting in Saudi Arabia this week, it looks like it won't be slowing down any time soon.

The world's largest buildings continue to grow, and not just higher into the sky. They also expand in all directions on the ground.

Architects continue to overcome structural hurdles and make history with innovative and groundbreaking designs. Here are some of their biggest and grandest: the largest buildings in the world.

Boeing Everett FactoryLargest usable area by volume

Location: Washington, USAFloor Area: 398,000 m2 (4.3 million square feet) Volume: 13.3 million m3 (472 million cubic feet) Year Built: 1966

alt="largest-building-in-the-world-Boeing-Everett">Maurice King/Creative Commons

This building claims to be the absolute largest of the largest buildings in the world due to its huge volume. Some of the greatest aircraft ever built are assembled here, such as the wide-body Boeing 747, 767, 777 and the new 787 Dreamliner.

The facility began operations in 1967 to produce the first 747 jumbo jets. The factory is open for public tours seven days a week and houses six coffee stands, a bank and several cafes.

Aalsmeer Flower AuctionLargest footprint on the ground

Location: Aalsmeer, HollandFloor area: 518,000 m2 (5.6 million square feet) Year built: 1972

alt=“largest buildings in the world – 2″>Orange, Creative Commons

Flowers, really? Yes, really. Considering Holland is so small, you wouldn't expect there to be room for such a large building. Here, employees drive through the facility in over 270,000 trolleys.

The building contains 13 auction rooms and 40 auction clocks. Good, considering that around 20 million flowers are sold here every day.

New Century Global CenterLargest building by floor area

Location: Chengdu, ChinaFloor area: 1,760,000 m2 (18,900,000 sq ft)Volume: approx. 7.4 million m3 (260 million cubic feet) Year built: 2013

alt=“largest buildings in the world China – 1″>Galaxyharrylion/Creative Commons

Although it does not have the largest floor area on the ground (i.e. the largest area on the ground floor), this building has the largest total area in China when all floors are added together.

This multi-purpose building just misses Dubai's International Airport Terminal 3. However, unlike Dubai's terminal, this building is controversial.

Shortly before opening, the owner was arrested on corruption charges, followed by the arrest of over 50 local government officials on similar charges. Big building, big corruption.

Burj KhalifaTallest skyscraper

Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates Height: 829.8 m (2,722 ft) Year built: 2010

alt=“largest buildings in the world – 2″>Nepenthes/Creative Commons

What can we say about the tallest “megatall” building in the world? Well, it stretches almost a kilometer into the sky, for starters. There are 211 floors and 58 elevators, it has a floor area of ​​309,473 m2 (3,331,100 square feet) and has broken over 17 height records, including the tallest nightclub and tallest restaurant in the world.

Unfortunately, it only has the second highest swimming pool in the world. With a price tag of $1.5 billion, you really expect the tallest swimming pool, right?

Tokyo SkytreeTallest self-supporting tower

Location: Tokyo, JapanHeight: 634m (2,080ft)Year built: 2011

alt="largest buildings in the world tokyo">Creative Commons

The opening day of Japan's largest structure attracted tens of thousands of people. Unfortunately, the rainy conditions blocked the view from the tower's observation deck.

Strong winds also forced the shutdown of two elevators, leaving some visitors stranded on the observation deck. Despite this, 1.6 million people visited Skytree in the first week.

The height of 634 m (2,080 ft) was chosen to be easy to remember. The numbers 6 (mu), 3 (sa), 4 (shi) stand for “Musashi”, an old name of the region where the Tokyo Skytree now stands.

Shinsegae Centum CityLargest department store

Location: Busan, South KoreaFloor area: 509,810 m2 (5,487,500 sq ft) Year built: 2009

alt=“largest buildings in the world – 3″>Michiel1972/Creative Commons

This is what my nightmares are made of. The world's largest department store (even bigger than Macy's in New York) must send shivers down the spines of South Korea's husbands and boyfriends.

The name Shinsegae literally means “New World” in Korean. The building's footprint is larger than Seoul International Airport. Terrible.

Palace of ParliamentLargest parliament building

alt=“largest-building-in-the-world-romania-1″>Creative Commons

Location: Bucharest, Romania Usable area: 330,000 m2 (3.55 million square feet) Year built: 1997

Totalitarian Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu has bulldozed vast areas of his country's capital to make way for his crazy grand plans. One of the few buildings actually completed was the Palatul Parliamentului, a multi-purpose building housing both chambers of the Romanian Parliament.

