Skyscrapers designed by some of the world's biggest firms go head to head to get to the top in the yearly Emporis Skyscraper Award, the international prestigious prize for skyscrapers.

Winning the top prize this year is Renzo Piano and Adamson Associates' "The Shard", which is also currently Western Europe's tallest building at 306 meters tall. The London-based tower was chosen out of 300 skyscrapers at least 100 m. in height and that were completed in the previous calendar year. — bustler.net

Ever taller, ever thinner, the new condo towers racing skyward in Midtown Manhattan are breaking records for everything, including price. Sold for $95 million, the 96th floor of 432 Park Avenue will be the highest residence in the Western world. As shadows creep across Central Park, Paul Goldberger looks at the construction, architecture, and marketing of these super-luxury aeries, gauging their effect on the city’s future. — vanityfair.com

"We are some distance from understanding the jet stream well enough to manage the natural risks associated with structural integrity," adds Prof Keith Hjelmstad. — BBC News

My old battered shoes climbed the worlds tallest building today. What an amazing structure! Tweeting from 820 meters straight up! — joemcnallyphoto, via instagram.com

The British company that built the Shard skyscraper in London will manage the construction of the Kingdom tower in Saudi Arabia, which will be the world's tallest building when completed.

The Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal unveiled the plans, by American firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, 18 months ago as part of a new £13bn Kingdom City development on the Red Sea coast to the north of Jeddah. — guardian.co.uk

The Swiss practice is one of three that have been commissioned by Canary Wharf Group to design the first phase of the Wood Wharf development.

Allies & Morrison has been appointed to design two new office buildings which will sit either side of the western end of the high street. The offices, aimed at IT services and new media companies, will sit above two storeys of retail. — bdonline.co.uk

Canada’s biggest city is getting even bigger, with a pace-setting number of skyscrapers set to join the city skyline.

According to a Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) report dubbed “Canada Rising,” Toronto is leading the western world in terms of new buildings 150 metres or taller currently under construction. — DesignBuild Source Canada

While becoming the tallest in architectural terms will always garner attention, taller building often harbour some of the lengthiest development periods.

With a rise in the prominence of prefabrication, however, large is no longer necessarily equated with lengthy. — DesignBuild Source

For a Middle East-based client he's not allowed to identify, Johnson worked on a project back in the late 2000s designing a building that would have been a mile-and-a-half tall, with 500 stories. Somewhat of a theoretical practice, the design team identified between 8 and 10 inventions that would have had to take place to build a building that tall. Not innovations, Johnson says, but inventions, as in completely new technologies and materials. — theatlanticcities.com

The tower, designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano, will contain offices, exclusive residences, a luxury hotel, restaurants and a viewing gallery across 72 floors which can be occupied.

There are a further 15 levels which make up the 'spire' - six of which have the potential to be used, with another nine exposed to the elements.

The 1,016ft skyscraper was inaugurated by the prime minister and minister of foreign affairs of Qatar, Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al-Thani, and The Duke of York. — dailymail.co.uk

It took Dubai more than five years to build the 828-meter Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building (for the moment, anyway). But Chinese architects and engineers reckon they need a mere 90 days to leave the Emiratis in the dust. At least, that's what they've claimed. — cnngo.com

Because towers take so long to plan and construct, the current crop reflect a vision up to a decade old, reckons Nick Offer of Arup, an engineering firm. Economic conditions and the scale of such projects mean that only the very brave will invest now... In 2010 the coalition scrapped the previous, Labour government’s density targets, which were designed to encourage developers to build more units. Instead it has endorsed “garden cities” — economist.com

The fire engulfing Moscow’s Federation Tower has been extinguished. About 300 square meters of the yet-to-be-completed skyscraper were set ablaze, but the centrally located building has been evacuated and no victims have been reported. The fire broke on the building's 67th floor (250 meters above the ground) and spread to several sections on the 66th and 65th floors. Fourteen people working at the floors hit by the firestorm were evacuated. — rt.com

Looming over the sprawling Chinese city of Shenzhen, this building is the tallest skyscraper ever designed by a British architect. — guardian.co.uk