With at least 1,100 rooms, the building is the world's second largest civil administrative building (after the Pentagon in the USA).

Royal Palace of MadridLargest royal palace

Location: Madrid, SpainFloor area: 135,000 m2 (1,450,000 sq ft) Year built: 1755

alt=“largest buildings in the world – 5″>Daderot/Creative Commons

The palace is the official residence of the Spanish royal family, but is only used for state ceremonies. King Felipe VI and the royal family instead opt to stay in their more modest palace on the outskirts of Madrid. It must be nice to have a choice of palaces.

The palace has 135,000 square meters (1,450,000 square feet) of floor space and contains 3,418 rooms. Sometimes I prefer to stay in my more modest second home. It's my parents' house in Sussex and they have a garage. So there.

Abraj Al Bait TowersTallest clock tower

Location: Mecca, Saudi Arabia Height: 601 m (1,972 ft) Year built: 2011

alt=“largest buildings in the world – 6″>Citizen59/Creative Commons

At 601 meters, this is a very tall building. In fact, it is the third tallest building and fourth tallest freestanding structure in the world. Put four clocks on it and it will also be the tallest clock tower in the world.

The building is part of the King Abdulaziz Endowment Project, a state-owned megatall building complex just meters from the world's second largest mosque and Islam's holiest site, the Kaaba, where Muslims make the Hajj pilgrimage.

Louvre Museum (Musée du Louvre) Largest museum

Location: Paris, FranceFloor area: 210,000 m2 (2,260,421 sq ft) Year built: Late 12th century

alt="most visited countries">Photoeverywhere.co.uk

Nearly 35,000 objects from prehistory to the 21st century are displayed across 60,600 m2 (652,300 sq ft) in the iconic Louvre building on the banks of the Seine in Paris.

The Louvre is the most visited museum in the world, with over 9.7 million visitors in 2012. Originally built as a fortress in the 12th century, it was established as a museum in 1792. Under Napoléon the museum was renamed Musée Napoléon, but fortunately the name did not change.

Angkor WatLargest religious structure in the world

Location: Siem Reap Province, CambodiaFloor Area: 1.6 million m2 (17.5 million square feet) Year Built: 12th century

alt="Angkor Wat, Cambodia">Atlas & Boots

The Khmer King Suryavarman II commissioned this building complex to honor the Hindu god Vishnu in the capital of the Khmer Empire. It also served as his state temple and later as a mausoleum.

Its enclosure wall measures 1,280 m (4,200 feet) and its population was over 80,000 before its abandonment in 1432. Although not a unique building, this epic construction (spanning at least 37 years) deserves at least a mention in this list.

Istanbul Çağlayan Palace of JusticeLargest courthouse

Location: Istanbul, TurkeyFloor area: 300,000 m2 (3.0 million square feet) Year built: 2011

alt="largest building in the world Palaciojusticia-caglayan">Iljacadiz/Creative Commons

Unfortunately, just a few weeks ago, this magnificent structure, built as a symbol of hope and justice, made headlines due to a tragic hostage-taking at the Palace of Justice.

Two gunmen took a top prosecutor hostage for several hours before police stormed the building and killed both gunmen. The prosecutor was sadly caught up in the fight and later died from his injuries.

Ericsson GlobeLargest hemispherical building

Location: Stockholm, Sweden Volume: 600,000 m3 (21 million cubic feet) Year built: 1989

alt=“largest buildings in the world – 6″>Fredrik Posse/Creative Commons

In addition to being a national arena, this building represents the sun in the Swedish solar system, making it the largest hemispherical building in the world and part of the world's largest scale model of the solar system. The other elements of the solar system are represented by various structures scattered throughout Sweden.

The inner planets are also found in Stockholm, but the outer planets are located north in other cities along the Baltic Sea coast. The system is 1:20 million scale if you want to build a larger one.

Now bigger than ever, this long-awaited revised edition of Judith Dupré's bestselling Skyscraper is a massive celebration of today's most significant superstructures. It features a completely new design with color photos, 10 new buildings and informative updates throughout.

Main image: Fredrik Posse/Creative Commons

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